When I first moved to Frankfurt in 1970 we lived in a fourth-floor apartment not far from the city center. From our bathroom window we could see the ruins of the old opera house (Alte Oper) with trees growing out of the upper floors. The trees were quite tall by Read More …
The Gewandhaus is a large modern concert hall on Augustusplatz in Leipzig, directly opposite the opera house. It is the home of the famous Gewandhaus Orchestra, which also plays regularly at the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas’s Church) and in the opera house itself. The orchestra was founded in 1743, and over Read More …
In striking contrast to the nearby Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame, the Evangelical Lutheran Church des Billettes is austere and undecorated, with bare walls and plain-glass windows. I went there one evening in the summer of 2008 to hear a concert of Gregorian chants from the 10th to 13th centuries, sung by Read More …
When I first saw the announcement for this concert in 2008, I must admit I was a bit suspicious. It said in large letters: “HOMMAGE à MARIA CALLAS” followed in smaller letters by the name of a soprano I had never heard of, who was said to be “from La Read More …
This is my nomination for the world’s most beautiful concert venue, the 13th century Sainte Chapelle on the Île de la Cité in the center of Paris. On many evenings there are two one-hour concerts here, the first at 19:00 (7.00 pm) and the second at 20:30 (8.30 pm). I Read More …
Groningen does not have an opera house, but it does have a modern, state-of-the-art concert hall called De Oosterpoort, which is a major venue for all sorts of music, from classical to rock. Besides the large concert hall, there are also two smaller auditoriums and a cultural center in the same Read More …
Prague Castle is on a low hill overlooking the city. It claims to be “the largest coherent castle complex in the world,” with an area of almost 70,000 m². When I was there in 2011 they offered two types of admission tickets, the “long visit” and the “short visit”. I took Read More …
Next door to the Rosenberg Palace is another palace which strictly speaking is not a part of Prague Castle, because it is again (after two interruptions) the private property of the Lobkowicz family, an aristocratic family which has “played a prominent role in Central European history for over six hundred Read More …
The building now known as the Old Kurhaus was built in 1782 as a casino, since Aachen was a fashionable spa at that time and gambling was a major pastime for the rich but bored people who came here to take the waters. The ballroom is now often used for Read More …
The church of Saint-Roch on rue Saint-Honoré is one of the oldest and largest churches in Paris. It is also an attractive venue for chamber music concerts. For several years in the early 21st century the church hosted noontime concerts every Tuesday (except in mid-summer) under the title Les mardi Read More …