Interesting & unusual concert venues/theatres/cinemas/opera houses

[aeolium]

Prompted in part by Caliban's thread elsewhere on the Aspect Foundation and the 20th Century Theatre, I thought it would be worth having a thread for sharing experiences of performance venues that people have found interesting or out of the ordinary, or enjoyable as much for the character of the venue as the performance. I am not just thinking of concert halls but any performance venue, whether or not it was originally designed for performances.

For my part, I'd like to mention a couple of Gower churches which still bring to mind memorable summer evening concerts during Gower Festivals. The first is St Teilo's in Bishopston, at the head of a beautiful valley leading down to Pwll Du beach:

http://www.explore-gower.co.uk/explore/gower-history/gower-churches/bishopston-church

The other is St Illtyd's church in Ilston, also in a lovely setting and quite near the ruins of a Cromwellian chapel:

http://www.jlb2011.co.uk/walespic/archive/030605.htm

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks, aeolium - for completeness, here's a copy of that post about the Notting Hill venue

Very much enjoyed the concert this evening. The theatre has a very good acoustic for chamber music - sitting right at the back, nonetheless the sound was ideally clear, as were sight lines with the musicians sitting on the stage raised about 3 feet above floor level.



The whole slightly faded atmosphere and early 20th C style of the space made it entirely appropriate for the occasion - one could almost believe it was a little theatre in the back streets of central Prague... as it seems such an unusual building to find on one of the main 'strips' of Notting Hill

Amazing history, too - Dickens, Wilde, Olivier - even Margaret Rutherford, ammy - all have trodden the boards here...

http://www.20thcenturytheatre.com/20th_Century_Theatre/History.html

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/TwentiethCenturyTheatre.htm

[ardcarp]

One must mention the Minask Theatre in Cornwall where I have enjoyed A Midsummer Night's Dream (the play not the opera), Under Milkwood (brilliant!) and The Pirates of Penzance (in a force 8 gale).

[ChrisBennell]

The Holywell Music Room in Oxford deserves a mention, (and an investigation for those that are not familiar). It's reputed to be the oldest surviving concert hall in Europe, at over 250 years old - so old in fact that Haydn visited during his time in Oxford, I understand.

It has great acoustics, is superb for Chamber Music and recitals, and is a thriving venue. Players and audience alike, love it. We have been attending Coffee Concerts held on Sunday mornings, fairly regularly for more than 10 years - many of the UKs best players have played in this series. There are many other events too.

http://www.music.ox.ac.uk/about/facilities/holywell-music-room/

[Aotearoa]

After the earthquake our main venues for music were out of action. Apart from listening to a Shostakovitch symphony in a sports arena, we have the cardboard cathedral where the CSO performs:

http://www.cardboardcathedral.org.nz/

We also get to enjoy performances at the Air Force Museum at the old air force base in Wigram:

http://www.airforcemuseum.co.nz/

Acoustics are ok so I suppose we should just be lucky we have what we have.