Investment in Concert House - The Bamberger Symphoniker's concert venue needs to be renovated
The Bamberg Concert and Congress Hall, venue of the Bamberg Symphonizers, needs renovation. The necessary construction measures will be determined in the next two years through a feasibility study, as the city of Bamberg announced. The talk is of "extensive investment measures."
The question of the costs was left open by the city and the operator of the Concert and Congress Hall, Bamberg Congress + Event GmbH. "Whether 60 million Marks will be enough, we'll have to wait," said Mayor Andreas Starke (SPD) in reference to the costs of the new building about 30 years ago.
The focus is on the Electroacoustic Loudspeaker System (ELA), which is installed throughout the building and also triggers the alarm in case of emergency, said Dominik Nakic, Managing Director of Bamberg Congress + Event GmbH. The system is three decades old and has clocked 260,000 operating hours. Since the system is installed throughout the building and intertwined with other components, the building needs extensive renovation, explained Nakic.
It's unclear what the renovation means for the Bamberg Symphonizers. A temporary venue is not currently planned. The goal of the feasibility study is, among other things, to bring the concerts of the Bamberg Symphonizers in line with the construction site, said Mayor Starke.
Intendant: Renovation in partial sections desirable
Marcus Rudolf Axt, Intendant of the Symphonizers, desires "renovation in partial sections, which allows for a seasonal operation between individual construction phases." With longer summer breaks, shortened concert seasons, and extensive tours, the Symphonizers could bridge occasional sections of a fully closed hall, thought Axt.
The Concert and Congress Hall is located on the Regnitz River and went into operation in 1993. It is not only the venue for the Symphonizers' concerts, but also houses the orchestra's administration and rehearsal rooms.
Finding alternative venues in the cultural sector is a complex matter - as can be seen in two neighboring cities of Bamberg: In Nuremberg, the decision was made only recently on how the replacement venue for the ballet and opera of the State Theater should look. Since the multi-year renovation of the opera house in the city center is underway, it is planned to be built on the site of the former NS Congress Hall. Only when the replacement venue is in operation can the opera house be renovated.
In Coburg, the Globe Theatre went into operation last autumn - it serves as quarters for the State Theater, whose main building also needs to be renovated. The work on the historic building could take several years.
- The renovation of the Bamberg Concert and Congress Hall, a significant cultural venue in Bavaria, will likely incur substantial investment costs.
- The Mayor of Bamberg, Andreas Starke from the SDP, mentioned that a feasibility study will determine the renovation details, including potential construction costs for the Bamberg Symphonizers' venue.
- Initiated by Bamberg Congress + Event GmbH, the focus of the renovation project includes updating the Electroacoustic Loudspeaker System (ELA) installed throughout the Concert and Congress Hall, which has served the venue for over three decades.
- The renovation project will significantly affect the Bamberg Symphonizers, as finding a suitable temporary venue during the construction phase is currently not planned.
- Just like Bamberg and its Concert and Congress Hall, neighboring cities like Nuremberg and Coburg also face complex tasks related to finding alternative venues for their cultural entities, such as the ballet and opera, while undergoing extensive renovations.
