Philharmonie Luxembourg

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Coordinates: 49°37′06″N, 06°08′32″E The Grande-Duchesse Joséphine-Charlotte Concert Hall (French: Salle de Concerts Grande-Duchesse Joséphine-Charlotte), known more usually as the Philharmonie Luxembourg, is a concert hall in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. The hall is located in the Kirchberg quarter, in the north-east of the city. Its principal tenant is Luxembourg's national orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Designed by French Pritzker Prize-winner Christian de Portzamparc, the building is in the shape of an oval, and its external appearance is provided by a colonnade screen formed by 823 steel columns.[1] Stretching 126 metres (384 ft) at maximum length, and 109 at maximum width, the building dominates the Place de l'Europe. The building cost €113,500,000, and is owned by Luxembourg's Ministry for Public Works.[2] The grand auditorium has a maximum capacity of 1,506 seats, but the standard capacity is set at 1,226.[1] Even at that reduced size, the auditorium is large for a city with a population of under 80,000. Two further halls, with capacities of 302 and 120 people, increase the capacity of the site further.[1]

The Philharmonie concert organ was constructed and installed by the Karl Schuke Berliner Orgelbauwerkstatt. The pipe organ features 4 manuals plus 2.5 octave pedalboard, 81 registers, and 6738 pipes.[3]

The Philharmonie Luxembourg is one of a series of major public cultural centres built by the Luxembourgian government in recent years. The project was launched in 1995, the year in which Luxembourg City was last European City of Culture, with a view to it being completed by the time Luxembourg would hold the honour (which, unknown at the time, it will in 2007).[4] The building was inaugurated on 26 June 2005, as a culmination of Luxembourg's six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union.

It is named for Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte, the consort of former Grand Duke Jean. Joséphine-Charlotte died on 10 January 2005: five months before the concert hall's grand opening.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c (French) Salle de Concerts Grande-Duchesse Joséphine Charlotte. Kirchberg Online. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
  2. ^ Philharmonie Luxembourg (2005). Structurae.de. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
  3. ^ The Organ. Philharmonie Luxembourg. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
  4. ^ Opening Speech, François Biltgen. Philharmonie Luxembourg. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.

[edit] External links

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