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KONCERTHUSET Edited by F. Moorhouse Copenhagen, Denmark - In January, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) celebrated the grand opening of a new concert centre - ‘Koncerthuset’ (Danish for ‘The Concert Centre’). The new concert centre makes up the fourth and last segment of DR’s corporate domicile, DR Byen (literally ‘the DR city’). The opening of Koncerthuset means a new national and international concert venue for Denmark and a new architectural landmark for the capital and perhaps even Northern Europe. Designed by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel, the unique building puts Copenhagen on par with other cities around the world which provide the best modern acoustics and visual settings for concertgoers. In the long term, events at Koncerthuset will range widely in terms of size and genre: small-scale jazz concerts in the foyer, chamber music, choral, rock and pop concerts in the three smaller concert halls and symphony concerts, guest appearances and large-scale rhythmic concerts in the large concert hall. However, the initial focus will be on classical music, as this is the more familiar ground for DR as a concert provider.
During the first season after the grand opening, it is expected that three major rhythmic concert events will be presented. After the first year or two following the opening, notable international and local artists within rock or pop music will find their way to the programme of Koncerthuset, as will a number of slightly more alternative or ‘street-related’ artists and/or DJs within the genres of e.g. electronica, trip hop etc. Obviously, Koncerthuset’s programme will feature DR’s own orchestras and choirs - The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Chamber Orchestra , DR Big Band, Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Danish National Concert Choir, Danish National Girls Choir, Danish National Youth Ensemble and DR’s children’s choirs - but also numerous guest performances and guest soloists from Denmark and abroad, the goal being to provide Danish and international audiences with excellent live music experiences, set in a remarkable visual and architectural venue. Interesting Facts on Koncerthuset • Koncerthuset is an open and dynamic musical venue where supreme artistic quality is guaranteed for every event. The artistic profile of the house is neither particularly elitist nor mainstream - rather, superb live music experiences are the name of the game, whatever the genre. • The most important task of Koncerthuset is to provide audiences - Danish and international - with outstanding encounters with live music, in which not only the music itself but also the overall experience is unique and top-notch. • Koncerthuset aims to create and support a dynamic and exciting musical milieu which should ultimately extend well beyond DR’s own orchestras and choirs, opening to the largest possible degree towards both the professional music scene outside DR, the growth layer and the classical and rhythmic music colleges of Denmark. • Koncerthuset will boost the musical environment and scene throughout Denmark and Copenhagen decisively. • Koncerthuset will place Denmark and Copenhagen prominently on the musical maps of Europe and the world as a place where major artists enjoy performing and where audiences are given splendid live music experiences. • Koncerthuset will contribute significantly to the image of Copenhagen as an attractive leading European cultural capital and a popular goal for cultural tourism. • Koncerthuset ensures that all DR’s orchestras and choirs share one domicile and venue, with absolutely optimal conditions for performing, rehearsing, broadcasting and collaborating. • Koncerthuset means world class acoustics and huge sound. The aural quality of the house itself has been ensured by Japanese acoustics experts Nagata Acoustics who were also designed La Philharmonie de Paris. • Covering 26,000 square metres, Koncerthuset is architectonically unique, comprising four studios - from the grand concert hall to the very intimate - and a highly flexible foyer. As a concert house, this is a milestone, not only on Danish ground but also in Europe, possibly even worldwide. • Koncerthuset was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, who is famous for projects such as the Lyon Opera House, the Luzern Cultural Congress Center, L’Institut du Monde Arabe and Quai Branly Museum in Paris, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the 40 Mercer building in New York. • In 2008, Nouvel received what has been dubbed "the Nobel Prize of architecture"; the Pritzker Award, along with USD 100,000. The award was presented to Nouvel at the Library of Congress in Washington on June 2. • Nouvel consistently makes the multiple conditions surrounding each individual task his artistic point of departure. Nouvel has also designed all interior elements of Koncerthuset. • The concerts and other musical events at Koncerthuset will be broadcast to the largest possible extent on DR’s channels and platforms.
Four studios and a foyer The Concert Hall (Studio 1) The shells on the outside of the Concert Hall (Studio 1) are clad with fibre-concrete, on the inside with rockwool and porous plaster. The ceiling of the Concert Hall and the wall surfaces of the terraces are in stained plywood. In order to spread the highest audio frequencies they also have milled surfaces. The characteristic ‘wave walls’ are made of a plaster product. As a minimum all the surfaces of the hall weigh 100 kg per square metre, which ensures the best possible reproduction of the lowest sounds. This means that most surfaces consist of up to six layers of plaster and plywood. About 15 metres above the 265 m2 stage hangs the ‘canopy’, a c. 250 m2 construction weighing 72 tons, which both contains a wealth of technical equipment and must reflect the sound from the stage back to the musicians. The 92-stop concert organ was made by Van den Heuvel Orgelbouw, Dordrecht, Holland. The organ has 6,144 pipes, the smallest c. 3 cm in length, while the largest pipes are over 10 metres long. The instrument is c. 11 metres in height, 11 metres in width and 8 metres in depth, and weighs around 40 tons. When the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR leaves the hall to other musical genres, large curtains are drawn out of the slots in the wave walls and optimize the acoustics of the hall as required. The stage floor is in Oregon pine – the floor of the seating area is in Belinga wood. Studio 2 The walls are in plywood. The pictures of the 38 artists that grace the walls have been processed with a special vector graphics technique that turns the images into black-and-white contrasts. A graffiti painter has then painted them on the plywood walls, working from stencils. Studio 3 The walls are in high-gloss painted MDF plates and felt. The floor is in stained oak. Studio 4 The metal coffers are made of aluminum and the absorbent surface is felt. The floor is in stained oak. Foyer The concert hall foyer is one large room distributed over seven levels – from c. 2.5 metres underground to c. 30 metres above ground level. The largest space that welcomes the public has a depth of 96 metres. In the space there are 25 video projectors and 50 slide projectors that project slides around the foyer. From the foyer the public can see the Concert Hall (Studio 1) "floating above the ground", and the musicians playing in Studios 2, 3 and 4. The walls are of concrete – so-called "elephant skin", concrete cast with intermediate plastic layers which produce the special folds in the concrete Note: This link will take you to additional information concerning Koncerthuset . . . .
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