Maison symphonique de Montreal
Purpose-built 2,100-seat concert hall at Place des Arts, home of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
The Maison symphonique opened on 7 September 2011 as the first hall in Montreal built specifically for symphonic music, ending decades in which the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal played in the multipurpose Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier next door. Jack Diamond of Diamond Schmitt Architects designed it as a shoebox-shaped room lined in Quebec beech, with vineyard-style balconies wrapped around the platform and adjustable acoustic curtains and canopy that let the reverberation be tuned to different repertoire.
The hall seats about 2,100 and sits at the north-east corner of the Place des Arts complex, above the Quartier des spectacles. In 2014 a four-manual Casavant Freres organ, the Grand Orgue Pierre-Beique, was installed behind the platform with 83 ranks and some 6,489 pipes. Besides the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal, the room is used by the Orchestre Metropolitain, I Musici de Montreal, Les Violons du Roy and visiting ensembles, and hosts jazz and popular programmes.
Highlights
- Shoebox hall lined in Quebec beech with vineyard-style balconies
- Grand Orgue Pierre-Beique, a Casavant Freres organ of 6,489 pipes
- Adjustable acoustic curtains and canopy for tuning the room
- Resident home of the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal
