Wrocław tuning up its cultural base
The city has long been able to boast a very attractive Music Academy: The Karol Lipinski Academy located in May First Square in the city center. But its lack of a concert hall has led to uncomfortable situations. When Kurt Mazur and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra arrived in 2000 for the city's millennium celebration, for example, they had to settle for the city's less-than-impressive "Hala Ludowa". Wrocław was not prepared to play host to such a prominent orchestra, nor to accommodate the legions of fans who came to listen to it.
Even Wrocław's famous Wratislavia Cantas music festival, for all its beauty, highlights the chasm between the music on offer and the lack of venues for its presentation. The number of seats in the Philharmonic in Wrocław is a paltry 0.7 per 1,000 residents. In the much smaller city of Bydgoszcz, in contrast, it is 3.6.
Dreams delayed - until now
Since the Karol Lipinski Music Academy's 1997 announcement of a competition financed by the Wrocław City Hall for the design of a new concert hall, including infrastructure, little progress has been made. But this November, mayor Rafał Dutkiewicz convened a committee of experts to examine in detail the prospects for construction of what could be a more than zł.120 million project. More importantly, the city guaranteed financing.
Plans call for a 2,500-seat concert hall that, in addition to being able to host - in style, finally - musicians from Poland and abroad, would serve the wider Wrocław academic community. According to the city, it would host international congresses, art exhibitions, and symposiums.
The construction is to be financed jointly by Wrocław's City Hall and the city's Ministry of Culture, but the exact amount of each party's contribution is not yet official. Additionally, minority financing will come from European Union funds. Construction is to begin early in 2004.
As the concert hall will be located in the heart of the city on land adjacent to and owned by the Academy of Music, the project's supporters say the site is ideal. Some have gone so far as to compare the academy and concert hall paring to similar venues in Paris, Rome, Vienna and Moscow.
If the plans finally move forward, Wrocław stands to reinforce its image as the region's cultural capital; the concert hall would be the largest in the Lower Silesia region.
By Leszek Rowers
Even Wrocław's famous Wratislavia Cantas music festival, for all its beauty, highlights the chasm between the music on offer and the lack of venues for its presentation. The number of seats in the Philharmonic in Wrocław is a paltry 0.7 per 1,000 residents. In the much smaller city of Bydgoszcz, in contrast, it is 3.6.
Dreams delayed - until now
Since the Karol Lipinski Music Academy's 1997 announcement of a competition financed by the Wrocław City Hall for the design of a new concert hall, including infrastructure, little progress has been made. But this November, mayor Rafał Dutkiewicz convened a committee of experts to examine in detail the prospects for construction of what could be a more than zł.120 million project. More importantly, the city guaranteed financing.
Plans call for a 2,500-seat concert hall that, in addition to being able to host - in style, finally - musicians from Poland and abroad, would serve the wider Wrocław academic community. According to the city, it would host international congresses, art exhibitions, and symposiums.
The construction is to be financed jointly by Wrocław's City Hall and the city's Ministry of Culture, but the exact amount of each party's contribution is not yet official. Additionally, minority financing will come from European Union funds. Construction is to begin early in 2004.
As the concert hall will be located in the heart of the city on land adjacent to and owned by the Academy of Music, the project's supporters say the site is ideal. Some have gone so far as to compare the academy and concert hall paring to similar venues in Paris, Rome, Vienna and Moscow.
If the plans finally move forward, Wrocław stands to reinforce its image as the region's cultural capital; the concert hall would be the largest in the Lower Silesia region.
By Leszek Rowers
