Melbourne Recital Centre
Encyclopedia
The Melbourne Recital Centre is Melbourne's second largest auditorium for classical music (after Hamer Hall in The Arts Centre
The Arts Centre (Melbourne)
The Victorian Arts Centre is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the inner Melbourne suburb of Southbank in Victoria, Australia....

). It was opened in 2009, as part of the Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre complex, and is located on the corner of Southbank Boulevard and Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct
Melbourne Arts Precinct
The Melbourne Arts Precinct is a series of galleries, performing arts venues and spaces in Melbourne, Victoria, in Australia. The precinct is situated less than 1 km from the Melbourne city centre in Southbank and is centred around, and near, St Kilda Road...

, Southbank
Southbank, Victoria
Southbank is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located direct south of the Yarra River opposite Melbourne's Hoddle Grid. The northernmost area is considered part of the Central Business District and Central Activities District of the city. Its Local Government Area are the...

.

Facilities

The hall features two auditoriums, the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, and a smaller venue known as The Salon. The former, a "modified shoe box" shaped music venue, is named after Dame Elisabeth Murdoch
Elisabeth Murdoch (senior)
Dame Elisabeth Joy Murdoch AC, DBE is an Australian philanthropist. She is the widow of Australian newspaper publisher Sir Keith Murdoch, and the mother of international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch. When Keith Murdoch was knighted, in 1933, she was styled Lady Murdoch...

, its principal patron. It has seating for 1000 on two levels and was designed by Ashton Raggat McDougall with acoustic consulting by Arup Acoustics.

The 135 m² (1,453.1 sq ft) stage, with optional 51 m² (549 sq ft) extension is designed to accommodate up to 45 musicians, making it better suited to chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 rather than an orchestra. To eliminate noise from the nearby Southbank Boulevard cars and trams, it is surrounded by 250mm of concrete, mounted on 38 steel springs. The interior is lined with Hoop Pine plywood and is designed to give ideal bass response for cello and low brass.

The Salon, a flexible venue intended for contemporary performances, can seat 132 people. The lighting, seating and stage can be reconfigured.

Building awards

The Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre complex won the Moore Stephens National Award for Public Buildings at the Property Council of Australia – the country's highest award for a public building. The complex also won the Victorian Architecture Medal, the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture and the Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design at the Australian Institute of Architects State Architecture Awards in 2009.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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