Carnegie Hall - One of the world's best known concert halls

03 March 2010

Carnegie Hall, located on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, New York is by far one of the worlds best known concert halls. The hall itself consists of three different performance spaces which include the Issac Stern Auditorium or the Main Hall, The Zankel Hall, and the Weill Recital Hall. All of these halls vary vastly in size with the Main Hall being the largest and having the seating capacity of 2,804 people.

There is more to Carnegie Hall than just its performances spaces; it also houses the Rose Museum which has been in operation since 1991, and the Carnegie Hall Archives which have been there since 1986. It is in both of these places that you can see and experience the history that Carnegie Hall holds. The studios above the hall also hold a lot of history, as artists from all walks of life have lived in them over the years.

Carnegie Hall has housed many big name performers in its venues over the years. Many of the greatest classical music performers have had the divine pleasure of being able to perform at this venue. Judy Garland, Harry Belefonte, and Stevie Ray Vaughan have all recorded live albums at Carnegie Hall.

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Ronnie Scott's London - The Legendary Jazz Club

21 January 2010

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is one of the hottest locations in London and has been for decades now. Although jazz isn't necessarily the most popular music, especially true in London where electronic clubs and the young crowd rule the roost, the 1950s nostalgia still draws in a healthy crowd, and anybody who's anybody in the world of jazz has played a spot at the now famous club. Opened in 1959, Ronnie Scott's is pushing past half a century and is still going strong.

When a young Ronnie was only 20, he took a trip to New York - the height of the world's jazz scene in the late 40s. Scott was a respected saxophonist in his own right, but he blended in with the crowd in New York's plethora of middling jazz musicians.

However, the trip was well worth it to Ronnie, who, because he lived in England, had virtually no chance of ever seeing any of the legends in person that he did while in New York. After Scott's two-week stay in the Big Apple, he headed back to London with aspirations of opening his own jazz club.

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The Royal Albert Hall, London has played host to nearly 200,000 shows

03 December 2009

England has been offering up some of the world's best entertainment for centuries, and in the City of Westminster in London, the Royal Albert Hall is perhaps the area's most well known arts venue and a recognizable venue all across the globe.

Although the Hall has only been open since 1871 and has only been playing Summer Proms concerts since 1941 when they were bombed out of the Queen's Hall, its legacy is as detailed as London itself.

To date, Royal Albert Hall has played host to nearly 200,000 shows, including opera, ballet, awards shows, rock and classical concerts, school events, and even tennis matches among other events. Supposedly, the Hall was to be the Central Hall of Arts and Sciences, but Queen Victoria decided to change the name to honor her dead husband, Prince Albert.

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Sydney Opera House - A World Heritage Site since 2007

05 November 2009

Australia isn't readily known for their displays of architecture throughout the world, but one modern marvel changed that perception and stands out as one of the grandest concert halls on the planet. The Sydney Opera House is a true architectural feat, showcasing man's ingenuity and grasp of structural integrity.

Sitting directly on the harbor and enjoying World Heritage Site status since 2007, this lavish, expansive structure is as recognizable as the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and other great monuments of the world. It is to Australia what the Colosseum is to Rome, and the Opera House has become the paradigm symbol of Oz.

Situated on Bennelong Point, the peaked Opera House towers above the shoreline and makes up most of Sydney's skyline on the shore. The iconic structure was designed by Jorn Utzon, a Danish architect, and resembles a ship at full sail. It was a challenging structure to build, but one that Utzon met head-on.

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