Dortmund Concert Hall
The Dortmund Konzerthaus in Dortmund's city center was opened in September 2002. It is located in the Brückstrasse district at the intersection of Brückstrasse and Ludwigstrasse. The hall has 1,550 seats, 900 of which can be used as a small hall , and is characterized by a modern steel and glass architecture. Ulrich Andreas Vogt was the founding director and one of the main initiators of the “Concert Hall Project” . From 2006 to September 14, 2018, Benedikt Stampa was Intendant and Managing Director. Raphael von Hoensbroech followed him for the 2018/19 season .
history
Feasibility study and demolition of the Universum cinema
On the initiative of the then chairman of the “Theater- und Konzertfreunde Dortmund e. V. "Ulrich Andreas Vogt and the Dortmund Chamber of Commerce President Fritz Jäger, the" Kulturstiftung Dortmund "was founded in 1992 with the working group" PRO_PHIL "with the aim of promoting the building of a" Philharmonic for Westphalia ". The original plan was to integrate a concert hall in the area around the Westfalenhallen . Since the Brückstrasse district was to be upgraded through various measures in the mid-1990s, the city of Dortmund saw this as the ideal location and commissioned a study in 1997 to clarify how the old Universum cinema in Brückstrasse could be converted into a concert hall. Experts came to the conclusion that this would only be possible with a new building with the inclusion of an adjacent department store, otherwise a large audience capacity, the required podium size and good acoustics would not be possible. For this reason, on February 1, 1999, the demolition of the then empty cinema and department store buildings began. The static conditions in the block development required a floor-by-floor removal in order not to endanger the stability. The demolition produced 45,000 cubic meters of rubble in eight months.
Construction of the concert hall
The concert hall (also known as the Philharmonic for Westphalia) was designed by the architects Schröder Schulte-Ladbeck . In July 2000 the general contractors Freundlieb and Hochtief moved into their construction office in Reinoldistraße. Due to the dense development, there was no space for a container village as is usually the case. The site area was 2500 square meters. All in all, setting up the construction site took around a week; up to 200 craftsmen worked at the same time.
The foundation stone was laid on October 16, 2000. The chairman of the supervisory board, Manfred Sauer, put the last hammer blows on a stone with a special content. There was a lucky penny in the stone (found in the Berlin Philharmonic during the first visit of the then director Ulrich Andreas Vogt), a manuscript by the composer Matthias Pintscher , a winged rhinoceros (symbol of the concert hall), several daily newspapers, a baton, a pocket score by Beethoven's Fidelio ( with a dedication by Wilhelm Schüchter ) and a Bible. On the same day, two cranes (44 and 46 m high) went into operation. Since there were no adapted access routes for the delivery of building materials, the building materials had to be notified with an appointment before they were delivered. During the peak of construction work, 40 to 50 trucks drove to the construction site every day. A total of 9,000 cubic meters of concrete and 1,300 tons of reinforcing steel were required for the shell. Special attention was paid to the acoustics, every construction step had to be discussed with acousticians.
The interior work began in September 2001. The shell has a gross floor area of 17,000 square meters. The building is 32 meters high and eight meters underground. A former hotel building was integrated into the new concert hall as an administrative wing. In March 2002 special acoustic elements made of plaster were installed, which isolate the sound but do not absorb it. The convex solid plaster elements are precisely calculated and the distance or the depth of small drawer units are responsible for the refraction of sound. In April 2002 the manual work in the concert hall ended so that the parquet could be laid dust-free and 1550 chairs could be installed. In the spring, the organ from the Klais organ factory was installed and tuned in on April 25, 2002. At the beginning of September the house was "taken over" by approx. 40,000 citizens from Dortmund and the surrounding area during an open day and officially opened on September 13th, 14th and 15th with festive gala concerts.
The construction costs were originally estimated at 60 million DM; after completion they amounted to 95 million DM (approx. 48 million euros), a comparatively low sum. The city fathers attached great importance to the fact that the construction of the concert was not at the expense of schools or kindergartens.
architecture
facade
On the Brückstrasse and Ludwigstrasse , the concert hall has etched glass facades with LED lights that can continuously display the entire color spectrum using a computer. Since there is no forecourt, there is no barrier, for example in the form of a portal. This has the advantage that the entrance area looks inviting thanks to the transparent glass front. Furthermore, the concert hall is part of the existing row of facades, but at the same time stands out due to the corner position and the inclined etched glass facade. The visual connection with the other facades is achieved through a glass passage between the concert hall and the neighboring building.
Indoor
The city foyer can be reached via the main entrance on Brückstrasse. In the city foyer there is a bar, cloakrooms and the box office. From here you can see the actual, free-standing concert hall, which begins on the first floor. In this area, the whole hall is only held up by two concrete pillars. Overall, the whole building around the hall appears very transparent and optically bright. The hall can be accessed from the left and right via stairs or two handicapped-accessible elevators. The painter Oliver Jordan , whose oversized oil portraits of the composers Mahler, Schönberg and Stravinsky adorn the foyers today , was able to be won over for the artistic design of the interior rooms .
Concert hall
From the outside, the hall is completely closed and black. Overall, the hall lies in the building like an inclined box. Inside, the relatively high hall is characterized by cream-white walls and the black ceiling (with lights à la “starry sky”). There is no distraction from color schemes, so that a “harmony of sobriety” promotes concentration on the listening experience. The hall has a total of 1,550 seats that extend over three tiers. With the help of a curtain it is possible to reduce the size of the hall to a visitor capacity of 900 people. 800 people have space in the rising parquet. The three tiers offer two rows of seats that extend over the entire length of the side. The two top tiers also have large balconies on the back wall. The organ behind the orchestra podium is deliberately not built in the sacred ecclesiastical style, but like a mural, which is optically withdrawn with maple wood. The hall has sophisticated lighting so that different lighting effects can be achieved. The stage can also be used for shows or ballet.
Acoustics
In general, the acoustics of the concert hall are based on the hall of the Wiener Musikverein . A reverberation time of around two seconds and a precisely designed reflection image guarantee outstanding acoustics . The engineering office Graner + Partner worked out and dimensioned the precise planning of the room acoustics of the hall and the building. In addition to the traditional calculations and dimensioning of the acoustic parameters, virtual simulation programs were also used. In this way, the hall could be made audible before its completion. The development of all individual constructions and materials was carried out in a laboratory, where sound elements could be tested by computer simulation. Decisive for the sound design in the room are, among other things, the rounded plaster walls, which contain so-called slide-in boxes with different orientations and depths that reflect the sound.
Another important acoustic element that is also visually interesting are the twelve wooden sails that hang from the ceiling above the podium. These optimize the way the musicians hear each other on stage by reflecting the sound. The ceiling itself is equipped with large plasterboard scales that absorb the sounds. The surface is smooth and has a curve in order to achieve directional guidance of the primary reflections. The chairs are also an important element in the distribution of sound. For this reason, the shape and design is precisely calculated. For example, the chairs have a wooden perforated plate under the seat.
Right from the start, the concert hall was geared towards sound . Logically, a symbol for hearing was chosen as the logo , the "rhinoceros alatus" (the winged rhinoceros), because the rhinoceros with its small, constantly moving ears is one of the best hearing animals. The fact that it can also fly and is well armored and resistant is also symbolic. In the meantime, the winged rhinoceros has also become the city's mascot and can be found in many places with copies of the sculpture in different decorations of the sponsors in the Dortmund cityscape.
Since it was planned from the beginning to use the house for different events, electro-acoustic amplification with a loudspeaker system was integrated. It is possible to make sound recordings via the sound technician's booth on the third floor. With their appearance at the Konzerthaus Dortmund on May 21, 2002, the Vienna Philharmonic promised for the first time in its history a concert in a hall in which an orchestra had never played at the time the contract was signed.
organ
The organ was made by the Johannes Klais Orgelbau workshop from Bonn in a year of construction and was played in public for the first time on April 25, 2002. The straight-lined basic design by the architects and architects Schröder Schulte-Ladbeck blends in unobtrusively with the modern architecture of the hall. The organ is 10.50 meters wide, 12.60 meters high, weighs 20 tons and consists of 3,565 pipes, 306 of which are made of wood and 3,259 of pewter. The sound of the musical instrument is considered warm and soft. Bernhard Buttman was responsible for the disposition . The costs of 920,000 euros were financed by the Cultural Foundation of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
The organ consists of a total of 53 sounding stops , two tremulants and 15 different paddocks . The many soloistic, concise pipe registers are characteristic. In the 14 registers of the first manual, these are for example the viola da gamba, the gemshorn or the drone . In the second manual the lull dolce with its mild sound and the progressio stand out. In the third manual it is especially the Aeoline that sounds expressive.
The high-pressure unit is located together with the registers of the III. Manuals behind the external blinds of the large swell box . The registers of the second manual are also swellable inside the organ behind the pipes of the main work. The sonic foundation is based on an acoustic 32 'register (composed of 16' and 10 2/3 ') in the pedal , which is followed by three further labial 16' voices (principal, contrabass and subbass), as well as an additional transmission from the Principal 16 ′ of the main work.
In the front view, the prospectus , only 41 pipes made of tin are visible. The organ's smallest pipe measures eight millimeters; the largest is the C of the 16 'principal, a pipe that is 8.13 meters long including the foot and weighs 400 kilograms. The electric console with 61 keys per manual and 32 pedal keys can be moved on the podium. The 70 rocker switches for the registers and links are located in four rows next to the manuals. 400 different registrations can be saved in advance and called up again by the player at will.
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Pairing :
- Normal coupling: II / I, III / I, HD / I; III / II, HD / II; HD / III; I / P, II / P, III / P, HD / P; III Equallage from.
- Super octave coupling: Super III / III, Super HD / III.
- Sub-octave coupling: Sub III / III, Sub HD / III.
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Playing aids :
- Roll sills and two swell steps for II. And III. manual
- Setter with sequencer up / down 400-fold
Events
The concert hall offers around 100 own events per season. The season begins in September and ends in July of the following year. When making the selection, emphasis is placed on diversity: the spectrum ranges from orchestral concerts, piano recitals and chamber music to world music, cabaret and chanson. In 2006 the Konzerthaus Dortmund launched Germany's first pop subscription: Acoustic Pop introduces a younger target group to the structures of a classic concert subscription, which is very popular with the audience.
The first years
In the first three years under the motto “Awakening”, internationally renowned orchestras, conductors, soloists and artists could already be engaged, for example the top orchestras from Vienna, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Dresden and Leipzig with conductors like Kent Nagano , Lorin Maazel , Zubin Mehta , Kurt Masur , James Levine , Riccardo Muti , Valery Gergiev , André Previn and Christian Thielemann . Matthias Pintscher , Hanspeter Kyburz , Karlheinz Stockhausen , Rebecca Saunders and Péter Eötvös have been recruited as “ Composer in Residence ” . Thus the new concert hall in the Dortmund catchment area was quickly accepted and successfully established. It quickly became a member of the International Society for the Performing Arts and was used for numerous radio and television recordings, such as: B. the ECHO Klassik Awards 2003.
The Dortmund Philharmonic performed a total of twenty times in the first season, mostly conducted by the Dortmund General Music Director Arthur Fagen . Mainly pieces by Mozart or Haydn were played. Another focus was the romanticism with compositions by Mendelssohn, Bruckner and Brahms. Modern compositions included pieces by Aribert Reimann and Matthias Pintscher . The various radio orchestras in Germany and other orchestras from North Rhine-Westphalia, for example from Essen, Bochum, Duisburg and Münster, also played regularly as guest orchestras.
Furthermore, attention was paid to gala evenings with opera stars such as Lucia Aliberti , Vesselina Kasarova , Edita Gruberová or Ben Heppner . As a much-noticed "lighthouse project", a semi-staged, concert performance of the Ring of the Nibelung by Richard Wagner with an international star cast under the direction of Hans Wallat was staged from 2003 to 2004 .
The first three years under the management of the founding director Vogt ended when he resigned from office in January 2005 after disagreements with the city's political leadership.
Established in Europe
Under the direction of the successor intendant Benedikt Stampa, the Dortmund concert hall has become a popular performance venue for many orchestras and artists due to its extraordinary acoustics and the appreciative audience. Anne-Sophie Mutter , Anna Netrebko , Ben Heppner , Edita Gruberová , Cecilia Bartoli , Waltraud Meier , Thomas Hampson , Thomas Quasthoff , Matti Salminen , Yo-Yo Ma , Martin Stadtfeld , Lang Lang , Alfred Brendel , were guests (sometimes several times) City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra or the New York Philharmonic . Since 2006 the slogan of the Konzerthaus has been: Only Dortmund sounds like this!
Also since 2006, the time islands - small festivals lasting several days - have been used to deal more intensively with selected composers, performers and themes. Previous islands of time were dedicated to Olivier Messiaen , Béla Bartók , Antonio Caldara or Anoushka Shankar , Thomas Hengelbrock and settings of the Virgin Mary.
Exclusive artist
Since 2006, the cornerstones of Dortmund's dramaturgy have included the exclusive artists and the Junge Wilde , who each work for three years. From 2006 to 2010 violinist Renaud Capuçon and pianist Fazıl Say could be experienced as exclusive artists. From 2010 to 2013 they were followed by the conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen , who brought several spectacular multimedia productions such as the installation re-rite to Dortmund during this time . So far, exclusive artists have been:
| Period | Artist |
|---|---|
| 2006-2010 |
Renaud Capuçon (violinist) Fazıl Say (pianist) |
| 2010-2013 | Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor) |
| 2013-2016 | Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor) |
| 2016-2019 | Andris Nelsons (conductor) |
| 2019– | Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (conductor) |
Young savages
The Junge Wilde series offers young soloists at the beginning of a world career over three years the opportunity to present themselves to the audience in various chamber music formations. Previous artists in this series were:
Web links
- Website Konzerthaus Dortmund
- Website of the Theater Dortmund with the Dortmund Philharmonic Theater Dortmund
- Website Pop-Abo of the Konzerthaus
Individual evidence
- ^ Benedikt Stampa: "Must i because ..." Farewell to one of the most beautiful concert halls. In: Konzerthaus Dortmund (ed.): Only Dortmund sounds like this. Season 2018/19 . Dortmund 2018, p. 5.
- ↑ Laying of the foundation stone
- ↑ Press release about the opening
- ↑ Triptych by Oliver Jordan
- ↑ Press report on Götterdämmerung
- ↑ Press release on termination
- ^ Declaration of honor for Vogt
- ↑ http://www.konzerthaus-dortmund.de/
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.konzerthaus-dortmund.de/de/erleben/news/148/
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 58 ″ N , 7 ° 28 ′ 0 ″ E