CARNEGIE HALL

Built in 1891, the Carnegie has heard many of the world's major works come to the world for the first time, from Rubinstein's debut to the premiere of Dvořák's New World Symphony in 1893. It's hard to believe that the marvelous hall (sober and acoustically perfect) behind the Italian Renaissance Revival facade was nearly destroyed by greedy entrepreneurs after the New York Philharmonic moved to its new home at Lincoln Center. It was saved thanks to the persistence of violinist Isaac Stern. It took the visionary American billionaire Andrew Carnegie to decide to build such a building in a then unfashionable neighborhood. Tchaikovsky opened Carnegie Hall in 1891. From Paderewski to Bruno Walter, from Casals to Horowitz, from Judy Garland to Segovia, Julie Andrews or the Beatles, the list is too long to mention Carnegie's guest book, where the greatest international orchestras and the main American orchestras have performed. In the film Green Book, which follows the life of black pianist Don Shirley, the main character lives in a lavish apartment just above Carnegie Hall.

The Isaac Stern Auditorium is the best known of the three stages. With its 2,804 seats, it was the very first hall devoted to classical music in the United States. Five levels of seating and a curved structure ensure unparalleled comfort and acoustics. Also the intimate Joan and Sanford I. Weill Recital Hall (268 seats), originally dedicated to chamber music. But the major event of recent years took place on September 12, 2003 with the reopening of the former Recital Hall in the basement of the Carnegie, renamed Zankel Hall. Since the 1960s, the concession had been entrusted to a movie theatre. The Carnegie took it over in 1997 under the leadership of director Judith Arron. The new layout, inspired by the Cité de la Musique in Paris, is an ultramodern, modular hall with 540 to 644 seats. There are countless configurations: with or without an Italian balcony, with or without a pit, with a horizontal or sloping floor... The hall adapts to the music. It is the hall that adapts to the music, especially contemporary music. The Hall organises Family Concerts with reduced-price tickets, concerts designed to awaken children to great music. The Hall offers workshops to familiarise children with instruments and allows them to attend a performance given by real professionals.