I would find it very hard to believe that anyone of us was prepared to find such a concentration of famous buildings in our new city. An abundance of structures that were heavily discussed in our Analysis and Theory classes are only minutes away, often by foot. Many of us first became aware of Piano’s Parco della Musica after someone undertook the project for their structure’s model. A ten-minute cab ride was enough to see it in person.
On Friday, September 3rd, many of us had the pleasure ofexperiencing Beethoven’s first three symphonies conducted by the famous Kurt Masur (for more than ten years, head of the New York Philharmonic). The evening’s program was part of a complete cycle of all of Beethoven’s symphonies performed by the Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. The concert took place in the Sala Santa Cecilia, the largest of the three impressive concert halls by Renzo Piano that form the complex.
The most prominent feature of the Sala Santa Cecilia is the ceiling design that employs heavily protruding volumes that create inverted canyons in the ceiling (a design that addresses acoustic requirements). American cherry laminates the entire concert hall. To the dissatisfaction of some, a view of the ceiling is not available from all seats. Seated in the center rear balcony area, one doesn’t get a view of the ceiling’s beautiful design. This is very unfortunate as the spot and diffuse lighting on the wooden protruding volumes account for the entire ambiance of the concert hall.
The overall appearance is very orange, as all photographs of this space illustrate. Hundreds of electrical cables and structural members descend from above the orchestra to allow microphones, acoustic panels and lights to be correctly positioned. All cables pierce through the wooden volumes and create constellation of holes in the otherwise very smooth and regular surface. Seeing this, I couldn’t help but imagine the space modeled in Ecotect Analysis (a software partially used to map lighting and acoustics), trying to find the best angle and shape for the acoustic panels while observing the paths of all the primary and secondary sound vectors. Some day, I would like to design a concert hall.
For those who might have missed out on the first concerts, you may still attend the 4th and 5th symphonies on the Thursday, Sept 9th or Friday, Sept. 10th; symphonies n.6 and n.7 on Thursday, Sept. 16th or Friday, Sept. 17th; symphonies n. 8 and n.9 on Thursday, Sept 23rd or Friday, Sept 24th.