City Recital Hall in Sydney, Australia, is a purpose-built concert venue with the capacity for an audience of 1,238 people seated over three tiers of sloped seating. It is situated in the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

in Angel Place, just off Martin Place. City Recital Hall, opened in 1999, is the first specially designed concert venue to be built in the city since the Opera House in 1973. The role of City Recital Hall is to provide a high quality venue of international standing. The venue was initiated by the City of Sydney and was specifically designed for solo recitals,

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

and the spoken word. The auditorium's 1.8-second

reverberation Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...

time is attuned for chamber music. The spoken word and amplified music are accommodated by the operation of specially designed acoustic banners. The entire auditorium is supported on rubber bearings to avoid vibration and street sounds and the air conditioning and lighting systems have been treated to minimise external noise. The Hall was designed in a shoebox shape, based on the classical configuration of 19th-century European concert halls. The design includes gently sloping stalls and two galleries that wrap around both sides and rear of the auditorium. The décor is of grey,

gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...

, light timber panelling and plum-coloured upholstery. The main grand stairway is of white marble. City Recital Hall has hosted the following companies: * Australian Brandenburg Orchestra * Australian Chamber Orchestra *

Australian String Quartet The Australian String Quartet (ASQ) is a chamber music group founded in 1985 and based at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. It delivers an artistic program of performances, workshops, commissions, digital content and education projects ...

* Gondwana Voices * Musica Viva Australia * Pinchgut Opera * Selby & Friends *

Sydney Children's Choir Gondwana Choirs is an Australian national choral organisation. It was founded in 1989 as Sydney Children’s Choir by Lyn Williams AM, who is its artistic director. The choirs' rehearsal studios are located at the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct in ...

Sydney Festival Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney that runs for three weeks every January, since it was established in 1977. The festival program features in excess of 100 events from local and international artists an ...

* Sydney Philharmonia Choirs * Sydney Symphony *

Sydney Writers Festival The Sydney Writers' Festival is an annual literary festival held in Sydney, with the inaugural festival taking place in 1997. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The festival's interim artistic director sin ...

External links

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Official City Recital Hall websiteReview of the new book "Musical Chairs: The Quest for a City Recital Hall"
Concert halls in Australia Theatres in Sydney Music venues completed in 1999 Music venues in Sydney 1999 establishments in Australia

See also

Further reading

External links