Snow Concert Hall is a recent addition to the Australian landscape of concert venues... and a new big venue in Canberra. Now, it is a pretty divisive venue, as it has been "donated" to the richest private boys school by one of the old alumni at some quite considerable cost... and people that I've been talking to have not always great things to say about the donor. Anyway... rich people do rich people things, be it for personal gains, public image, or altruism... or some vague mix of things. I have my particular opinions on this...
Anyway, suffice to say, that the richest boys school in Canberra is now home to a national-quality concert stage! Lucky for the school...
So, the entryway to the concert hall is via the school's front entrance. It is quite a strange sort of sight, with the newer building (which is mostly underground) contrasting quite starkly with the older buildings that serve the school functions.
Ahem... our generous benefactors.
So, after playing in the hall for a while.. I was quite impressed, and the acoustics are also quite on par with the recital halls of Melbourne and Sydney. I understand that the same architects that built Melbourne's newer Recital Hall also designed this one.
So, all of the hall functions are quite impressive... but where it does seem to fall down a little bit is when it comes to the support and auxiliary buildings that you would normally have designed into a proper concert hall building. Seeing as this is a bit of retrofit to a school, you have these parts missing.
For instance, adequate parking/public transport (well, maybe rich people at a rich school don't need public transport... you have to roll up in a giant SUV or a Tesla (or a helicopter...)).... or maybe you just need to buy a house within easy walking distance in this multi-million dollar leafy suburb!
...but also green rooms for the performers (you use classrooms...), holding areas for the audience as well as refreshments and all of that sort of thing.
It is quite impressive... and there is a scheduled and quite impressive line-up of international acts appearing at this hall.... so, the place is definitely not short of money... but it does also highlight the old truism, money isn't going to buy you common sense... more to the point, too much money seems to make people confuse being lucky with being smart or having experience.
