Concordia Hall was a

music venue A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from a small coffeehouse for folk music shows, an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Ty ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. It was founded in 1866 by

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

from the largest immigrant community in that city. It was the location for readings by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

in 1868, during his second visit to America., and other visiting lecturers and musical groups, and the site of civic events. Concordia Hall was located on

Eutaw Street Eutaw Street is a major street in Baltimore, Maryland, mostly within the downtown area. Outside of downtown, it is mostly known as Eutaw Place. The south end of Eutaw Street is at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. After this point, the street continue ...

, south of German Street (now known as

Redwood Street This is a list of WP:Notability, notable streets in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States. A B C D E F G H Heath St. Route 64. (MTA Maryland) K L M N O P R Ramsay st S U ...

). The great Yiddish actor,

Boris Thomashefsky Boris Thomashefsky (russian: Борис Пинхасович Томашевский, sometimes written Thomashevsky, Thomaschevsky, etc.; yi, באָריס טאָמאשעבסקי) (1868–1939), born Boruch-Aharon Thomashefsky, was a Ukrainian-b ...

, came to Baltimore in the mid-1880s and gave what was probably the first performance of

Yiddish theater Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revu ...

in Baltimore at Concordia Hall. In his autobiography he left a description of the Hall: :"...Concordia Hall, the aristocratic club of the Baltimore German Jews. The Hall was truly a beauty. No more beautiful hall have I seen even up to the present day. There were more than one thousand seats, true theater seats. The hall was decorated all in gold. The seats were gilded and covered in red velvet. The floors were spread with expensive carpets. The stage was also gorgeous, bedecked with expensive decorations. Huge gilt chandeliers lit the beautiful interior. The dressing rooms were spacious, airy and lavishly furnished. The entry to the theater was truly magnificent. Wide steps of white marble with six marble columns on each side just like the White House in Washington. It was in this spectacular palace where we would play our first Yiddish performance." (''Translation by Daniel Setzer'')Thomashefsky, Boris, "Mein Lebens-Geschichte", Trio Press, New York, 1937 p.168 A fire destroyed the Corcordia in 1891.

References

Downtown Baltimore Music venues in Baltimore Former music venues in the United States German-Jewish culture in Baltimore Jewish theatres 1866 establishments in Maryland Event venues established in 1866 Event venues disestablished in the 19th century Yiddish culture in Maryland Yiddish theatre in the United States {{music-venue-stub