was a concert hall, in Kita-ku, Osaka

Kita-ku, Osaka

is one of 24 wards of Osaka, Japan.-Economy:West Japan Railway Company has its headquarters in Kita-ku. Nihon Bussan has its headquarters in Kita-ku. Dentsu and Yomiuri Shimbun have branch offices in Kita-ku. Mazda has an office in the Umeda Sky Building Tower East. Air France has an office on the...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The Hall seats 2,709 patrons and is home to the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra

Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra

The is a classical orchestra based in Osaka, Japan. Founded in 1947 as the Kansai Symphony Orchestra, it took its current name in 1960. Founder Takashi Asahina conducted the orchestra for 55 years from its creation until 2001....

.

It was run by the Asahi Building Co., Ltd., a Japanese real estate company controlling properties of the Asahi Shimbun Company

Asahi Shimbun

The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...

, and is housed in the Shin Asahi Building, an office complex.

Osaka Festival Hall was opened in 1958, especially for the first Osaka International Festival.

The Shin Asahi Building is currently planned to renovate to a skyscraper, which was announced in April 2007, by Asahi Shinbun Company, a group company include Asahi Building Co., Ltd. In that plan, the building started reconstruct in 2009, and the construction will complete in late 2010s.

The Festival Hall had such a great acoustic characteristic, loved by lots of renowned musicians, which many of them expressed strong concerns on reconstruction of the Hall.

The Festival Hall was closed on December 30, 2008, and currently under reconstruction of a new musical hall, the same size as the former Festival Hall.

External links

• Festival Hall Official Website

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