The French word Gaîté means cheerfulness or happiness, and this historic theatre was certainly a cheerful place in the middle-to-late 1870s, when several of Jacques Offenbach’s comical operettas were performed here. Offenbach himself was the theatre’s director and impresario for two years, but he was not so happy with the Read More …
Salle Pleyel is an Art Deco concert hall that was originally built in 1927 by the Pleyel piano company. For decades it was a leading classical music venue in Paris, even though the acoustics and appearance of the building suffered from a series of botched renovation projects over the years. Read More …
The Musikverein (Music Society) maintains this ornate historic concert hall in the center of Vienna. The one concert I attended here was many years ago, so I have no photos of the inside, but you can easily see what it looks like by watching (for example) the annual televised New Read More …
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 …
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 chose 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 …
The Festungsbahn going up to the fortress overlooking Salzburg is Austria’s oldest funicular railway that is still in operation. It was built in 1892, and now takes people up from the city to the fortress in just 54 seconds. The lower station, on the Festungsgasse, is where you can buy tickets, Read More …
The Philharmonie in Berlin is an early example (perhaps even the earliest?) of a modern concert hall with the orchestra in the middle and the audience seated in irregular blocks on all sides. It was built from 1956 to 1963 by the architect Hans Scharoun (1893-1972). The German author Gerwin Read More …