Oslo Concert Hall

Last updated
Oslo Concert Hall
OsloKonserthus2.JPG
Oslo Concert Hall
General information
Town or city Vika, Oslo
Country Norway
Coordinates 59°54′47″N10°43′47″E / 59.91306°N 10.72972°E / 59.91306; 10.72972 Coordinates: 59°54′47″N10°43′47″E / 59.91306°N 10.72972°E / 59.91306; 10.72972
Inaugurated22 March 1977
Design and construction
ArchitectGösta Åbergh
Other information
Seating capacity1,600
Oslo Concert Hall Oslo Konserthus 01.JPG
Oslo Concert Hall

Oslo Concert Hall (Oslo Konserthus) is a concert hall located in Vika, a part of Oslo city centre in Norway. It is the base of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (Oslo-Filharmonien), but it also aims to be one of the premier music venues for the general musical and cultural life of Norway, offering a broad variety of musical styles from classical, world music, and popular entertainment by both Norwegian and international artists and groups. It presents more than 300 events yearly and receives more than 200,000 visitors. [1]

Contents

History

For a long time, Oslo lacked a proper concert hall, and the Oslo Philharmonic did not have a regular hall for their rehearsals. Sometimes the rehearsals could be on different locations every day through the same project.

Construction

After decades of debate and delay, an architectal competition was arranged in 1955 [2] and final drafts for the concert hall were presented in 1965, based on Gösta Åbergh’s winning proposal. Oslo Konserthus AS was founded in October 1966 and, on 22 March 1977, the concert hall was finally opened. In September the same year, a specially build organ (with 7000 pipes) from Göttingen, Germany was installed. It was the largest organ in Norway until 2014.

Building

The building consists of two concert halls, several meeting and practise rooms, large foyers and bars, a box office and an office wing. The main hall has a maximum capacity of more than 1,600 and the small hall has 266. [3]

The foyers can be used as exhibition areas, and the bars have a capacity of serving up to 1,400 people. Also the open area in front of the hall and the premises below belong to Oslo Konserthus AS. The Stenersen Museum (Stenersenmuseet), with its café Diorama, are located in the latter.

In 2000 Mariss Jansons, then conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, resigned his position after disputes with the city over the poor acoustics of the hall. [4]

Related Research Articles

Music of Norway

Much has been learned about early music in Norway from physical artifacts found during archaeological digs. These include instruments such as the lur. Viking and medieval sagas also describe musical activity, as do the accounts of priests and pilgrims from all over Europe coming to visit St Olaf's grave in Trondheim.

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Concert hall in Glasgow City, Scotland, UK

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall is a major concert and arts venue, in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is owned by Glasgow City Council and operated by Glasgow Life, an agency of Glasgow City Council, which also runs Glasgow's City Halls and Old Fruitmarket venue.

Queens Hall Former concert hall in Langham Place, London (1893-1941)

The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert Newman together with Henry Wood. The hall had drab decor and cramped seating but superb acoustics. It became known as the "musical centre of the [British] Empire", and several of the leading musicians and composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries performed there, including Claude Debussy, Edward Elgar, Maurice Ravel and Richard Strauss.

Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool Concert hall in Liverpool, England

Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is a concert hall in Hope Street, in Liverpool, England. It is the home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is not the original concert hall on the present site; its predecessor was destroyed by fire in 1933 and the present hall was opened in 1939.

Hong Kong Cultural Centre

The Hong Kong Cultural Centre is a multipurpose performance facility in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Located at Salisbury Road, it was built by the former Urban Council and, since 2000, has been administered by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government. A wide variety of cultural performances are held here.

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is an educational and performing arts complex located at 500 S. Goodwin Street in Urbana, Illinois, on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Herman C. Krannert, an industrialist who was the founder of Inland Container Corp. and an alumnus of the University, and his wife, Ellnora Krannert, made a gift of $16 million that made creation of the Krannert Center possible. Max Abramovitz, the architect who designed the facility, was also an Illinois alumnus.

St Davids Hall

St David's Hall is a performing arts and conference venue in the heart of Cardiff, Wales.

Grieg Hall

Grieg Hall is a 1,500 seat concert hall located on Edvard Griegs' square in Bergen, Norway.

Perth Concert Hall (Western Australia) Concert hall in Perth, Western Australia

The Perth Concert Hall is a concert hall located in Perth, the capital of the Australian state of Western Australia. Owned by the City of Perth, the hall is the main venue of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and also hosts a number of other events and performances. The building itself is located in Perth's central business district, adjacent to the Supreme Court Gardens and Government House. The building has two façades: facing north over St Georges Terrace, and facing south over the Swan River.

Moscow International House of Music

The Moscow International Performing Arts Centre was officially opened on September 28, 2003 with the debut of a new orchestra, the National Philharmonic of Russia under musical director Vladimir Spivakov. Also known as the Moscow International House of Music, it is situated on the Kosmodamianskaya Embankment off the Garden Ring Road.

Bristol Beacon Concert hall in Bristol, England

Bristol Beacon, previously known as Colston Hall, is a concert hall and Grade II listed building on Colston Street, Bristol, England. It is owned by Bristol City Council. Since 2011, management of the hall has been the direct responsibility of Bristol Music Trust.

Philharmonie Luxembourg

The Philharmonie Luxembourg, also known officially as the Grande-Duchesse Joséphine-Charlotte Concert Hall, is a concert hall located in the European district in the Luxembourg City quarter of Kirchberg. Opened in 2005, it now plays host to 400 performances each year.

Petronas Philharmonic Hall

The Petronas Philharmonic Hall is Malaysia's first concert hall built specifically for classical music. It is the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO), and has hosted many of the world's leading orchestras such as New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, BBC Symphony and Vienna Symphony.

Sapporo Concert Hall

Sapporo Concert Hall, Kitara (札幌コンサートホール,キタラ), is a municipal musical venue located in Nakajima Park, Sapporo, established in 1997, the building is owned by Sapporo City, known for having a huge organ built by Alfred Kern & Fils Manufacture D'Orgues in the main music hall. When Simon Rattle visited with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 1998, he described the hall as "the best modern concert hall in the world".

Chernivtsi Philharmonic Hall

Chernivtsi Philharmonic Hall is part of the network of state philharmonic halls in Ukraine located in the central part of Chernivtsi, Ukraine.

Helsinki Music Centre

The Helsinki Music Centre is a concert hall and a music center in Töölönlahti, Helsinki. The building is home to Sibelius Academy and two symphony orchestras, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

Queens Hall, Edinburgh

The Queen's Hall is a 900-capacity music venue, situated on Clerk Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally built in 1823 as Hope Park Chapel, it was converted to its current role in 1979 and was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 6 July 1979.

Barbican Centre

The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory. The Barbican Centre is member of the Global Cultural Districts Network.

Ole Windingstad was a Norwegian conductor, pianist and composer. He was the conductor of the Scandinavian Symphony Orchestra in Brooklyn, New York and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. His most notable symphonic composition was The Tide.

Stavanger Konserthus

Stavanger Konserthus or Stavanger Concert Hall is a concert hall in Stavanger, Norway.

References

  1. Oslo Konserthus - in Norwegian
  2. Oslo Kommune/City archives
  3. Oslo Concert Hall Archived 2007-05-03 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Hugh Canning (15 January 2006). "On the upbeat". The Times. Retrieved 2007-08-19.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Oslo Konserthus at Wikimedia Commons