RCM- Koerner Hall-Gala Opening
A swank evening indeed! I’m glad I wore my "UrbanToronto" formal t-shirt with matching cummerbund. I was reminded of what a diversity of experience this city offers; on my way to the RCM, I stopped to watch a little of the football game at Varsity Stadium next door. So cool to have them as neighbours.
There was a crowd in front of the RCM, but not the crowd I expected to see. The faculty had gathered to quietly remind us that the RCM is a teaching institution, and that, well, let me quote a letter posted on the Globe and Mail website:
“
The Royal Conservatory of Music first and foremost is a school, an educational institution, a place where one-on-one mentoring and learning takes place in the same way that it has for a century, and without its teachers it is just a pile of concrete and wood, no matter how fastidiously designed or admirably extravagant.
That Mr. Simon has saddled that institution with an enormous, hopeless debt load while at the same time keeping its teachers marooned at their traditional poverty level speaks volumes: a visionary, or just a brass-balled bully fortunate enough to have altruists as adversaries?”
The building is as elegant on the inside as it is from the outside, the marriage between the old and new continues up the wide marble stairs into the atrium that has the old building on one side and the new on the other, overlooking the café beneath. Two young musicians appeared on the little balconies overlooking the café to play a fanfare, announcing the performance was about to begin, a nice, dramatic touch.
I bought my ticket the day they were released for sale and, on a whim, decided to sit as far away from the stage as I could get, reasoning that if the hall sounded good from there, it would sound good from anywhere. My seat was on the second balcony, two rows from the back. The view of the stage was far better than I’d hoped, perfect actually; it seemed a lot closer than I thought it would.
The wood ribbon canopy was even closer and yes, I could see the canoe shapes, but from my viewpoint it reminded me of a basket in the process of being woven; it’s dynamic and does an excellent job of hiding all the practical lighting stuff from view. The single row of seats that circle the 2nd balcony are fixed in single file; I thought it strange that you can’t swivel them. People who sat in them we’re sitting as if on a bus, staring straight ahead rather than at the stage.
The evening opened with the National Anthem sung by part of the Mendelssohn Choir and accompanied by the entire orchestra. And I detected a problem; they sounded muffled, the orchestra not as clear as I’d hoped. This was followed by a number of worthies delivering short speeches of which I heard only every third word. I attributed it to a wonky sound system. The “wonks” were exorcised during the intermission and the rest of the speakers were clearly audible.
“Spirits of the House” by R.Murray Schafer, a new work commissioned especially for the opening of Koerner Hall, began the performance. It was my favourite piece of the evening. If they wanted to put the hall through its paces, Schafer’s piece, an evocative sampling of former RCM composers and teachers, was the perfect “test drive”. He had musicians all over the hall, with some of the choir outside the hall, so the sound came from everywhere and nowhere. Bloody perfect, I thought. (I won’t comment on every performance I saw; this is just a general take on the evening.)
At intermission, I moved from level to level, admiring the views of the ROM and Philosopher’s Walk, somewhat obscured by the glare on the glass. I want to come back during the day to see it better. Later, after the concert was over, we were treated to glasses of bubbly and I got to wander on to the cantilevered balcony that affords a terrific view of the CN Tower and the lush greenery of the Walk. It became my favourite place.
After the interval, we saw a short film on Glen Gould, the RCM’s most famous product, and a presentation of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy ended the evening. All new buildings should be baptized in Beethoven.
I’m inferring from what I heard around me that everyone in the hall was, like me, anxiously listening for success; we wanted this new hall to be perfect from the get-go. It isn’t yet. It’s not like the Four Seasons Centre; from the very first note at the first concert I KNEW we had something special. The musicians have to get used to playing in Koerner Hall, the audience has to discover what the hall is capable of producing, and the hall has to get used to having people in it. I’m a strong believer in what I call “architectural animism”, something Schafer understands. I believe that buildings become alive as lives are led within it. I look forward to adding my bit of life to the mix.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/koerner-hall-gutsy-vision-great-vibrations/article1301660/
