Musiikkitalo

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Helsinki Concert Hall 2011
Entrance hall

The Musiikkitalo ( Finnish for "music house") is a concert hall in the Finnish capital Helsinki . It opened in 2011 and forms the music center of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra , the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Sibelius Academy , the only music academy in Finland. The acclaimed acoustics of the main hall were designed by the Japanese Yasuhisa Toyota .

history

Before the opening of the Musiikkitalo, larger concerts were usually performed in the Finlandia Hall planned by Alvar Aalto . However, their acoustics were often criticized. After twenty years of discussion, construction of the new concert hall began in 2008. The construction costs of 188 million euros were borne by the Finnish state, the city of Helsinki and the public broadcaster Yleisradio . The opening concert took place on August 31, 2011. It started with the Finlandia by Jean Sibelius .

The Musiikkitalo soon turned out to be unexpectedly successful. In the first nine months (September 2011 - May 2012) more than 400,000 visitors were counted, including 330,000 concert guests, many times more than expected. There were around 100 events per month during the period, most of them sold out. At the beginning of 2013, the number of concerts and visitors was still four times higher than expected.

Buildings and special features

Musiikkitalo is located in the center of the city on Mannerheimintie Boulevard and is surrounded by several distinctive buildings: Finlandia Hall, the Kiasma Art Museum , the Finnish Parliament and the Finnish National Museum . The cuboid construction of the new music center looks comparatively simple from the outside, which, according to the architect Marko Kivistö , is intended because the building fits better into its surroundings. It has a green copper facade on one side and thus a color connection to the green areas of the adjacent park. The large glass fronts on the other side of the building point towards Töölö Bay, similar to what is the case with the nearby opera house .

The Musiikkitalo has a large concert hall with 1704 seats and six other small halls with 140 to 400 seats. These are specially designed for different genres of music (including electronic music and chamber music ).

Interior shot of the Musiikkitalo concert hall

The main hall was furnished by Yasuhisa Toyota with terraced rows of spectators, similar to the vineyard shape "which Hans Scharoun once invented for the Berlin Philharmonic ". The walls consist of dark stained birch wood panels stacked one on top of the other . The sound waves reach the irregularly shaped concrete walls behind them through cracks, which prevents echoes from being generated towards the stage. The black seats make the room look very dark and create a contrast to the light pine wood stage.

Another part of the building houses classrooms for the Sibelius Academy and a music library. The foyers, the café and the music shop in Musiikkitalo are freely accessible, the building is open all day.

To the south of the building is the Singing Trees sculpture .

Organ building project

The installation of a pipe organ in the Great Hall was planned, but the project could not be implemented due to limited funds. Only an initiative by the composer Kaija Saariaho got the ball rolling again. She donated one million euros for the installation of the planned instrument, other donors followed, and the city of Helsinki, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the YLE broadcasting company each contributed 500,000 euros to the collection. In August 2018 it was announced that the order would be placed with the Austrian organ building company Rieger , which has a great deal of experience in building concert hall organs and has recently been awarded the contract for the new hall organ in the Gothenburg concert hall . The organ is set up and intonated in the summer of 2021 and 2022. The purchase price of the organ is around 3 million euros.

literature

Web links

Commons : Helsinki Music Center  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Köhler, in: Deutschlandradio
  2. ^ Stäbler, in: Hamburger Abendblatt
  3. Official website: Musiikkitalon avajaiskausi yleisömenestys, talossa yli 400 000 kävijää ( Memento of the original from May 1, 2013 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. / The first season at the Musiikkitalo Helsinki Music Center was a great success with over 400,000 visitors. ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2013 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musiikkitalo.fi @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musiikkitalo.fi
  4. Musiikkitalon narikka muuttuu maksulliseksi Helsingin Sanomat , Feb. 4, 2013.
  5. (Engl.) Overview on the homepage of Musiikkitalo about the concert halls and other facilities ( Memento of the original on 5 February 2012 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musiikkitalo.fi
  6. Frederik Hansen. In: Der Tagesspiegel
  7. Kaija Saariaholta miljoona euroa Musiikkitalon Konserttisalin urkuja varten - tavoitteena Suomen suurimmat urut Report on the Musiikkitalo homepage (in Finnish). Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  8. Helsingin Musiikkitalon urkujen rakentajaksi on valittu itävaltalainen Rieger Orgelbau Message on the Musiikkitalo homepage (Finnish). Retrieved July 25, 2019.

Coordinates: 60 ° 10 ′ 25 ″  N , 24 ° 56 ′ 6 ″  E