DELUXE HAMBURG
Hamburg ’ s newest landmark
Is all the hype surrounding the opening of the new Elbphilharmonie justified ? Holger Jacobs attended the much written-about opening concert for his blog Kultur24-berlin . de . Here are his impressions for DELUXE .
D ear fellow art lovers , the hype surrounding the opening of the new Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg took even those involved by surprise . But is it justified ? I was of course overjoyed to get my hands on one of the few tickets available for the premiere . First impressions as you approach the building are that it is magnificent . At 110 metres , the 23-storey building towers high , very high above the Elbe , and its sheer size alone makes it somewhat overwhelming . At the same time the viewer is struck by the 2,200 shimmering panes of the upper glass structure that throughout the day reflect the sky and surrounding buildings . My ticket arrived with precise instructions : admission from 5.30 to 7.15pm . Concert begins 8pm . A 15-minute interval after about 60 minutes . At the end of the concert , at 10pm , a reception with drinks and a buffet in the foyers on the 12th and 13th floors . Entering the main auditorium reveals a number of surprises . At first it appears smaller than expected because its horizontal dimensions are not that large . But it slopes upwards very steeply , by 25 metres . Similar to the Berlin Philharmonie , the auditorium is arranged in ‘ vineyard ’ -style terraces around the orchestra . Every sound is crisp and clear .
And the acoustics particularly excel when individual singers and musicians perform from the higher balconies , like the oboe in Benjamin Britten ’ s ‘ Pan ’ right at the beginning , or when the countertenor Philippe Jaroussky performed with the harpist Margret Köll from the third tier . And when soprano Hanna-Elisabeth Müller sang the ‘ Ode to Joy ’, the sound of her voice carried beautifully . Originally it was due to be sung by Anja Hateros from Munich , but when she pulled out she was replaced by Camilla Tilling from Sweden . When she fell ill shortly before the premiere , another singer had to be found within 48 hours . Step forward the young Hanna-Elisabeth Müller ( born 1985 ). Winner of the Best Newcomer prize in 2014 , she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival under Christian Thielemann in that same year . Her voice lifted the whole auditorium : she was the highlight of the evening . All in all it was a wonderful experience and an evening I will remember forever . In short , I found that what makes a concert in our Elbphilharmonie such a unique and memorable experience is not just the auditorium or its acoustics , nor the glass structure or the plaza on the 8th floor with its amazing views of the harbour and city – no , it is the building in its entirety , with everything that goes with it . translation : Celia MooDy
Holger Jacobs
History 2001 - 2016
Alexander Gérard and his wife Jana Marko conceive the idea of turning Kaispeicher A , an old warehouse in the port of Hamburg , into a concert hall . Gérard takes it to a former university friend , Pierre Herzog , a partner in Herzog & de Meuron , probably the most famous architectural practice in the world . He comes up with the initial proposal of putting a glass structure on top of the warehouse . The plaza on the 8th floor opens on 4th November 2016 .
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