Royal Festival Hall opened in 1951 and was built by the partnership of Sir Leslie Martin and Sir Robert Matthew. The designing of the hall began in 1951 and it was the first British building in modern architecture. And by modern, they basically mean the first building with really big, plain, stone walls with very little ornaments depicting animals, buildings, flowers, trees, or very muscular and voluptuous men and women. The building was completed in 1965. *1

The auditorium seats 3,000 and resides in the Southbank Centre, located near the Waterloo station, just off of the Thames. There are foyers and restaurants on most of the 6 floors of the building.

All of the internal designs of the concert hall are for acoustics. The slanty aisles, uneven seats, and ceiling of sycamore all contribute to the reverb. The outside architecture is purely massive. there is no intricacies to it, but that’s ok because there is a bust of Nelson Mandella statue by Ian Walters in 1985 in the courtyard. *2

The Southbank center includes Royal Festival Hall, the Percell Room, The Hayward, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and the Poetry Library.

Royal Festival hall is the home of the Philharmonia Orchestra. Past conductors include Otto Klemperer, Riccardo Muti, Giuseppi Sinopoli, and is currently Christoph von Dohnanyi.

- http://www.happynews.com/showImage.aspx?fn=1212007/dudamel-debuts-new-york-bang.jpg

I went to a performance in Royal Festival Hall given by the Philharmonia and conducted by Venezuelan Gustavo Dudamel. The program included Bedrich Smetana’s overtureThe Bartered Bride, Antonin Dvorak’s Violin Concerto in A min, and Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony in E minor. The vivacity of the orchestra was amazing. From the front to the back the entire orchestra, there was a single breath of music emitting form the ensemble to the audience. Gil Shaham performed the Dvorak violin concerto and the only word that comes to my mind is happy. He was just glowing with energy and buoyancy as he danced around the stage as he conversed with the conductor and each section. Dudamel (who recently became the director of the LA Phil) was just radiating life throughout the entire hall. He conducted the entire Tchaikovsky without a score and did not miss an entrance. I was engaged the entire performance. Plus you couldn’t help but love him as he leapt into the air, bouncing his curly fro like a mushroom top. I will always remember that performance for its life.

- He unfortunately didn’t wear this jacket at the concert. But his hair was just as big

http://www.venezlon.co.uk/newsletter/new_newsletter/aug07/dudamel.jpg

Sources:

1. The Buildings of England: London 2: South, Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, Yale University Press, 1983.

2. http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visiting-us/royal-festival-hall

3. http://www.happynews.com/showImage.aspx?fn=1212007/dudamel-debuts-new-york-bang.jpg

4. http://www.venezlon.co.uk/newsletter/new_newsletter/aug07/dudamel.jpg

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Festival_Hall <–sorry Dr. Hoffmann, had to use it this once..

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