Melbourne Recital Centre

Last updated

Melbourne Recital Centre
Melbourne Recital Centre 2009.JPG
Melbourne Recital Centre, part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct
Melbourne Recital Centre
AddressCorner of Southbank Boulevard and Sturt Street
Melbourne
Australia
OwnerMelbourne Recital Centre Ltd. (Government of Victoria)
TypeConcert and Recital Hall
Capacity 1000 (Elisabeth Murdoch Hall)
Construction
Opened2009
Architect Ashton Raggatt McDougall
Website
www.melbournerecital.com.au

Melbourne Recital Centre is a venue for live music in Melbourne and welcomes over 200,000 visitors each year. The organisation programs and presents more than 500 concerts and events a year across diverse range of musical genres including classical and chamber, contemporary, pop, folk, rock, electronica, indie, jazz, cabaret and world music. It was opened in 2009, as part of the Melbourne Recital Centre and Melbourne Theatre Company Southbank Theatre complex designed by Ashton Raggat McDougall, and is located on the corner of Southbank Boulevard and Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, Southbank. It is Melbourne's second largest auditorium for classical music (after Hamer Hall in Arts Centre Melbourne).

Contents

Facilities

The centre features two auditoria, the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, and a smaller Salon. The former, a "modified shoe box" shaped music venue, is named after Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. It has seating for 1000 on two levels and was designed by Ashton Raggatt McDougall with acoustic and theatre consulting by Arup. [1]

The 135 m2 (1,450 sq ft) stage, with optional 51 m2 (550 sq ft) extension is designed to accommodate up to 45–65 musicians, making it well suited to chamber music and other small ensemble music. [2] To eliminate noise from the nearby Southbank Boulevard cars and trams, it is surrounded by 250mm of concrete, mounted on 38 steel springs. The interior is lined with Hoop Pine plywood and is designed to give ideal bass response for cello and low brass. [2] The shoebox shape, size and wooden surfaces were designed to provide a reverberation time of 1.6 to 1.8 seconds [3]

The Salon can seat 136 people. The lighting, seating and stage can be configured to suit the performance.

Building awards

Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre complex won the Moore Stephens National Award for Public Buildings at the Property Council of Australia – the country's highest award for a public building. [1] [4] The complex also won the Victorian Architecture Medal, the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture and the Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design at the Australian Institute of Architects Victoria Chapter State Architecture Awards in 2009. [1]

Awards and nominations

Music Victoria Awards

The Music Victoria Awards are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music. They commenced in 2006. The award for Best Venue was introduced in 2016.

YearNominee / workAwardResultRef.
Music Victoria Awards of 2016 Melbourne Recital CentreBest Venue (Over 500 Capacity)Nominated [5] [6]
Music Victoria Awards of 2017 Melbourne Recital CentreBest Venue (Over 500 Capacity)Nominated
Music Victoria Awards of 2018 Melbourne Recital CentreBest Venue (Over 500 Capacity)Nominated
Music Victoria Awards of 2019 Melbourne Recital CentreBest Venue (Over 500 Capacity)Nominated
Music Victoria Awards of 2020 Melbourne Recital CentreBest Venue (Over 500 Capacity)Nominated
2021 Music Victoria Awards Melbourne Recital CentreBest Venue (Over 500 Capacity)Won [7] [8]
2022 Music Victoria Awards Melbourne Recital CentreBest Large Venue (Metro)Nominated [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arts Centre Melbourne</span> Performing arts centre in Victoria, Australia

Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central Melbourne suburb of Southbank in Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southbank, Victoria</span> Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Southbank is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1 km south of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip local government areas. Southbank recorded a population of 22,631 at the 2021 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre</span> Convention center in Melbourne, Australia

The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, colloquially referred to as "Jeff's Shed," is a group of three adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The venues are owned and operated by the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Elizabeth Hall</span> Concert hall in London

The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elisabeth Murdoch (philanthropist)</span> Australian philanthropist and mother of international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch (1909-2012)

Dame Elisabeth Joy Murdoch, Lady Murdoch, also known as Elisabeth, Lady Murdoch, was an Australian philanthropist and matriarch of the Murdoch family. She was the widow of Australian newspaper publisher Sir Keith Murdoch and the mother of international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1963 for her charity work in Australia and overseas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purcell Room</span>

The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats. The Purcell Room has hosted a wide range of chamber music, jazz, mime and poetry recitals. In the context of the Southbank Centre it is the smallest of a set of three venues, the other two being the Royal Festival Hall, a large symphony hall, and the Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH), which is used for orchestral, chamber and contemporary amplified music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Myer Music Bowl</span>

The Sidney Myer Music Bowl is an outdoor bandshell performance venue in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located in the lawns and gardens of Kings Domain on Linlithgow Avenue close to the Arts Centre and the Southbank entertainment precinct. It was officially opened by the Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Menzies, on 12 February 1959, with an audience of 30,000 people. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queensland Cultural Centre</span> Historic site in Queensland, Australia

The Queensland Cultural Centre is a heritage-listed cultural center on Grey Street, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is part of the South Bank precinct on the Brisbane River and was built from 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forum Theatre</span> Theatre, cinema and music venue in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

The Forum Theatre is a historic theatre and former cinema now used as a live music and event venue located on the corner of Flinders Street and Russell Street in Melbourne, Australia.

The Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre is a sports administration and training facility located in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in Melbourne, Australia. The facility opened in 1956 as an aquatic centre for the 1956 Olympic Games. In 1983, the Olympic-sized pool was replaced with a parquetry floor and the facility became Melbourne's home of numerous basketball events until 1998, most notably as the home venue for several National Basketball League teams including the North Melbourne Giants and Melbourne Tigers. The venue served as Melbourne's primary indoor concert arena from 1984 to 1988, until completion of the Rod Laver Arena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palais Theatre</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels</span> Cultural venue in Brussels, Belgium

The Centre for Fine Arts is a multi-purpose cultural venue in central Brussels, Belgium. It is often referred to as BOZAR in French or PSK in Dutch. The building was designed by the architect Victor Horta, and completed in 1929 at the instigation of the banker and patron of the arts Henry Le Bœuf. It includes exhibition and conference rooms, a cinema and a concert hall, which serves as home to the National Orchestra of Belgium.

ARM Architecture or Ashton Raggatt McDougall is an architectural firm with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide, Australia. The firm was founded in 1988 and has completed internationally renowned design work. ARM's founding directors were Stephen Ashton, Howard Raggatt, Ian McDougall.

The Melbourne Arts Precinct is home to a series of galleries, performing arts venues and spaces located in the Southbank district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It includes such publicly-funded venues as Arts Centre Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria and Southbank Theatre, along with various offices and training institutions of arts organisations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamer Hall, Melbourne</span> Concert hall in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Hamer Hall is a 2,466 seat concert hall, the largest indoor venue at Arts Centre Melbourne, used for orchestra and contemporary music performances. It was designed by Roy Grounds as part of the Cultural Centre that comprised the National Gallery of Victoria and the Arts Centre Melbourne. It was opened as the 'Melbourne Concert Hall' in 1982 and was renamed Hamer Hall in honour of Rupert Hamer shortly after his death in 2004.

Marion Cultural Centre is located in the City of Marion, a local government area and suburb in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

Ian Lachlan McDougall is Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Adelaide and a founding director of the Australian architecture firm Ashton Raggatt McDougall or ARM Architecture. His most significant projects include Melbourne Recital Centre and Melbourne Theatre Company's Southbank Theatre, Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne, masterplanning of Melbourne Docklands, Albury Library Museum and the Shrine of Remembrance Visitors Centre in Melbourne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southbank Theatre</span> Performing arts venue in Melbourne, Australia

Southbank Theatre is a performing arts venue located in the Southbank region of Melbourne, Victoria. It is the principal home of the Melbourne Theatre Company. The theatre was designed by ARM Architecture, and opened in January 2009 with a production of Poor Boy starring Guy Pearce. The building was awarded the 2009 Victorian Architecture Medal, the highest award in the state.

The Dimity Reed Melbourne Prize (Architecture) is awarded annually by a jury appointed by the Victorian chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects to projects that have made a significant contribution to the civic life of Melbourne, Australia. It was first awarded in 1997 to Six Degrees Architects for the small bar Meyers Place. The winner is drawn from direct-entry categories in the annual Victorian Architecture Awards, and any project located within the Urban Growth Boundary of the Melbourne metropolitan area is eligible for consideration for the prize which can be drawn from any category in the awards.

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Building – Melbourne Recital Centre website
  2. 1 2 Elisabeth Murdoch Hall technical specifications Archived 14 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine – Melbourne Recital Centre
  3. Raf Orlowski. "The acoustic design of the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne, Australia" (PDF). Conforg.fr. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  4. Melbourne's arts precinct receives nation's highest honour Archived 8 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine – Building Product News (BPN.com.au), 22 June 2009
  5. "Previous Nominess". Music Victoria. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  6. "Previous Winners". Music Victoria. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  7. "Music Victoria Awards Reveals Line-up And Nominees for 2021". Noise11. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  8. "Music Victoria Awards 2021 Winners". Scenestr.com.au. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  9. "Music Victoria Awards 2022 Winners". Scenestr. 13 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.

37°49′27″S144°58′04″E / 37.8241203°S 144.9678665°E / -37.8241203; 144.9678665