Concert Hall Aarhus
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o less than 150,000 inhabitants took part in the opening of the Concert Hall Aarhus, gathering around a gigantic, 1.5-kilometre-long table where refreshments were served. August 2002 marks the twentieth anniversary of this event, but one thing has not changed since then: the Concert Hall Aarhus is still a concert hall for the entire city.
The Concert Hall opens its doors at eleven o’clock every day of the week, and in the light and airy foyer, with its palms and olive trees, there are often free events, ranging from symphony concerts to lectures. |
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The foyer also houses Restaurant Richter, the café and normally an art exhibition in addition to the permanent collection which includes works by Pierre Soulages, Richard Mortensen, Robert Jacobsen and Jean Arp, to name but a few.
The Concert Hall’s programme of events is extremely varied and includes classical music and rhythmic music, opera and jazz as well as theatre, musicals, ballet and performances for children. The Concert Hall plays a pivotal role in both the Aarhus Festival and Aarhus International Jazz Festival, and the cultural programme influences the building as much as the architects who designed it, Kjær & Richter A/S. The Danish National Opera, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and the children’s theatre Filluren are all resident at the Concert Hall, which organises and hosts a total of 1,000 events annually.
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Today, the Concert Hall Aarhus is one of the most active concert halls in Europe, and, combined with an increasing number of conferences and meetings, this high activity level means that almost every single square metre is being actively utilised. This gives both visitors and performers a strong impression of a hall that is meant to be used rather than a monument to a certain type of culture.
In twenty years, the Concert Hall Aarhus has earned itself a position as the cultural locomotive of Western Denmark, and with its location in the heart of Aarhus, with the city’s largest hotel and car park and main shopping street on its doorstep, the Concert Hall attracts large number of Danish and foreign tourists.
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