The European Concert Halls Tour

September 27, 2022

The European Concert Halls Tour

Paris: Philharmonie Hall

Every few years, I embark on a European concert tour. The concerts are held in various concert halls.

For the past few years, I've considered doing a European concert tour based on concert halls where I'd love to perform. The concerts would all be recorded as a series, with one album release for, and named after, each concert hall.

Elbphilharmonie; Hamburg, Germany

No two concert halls sound the same, and the acoustic environment of a concert performance space can and does impact the performance. In that spirit, even if some of the same pieces were performed at more than one venue, the performances would not be the same. I envision that all concerts would be recorded, resulting in an album release from each concert hall performance.

I've spoken about this idea to one of my European collaborators. Ideally, I'd do a solo set, and then a duo set with one or more of my European partners. There are not any concrete plans in place for this tour, but I would love to see it come to fruition.

Additionally, I'm a student of architecture, and it would be a real treat to have some time inside each of these halls. Whenever I'm on tour, I always wander around inside the concert halls after the sound checks. The halls are all empty, as the audience has yet to arrive. It's wonderful to see each concert hall, both from the audience perspective and from the stage and the sometimes historic backstage areas.

In the meantime, this post contains a few of the European concert halls that would be on the tour.

Paris: Philharmonie Hall and La Seine Musical
Tours, France: La Grange de Meslay
Hamburg, Germany: Elbphilharmonie
Bavaria: Blaibach Concert Hall
Szczecin, Poland: Szczecin Philharmonic Hall

La Seine Musical; Paris

Blaibach Concert Hall/Germany

The Blaibach Hall is unusual as it is built underground. I love the concrete minimalist interior and the light treatments.

Blaibach Hall: entrance

Blaibach Concert Hall; Germany

La Grange de Meslay/France

One very special venue that was not built to be a concert hall at all is La Grange de Meslay. It hosts an annual music festival in this converted stone barn built in 1081 near Tours, France.

La Grange de Meslay (1081; France)

La Grange de Meslay (stage and interior)

Szczecin Philharmonic/Poland

Szczecin Philharmonic Hall is another unusual concert hall concept, with the austere but striking exterior of white glass blocks. The interior employs large triangular panels for acoustic diffusion. More info in this video.