'New Crowct Helps Fill a Paris Concert Hall

INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES Pays : Etats-unis Date : 29 NOV 17 Périodicité : Quotidien Journaliste : FARAH NAYERI OJD : 15049

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'New crowcT helps fill a Paris concert hall With eclectic offerings, Philharmonie de Paris draws new audiences BY FARAH NAYERI "from first impressions," the concert cal-music audience lived in the west of hall "seems acoustically marvelous," Paris, where the more privileged Until 2015, most world-class orchestras though he noted that "its true character classes and the older segments of the and soloists invited to Paris performed will take time to émerge." population lived." Classical music, he at the Salle Pleyel, an Art Deco concert He recalled the challenges of getting said, "was characterized as an art that hall near the Champs-Elysées in the up- the hall built, and concluded, "If the hall concerned mostly an elite, and mostly scale Eighth Arrondissement. Concerts fulfills its potential, this risky move older people." were attended by a largely affluent and could be a momentous breakthrough for The new hall is proving the skeptics well-groomed crowd, middle-age and a troubled field." wrong, he said, noting that concerts in older. The complex would neither exist nor the main auditorium (all genres com- Today, top-tier orchestras and per- function without hefty subsidies. The bined) run at 95 percent capacity on av- formers play at the Philharmonie de new Philharmonie building, a sprawling erage, up from 85 to 90 percent at the Paris, a 2,400-seat concert hall in the edifice designed by the Pritzker Prize- smaller Salle Pleyel. While Pleyel audi- working-class 19th Arrondissement, on winning architect Jean Nouvel over- ences came chiefly from Paris's wealthi- the capital's northeastern rim. er west, the Philharmonie is pulling in Before the Philharmonie's January looking the Parc de la Villette, cost 386 patrons from all over Paris and its im- million euros (about $450 million) in 2015 opening, there were widespread médiate suburbs, thanks to a diverse taxpayers' money, nearly twice the orig- program. fears that Paris's classical-music pa- inal estimate. (Mr. Nouvel has disassoci- trons would balk at traveling to a blue- "We avoided concentrating exclu- ated himself from the finished building, sively on classical music," Mr. Bayle ex- collar area to bear music. "This was saying he was prevented from making a risky: I also was worrying about how plained. "If you program 500 concerts a final set of modifications to it, and he is year, and they're all performances of the they could bring the audience," said engaged in legal proceedings against Christoph Lieben-Seutter, general and 19th-century classical répertoire, there the Philharmonie to ensure that these will come a time when you'll end up see- artistic director of the 2,100-seat Elbphil- modifications are made and to establish harmonie in Hamburg, Germany, which ing the same audiences over and over." that neither he nor his agency are re- Pricing has also played a central rôle. opened this year. "We were all asking, sponsible for construction delays and 'Will this work?'" Roughly half of all concert tickets cost cost overruns, said Mr. Nouvel's lawyer, €40 or more; the other half are €30 or "And it dees," Mr. Lieben-Seutter add- William Bourdon.) ed. "They really succeeded in getting a less. The priciest classical-music tickets For its everyday operations, the Phil- are €100 to €110 (with exceptions two or new crowd of people, also from their harmonie receives an annual tax- area, younger people. And they have three limes a year, when they go as high funded subsidy of around €40 million, as €160.) very reasonable ticket priées. This helps according to its president, Laurent a lot." What appears to be a winning formula Bayle. It raises an additional €45 million — music-education workshops, afford- Plans for a big Paris concert hall date itself, with sponsorship and space rent- from the 1970s. They were put on ice able tickets — was pioneered over two als generating about a quarter of that to- décades by the Cité de la Musique. The with the construction and 1989 inaugu- tal, and ticket sales the rest. ration of a huge opera house on the Cité was "very influential for me and for Ticketed activities attract about 1.15 my understanding of how a concert hall Place de la Bastille. What Paris get, six million visitors a year and cover classi- years later, was the Cité de la Musique: in the 21st century should be," Mr. cal, pop, world music and jazz concerts; Lieben-Seutter said of the Elbphilhar- a 900-seat concert hall and musical-in- muséum visits and exhibitions (such as monie in Hamburg. strument muséum in the Parc de la Vil- the 2015 David Bowie exhibition and an- The opening of méga-halls in Paris lette, on the border between Paris and other dedicated to Chagall and Music in and Hamburg has compounded the Pantin, a suburb. It took 20 more years 2015-16) ; music-education workshops for the Philharmonie to open next door for school groups and young families; pressure on London to build its own. A (incorporating the Cité de la Musique). and conferences and talks. fund-raising campaign is underway for After the Philharmonie's inaugural Mr. Bayle recalled how, during con- the construction of a hall, led by the Lon- concert, the New York Times music struction, "a lot of people said the hall don Symphony Orchestra's new music critic Anthony Tommasini wrote that, was toc far away, and that Paris's classi- director, Simon Rattle (previously the Berlin Philharmonie's artistic director)

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The estimated cost is 200 million to 250 walk from the main avenue and inside a million pounds, or about $265 million to park, "it's almost as if you have to suffer $332 million. The New York-based archi- a bit before you get to it." tects Diller, Scofidio & Renfro — respon- Buildings aside, the challenge for all sible for the redesign of Lincoln Center classical-music institutions around the in New York, as well as the Broad mu- world is the genre's lack of appeal to au- séum in Los Angeles — have been cho- diences in their 20s and 30s. The Phil- sen to draw up the designs. harmonie is striving to reach out to them Nicholas Kenyon, managing director digitally. Us Philharmonie de Paris Live of the multiarts Barbican Center in Lon- website live-streams 60 concerts a year don (which hosts the London Sym- free of charge, and makes them avail- phony), said he felt "supported and re- able for six more months, drawing lens assured" when Paris opened, because of thousands of views each time, said the need for a major venue was "not just Hugues de Saint Simon, the Philhar- something that we were feeling. It was monie's secretary general. something that was being felt around Music venues also have to become Europe." He noted that London had destinations, just as muséums have, Mr. "some gréât historié halls" but had "fall- Bayle said: oiffer restaurants, cafes and en behind in the idea of creating a hall movie theaters that will help lure an un- for the 21st century." initiated and younger audience to the He described the Philharmonie de musical programming. Paris's concert hall and acoustics as "a Ultimately, "classical music has very wonderful success," but said he was less strong advantages as it moves forward drawn to "the outside and the approach in the 21st century," he said. "When it to it." A concert hall should be "a wel- cornes to the performing arts, society coming center for music that really will always, despite the pre-eminence of draws people in from the street," he said. digital, have a need for places of gather- With the Philharmonie, which is a short ing."

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Events Ticketed activities at the Philhar- monie de Paris attract about 1.15 million visitors a year and cover classical, pop, world music and jazz concerts; muséum visits and exhibitions. John Cale, above right, performed there last year. The complex also held a Velvet Under- ground exhibition last year, right.

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Introductions Above left, the Orchestre de Paris performingthe inaugural concert at the 2,400-seat Philharmonie de Paris in January 2015. Above right, visitors waitingto enter the complex during an open house a few days later.

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