Usher Hall 15 August 2022 - Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner, and Víkingur Ólafsson | GoComGo.com

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner, and Víkingur Ólafsson

Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland
All photos (1)
Select date and time
7:30 PM
Request for Tickets
Important Info
Type: Classical Concert
City: Edinburgh, Scotland
Starts at: 19:30

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Festival

Edinburgh International Festival 2022

This was a very special year, marking the 75th anniversary, the first full-scale Festival since 2019, and the Festival Director Fergus Linehan’s final Festival after eight years. Hosting familiar friends of the Festival alongside many artists making their debuts, it was wonderful to welcome the world to Edinburgh once more.

Programme
Maurice Ravel: La Valse
Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.54
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances
Overview

The spirit of the dance and passionate emotions join in the captivating second International Festival concert from the Bergen Phiharmonic Orchestra and Principal Conductor Edward Gardner, featuring brilliant Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson as soloist in the romantic richness of Schumann’s lyrical Piano Concerto.

Venue Info

Usher Hall - Edinburgh
Location   Lothian Rd

The Usher Hall is a concert hall in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has hosted concerts and events since its construction in 1914 and can hold approximately 2,200 people in its recently restored auditorium, which is well loved by performers due to its acoustics. The Hall is flanked by The Royal Lyceum Theatre on the right and The Traverse Theatre on the left. Historic Environment Scotland has registered the Hall with Category A listed building status.

The construction of the hall was funded by Andrew Usher, a whisky distiller and blender, who donated £100,000 to the city specifically to fund a new concert hall. The choice of site caused early delays but in 1910 an architectural competition was announced with the requirement that the hall be simple but dignified. The winning bid (one of 130 entries) came from Stockdale Harrison & Howard H Thomson of Leicester. The design was partly a backlash against Victorian Gothic, with a return to classical features owing much to the Beaux-Arts style. On 19 July 1911, George V and Queen Mary laid two memorial stones, an event attended by over a thousand people. 'Municipal Benificence'- one of the sculpted figures on the facade of the Hall Its curved walls, unusual for the time, were made possible by developments in reinforced concrete. The dome was designed to reflect the curvature of the walls, not to give a domed interior (which would have been acoustically disastrous). The interior of the hall is adorned with decorative plaster panels by the Edinburgh sculptor Harry Gamley. The figures depicted in these panels show figures from the world of music, as well as famous Scots. These include: Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Allan Ramsay, R L Stevenson, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms, Edvard Grieg and Anton Rubinstein. Harry Gamley's work also features on the outside of the building with two large figures representing Inspiration and Achievement, as well as another three figures by Crossland McClure depicting the Soul of Music, Music of the Sea and Music of the Woods. The finished building was officially opened on 16 March 1914 with a concert featuring music by Handel, Bach, Wagner, Beethoven and the Scottish composer Hamish MacCunn. The final cost of building the Usher Hall was £134,000. Andrew Usher died before building work was started.

Important Info
Type: Classical Concert
City: Edinburgh, Scotland
Starts at: 19:30
Top of page