''Musikhuset Aarhus'' (Aarhus Concert Hall) is a large concert hall complex in
Aarhus, Denmark. Located in the city centre, Musikhuset is Aarhus' main venue for music and with seating for more than 3,600 people in total, it is the largest concert hall in Scandinavia. Musikhuset Aarhus was designed by Kjær & Richter and built in 1979-1982, commissioned by
Aarhus Municipality
Aarhus Municipality ( da, Aarhus Kommune), known as Århus Municipality ( da, Århus Kommune) until 2011, is a municipality in Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark.
The municipality covers an area ...
.
The surroundings are designed by
landscape architect Sven Hansen. In front of the main glass foyer is the
Concert Hall Park (''Musikhusparken''), a sculpture and
parterre garden of
boxwood
''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood.
The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...
with flowers, fountains and small seclusive corners with benches. A recreational lawn connects the park area with the
City Hall Park
City Hall Park is a public park surrounding New York City Hall in the Civic Center of Manhattan. It was the town commons of the nascent city of New York.
History
17th century
David Provoost was an officer in the Dutch West India Compan ...
. Between the concert halls and the adjacent
ARoS art museum is a cobblestone amphitheatre hosting outdoor events and gatherings throughout the year.
The building complex
All in all, Musikhuset comprise six concert halls, nine stages and hosts more than 1,500 events every year for an audience close to half a million people.
Musikhuset is built and equipped to also allow cultural experiences of a high quality for wheelchair users, the blind and people with hearing or vision impairments.
A lofty 2,000 m² foyer with glass facades on three sides, leads into an anteroom and then into the main auditorium of ''Store Sal'' (Large Hall). The foyer occasionally hosts shows, concerts, exhibitions and business arrangements and can house up to 1,000 standing guest or 700 seated. It is home to café and restaurant "johan r.", named after Johan Richter, the concert halls original architect. The restaurant has a small scene of its own, arranging about 300 free concerts annually. With its fully equipped stage, the main auditorium is designed for concerts, opera, ballet and musicals, but also large assemblies and meetings are held here and has seating for nearly 1,600 people. In 2011, Danish artist Mogens Gissel redecorated it in "wine red, curry yellow, mouse grey, nut brown, azure blue and pitch black".
Rock 'n' Roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
hall of Musikhuset, designed for rhythmic music specifically. ''Kammermusiksalen'' (The Chamber Music Hall) is constructed for chamber music, with wooden floors, light colours and a wall-sized window section for sunlight. With seating for 100 guests this hall is also used for meetings, lectures and warm-up events of various kinds.