Guildhall - Milton Court

[ardcarp]

I had a tour of the 'new' Guildhall School of Music and Drama buildings at Milton Court...not far from the old Silk Street premises. It is impressive, with a fine concert hall, the best-eqipped-for-teaching drama studios in Europe, new Steinways, etc, etc. If a student wished to study 'where it's all at' and not mind living in a totally built environment...the sky seems a long way off...it couldn't be better.

Apparently 'the city' gave the School a £90m patch of land, and the developers created the Milton Court premises on the bottom few levels for free in return for being able to build some of the most expensive flats in the universe in the sky space above.

The day was topped off with a great Chopin recital from young artist Ashlet Fripp...a name to watch.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I know a design engineer who was given a tour. He tells me the auditoria are all physically isolated (dampers or some such) from the building in which they sit. That there is a multi level theatre in the complex which is for teaching only - very little audience space. And all levels, including the lighting rigs, are fully wheelchair accessible. I think there must also be another theatre as well as the concert hall? The concert hall is a similar size to Kings Place.

Perhaps currently London only lacks a top flight full size concert hall (as discussed elsewhere on these boards (Rattle, Barbican, et al).

I'm not acquainted with the original Guildhall complex but looking at it from the Barbican walkways it seems quite confined - if so, no wonder they needed room to expand.

[Beresford]

Milton Court sounds interesting! I like the sound quality in King's Place, EXCEPT for the air-conditioning noise during quiet passages. I wish someone would be brave enough to turn it off for some concerts. When the hall is half full the aircon isn't needed - it just makes me feel cold. Would any performer be rash enough to insist it be switched on only at the interval?