Arup Announces Grand Opening of National Music Forum, Poland

	National Music Forum n Wroclaw Poland

Arup, a worldwide design and engineering firms with a reputation for innovative acoustics, theatre, and audio-visual design, announces the opening of the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw Poland on September 4, 2015. The opening gala event was followed by the start of the celebrated Wratislavia Cantans Festival on September 6, 2015, followed by a performance of Mahler's 9th Symphony by the Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta on September 7. These are immediately followed by performances by Il Giardino Armonico with Giovanni Antonini, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, and others.

The multi-venue facility includes an 1,800-seat concert hall; three chamber halls intended for chamber orchestra, chamber music, pop, and jazz performances; and spaces for the facility's ten resident companies and seven resident festivals. Arup provided pre-design planning, auditorium design, theatre consulting, acoustic consulting, and theatre technical systems design services as part of the specialist client advisory services. Pre-design planning services included visioning of the facility, programming, feasibility consulting, cost consulting, operations and business case consulting, and architectural competition support around core services in the area of designing for the performing arts.

"The National Forum of Music has been a decade in the making and we are ecstatic the opening date is here," said Dr. Andrzej Kosendiak, CEO of National Forum of Music and the project's visionary leader from the outset. "Arup's support, advice, global experience, and multidisciplinary skillset were indispensable throughout development. We chose them for the amazing track record they have in concert hall design around the world and they've really delivered a fantastic facility for us. They've been a great partner in this project."

The National Forum of Music is the new home to several resident orchestra and ensembles including the National Forum of Music Orchestra, the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, the Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra, the Lutoslawski Quartet, and the Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir. In addition to the Wratislavia Cantans Festival, it will also host other internationally recognized festivals such as Musica Polonica Nova, Musica Electronica Nova, Leo Festival, Jazztopad, and Forum Musicum, as well as hosting performances by major touring ensembles and orchestras. The musical life of Wroclaw is particularly active, covering a very broad spectrum of genres, and the life of this facility has been specifically designed to meet this challenge at the highest artistic level. The hall is expected to host concerts by leading ensembles and artists worldwide, and first season invitees include Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, as well as the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C., London Symphony Orchestra, and Vienna Philharmonic.

"What an honor it was to conduct the first notes ever heard in the National Forum of Music hall. Even before any acoustic adjustment one feels immediately a great warmth in the sound and a natural balance in the large space, and yet for the audience the feeling is one of intimacy," said Paul McCreesh, director Gabrieli consort and players London principal conductor, Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon. "When the large choir sang I was truly amazed how that sound too is so clear and focused and sails over the orchestra into the hall. How happy we all went away at the end of that week. A beautiful Elgar gerontius in our hearts. And delighted that all the ingredients are there to make the National Forum of Music one of Europe's great halls."

The Arup team (with Artec Consultants Inc., integrated into Arup since 2013) is known for its acoustics and theatre design at the highest international level. The team's resume of concert halls and opera houses includes a range of design services provided for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK; Salle Pleyel Renovation in Paris, France; the Oslo Opera House in Oslo, Norway; the Maison Symphonique in Montréal; the Sage - Gateshead in Newcastle, UK; HARPA in Reykjavik, Iceland; the Stormen Concert House and Library (Stormen Konserthus og Bibliotek) in Bodo, Norway; Culture and Congress Center in Lucerne, Switzerland; the Arscht Center in Miami, USA; and Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay in Singapore. Projects currently underway include the New Salle Modulable Theatre in Lucerne, Switzerland; the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre in Athens, Greece; the Grand Théatre de Rabat, in Morocco; and the Winspear Center Recital Hall Expansion in Edmonton, Canada.

"This project has been an interesting and enriching process for us. We have worked with this forward-looking city and organization to develop a world class facility that simultaneously offers the community a platform to truly appreciate and build on its incredibly rich and active musical history, which will also take its place on the world stage as a cultural capital of Europe," said Tateo Nakajima, principal and project director for Arup. "Most exciting of all has been the opportunity to work with Dr. Kosendiak and his team on the acoustics and theatre design of the concert hall, while developing a tailored sound experience. Exploring the opportunity to shape the quality of life in our cities through the arts is a key strategic focus for Arup, and we are extremely pleased that the process has been met with such a successful outcome."

Arup's team on the National Forum of Music included IMG Artists of London, and Davis Langdon of New York. The architect on the project was APAKA/Kurylowicz & Associates of Warsaw.

"We are very pleased to be able to support the city in this landmark project," said Andrzej Kamler, Arup director responsible for providing construction engineering support to the City of Wroclaw for this project. "Arts and culture projects are part of Arup's heritage starting from the Sydney Opera House, which was one of our first internationally recognized landmark buildings. We're known for supporting our clients with multidisciplinary international expertise delivered locally, and we're very proud to have been able to contribute our experience to such an important project for the community and the country."

Arup will be celebrating 15 years in Poland in 2015 and currently has more than 200 staff based in its Krakow, Warsaw and Wroclaw offices.