“Rather cleverly, festival director Alex Poots has brought the baroque bang up to date by commissioning a new concert space specifically for the performance of the great German composer. The architect he chose is that most radical of thinkers Zaha Hadid, currently designing the Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics. The result is an auditorium unlike any other. Inside a plain exhibition room at Manchester Art Gallery, Hadid has created a white, ribbon-like structure that swirls around the black room, enveloping both the audience and the stage. The surface is made of a special artificial fabric (apparently it has to be cleaned with the inside of a baguette) and the interior contains acoustic panels. The aim, according to Poots, was to create the perfect environment for listening to Bach. And in that Hadid and acousticians Sandy Browne Associates have pretty well succeeded.”

http://www.manchestergalleries.org/whats-on/exhibitions/index.php?itemID=54

http://www.manchestergalleries.org/whats-on/exhibitions/index.php?itemID=54

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/jul/01/zaha-hadid-bach-salon-architecture

Any of you Brits went there? It might be interesting….