This is a much-delayed blog post which expands on an original Facebook post about our wonderful experience attending a semi-staged Messiaen opera Saint Francois d’Assise at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg in June 2024.
This contemporary music performance venue, affectionately known as Elphie, turned out to be every bit the exquisite environment we anticipated it to be, and one most suited to the modern music we were witnessing.
What an absolute treat this was for us, combining the best of music and architecture. It most definitely was one of the highlights of our 6-week trip across 6 European cities!
Our pilgrimage to Elbphilharmonie
Back in 2017, when our trip to Europe took us to Berlin, Leipzig, Salzburg and Vienna, we considered a detour to Hamburg to see the city’s then newly opened concert hall. Sadly, a ticket was not to be found to any show for the entire year as an overwhelming demand meant tickets were quickly snapped up in advance for everything. We said we would eventually come back to Germany again to see this venue and that’s what we included in our itinerary for the 2024 trip, specifically stopping in Hamburg to attend a concert in this remarkable venue.
The timing of our trip presented an opportunity to witness what is a rarely performed work by French composer Olivier Messaien, so we zoomed in on this event which was presented as part of the Internationales Musikfest Hamburg. Although unstaged, the special performance of this opera was every bit the French “spectacle” it promised to be in this contemporary and acoustically superior venue.
It was powerful contemporary music delivered brilliantly in an exquisitely designed and complementary environment, and I was fully engaged and had wave after wave of goosebumps at many junctures of this epic 5-hour-long work! I was certainly transported to musical heaven.
The experience is captured here in two parts: about the concert itself and then about the venue.
Part 1 - Concert experience
Performance Date: Sunday 2 June 2024
Venue: Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
Composer: Olivier Messiaen
Conductor: Kent Nagano
Orchestra: Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Soloists: Jacques Imbrailo (St Francois), Anna Prohaska (L’Ange), Anthony Gregory (Le Lepreux), Kartal Karagedik (Frere Leon), Doviet Nurgeldiyev (Frere Massee), Andrew Dickinson (Frere Elie), David Minseok Kong (Frere Bernard), Florian Eggers (Frere Sylvestre), Niklas Mallmann (Frere Rufin)
Conductor
Kent Nagano, currently ‘Generalmusikdirektor & Chefdirigent’ of Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, was assistant to Seiji Ozawa when the latter conducted the premier of this Messiaen opera in three acts back in November 1983 in Paris. So, he knows the piece well, especially the composer’s original musical intentions. He exuded confidence and precision in directing the large musical forces in what is surely a challenging piece to conduct.
Staging
Although presented in a concert version in a concert hall as opposed to in an opera theatre, there was dramatic stage direction (by Thomas Jürgens, Julia Mottl and Georges Delnon) in the form of accompanying video projections (by Marcus Richardt displayed on a cylindrical ‘jumbotron’ digital screen above the orchestral platform), theatrical lighting, choreography and acting that took place on a specially designed catwalk/platform suspended above the orchestra and in the aisle amongst the audience.
The chorus, although statically located in the choir stalls behind the soloists’ catwalk, there was some small degree of movement or choralography employed by them to enhance the drama and story-telling.
There was also use of actors at strategic junctures of the proceedings to add to the drama as well. We had “angels” in white walking through the aisle interacting with the audience, a child holding a globe representing the underprivileged of the world. And Angel character had significant dramatic prominence when she not only moved around in the auditorium but was suspended and hoisted up on a platform when delivering her lines.
Soloists
Jacques Imbrailo was a formidable St François, displaying a vocal confidence and vulnerability the role required. Anna Prohaska was L’Ange (the Angel), giving us a clean angelic tone while she dashed up and down stairs getting into position all around the hall to deliver her lines. In Act 2, she was hoisted up in a platform, flying high above the audience to speak to Francis located on his suspended catwalk above the orchestra.
Chorus
The 90-strong chorus (Audi Jugendchorakademie) was impressive and made itself heard above the large orchestra not just in key fortissimo passages but also in their fine pianissimo singing in the bits they provided mood vocal textures.
It was interesting to watch them whip out their tuning forks en masse at times, to aid them with tricky pitching in this huge atonal work. They even had a choral director assist in relaying maestro’s beat and cutoffs as the soloists’ staging platform in front of them meant some of the chorus members didn’t have clear line of sight to the conductor’s podium.
The final scene in Act 1, where St François cures the leper was euphoric. The chorus, acting in silhouette mimed a mass scene of joy, as if we were watching an audience in a football stadium erupting with irrepressible joy in slow motion. Yes, slightly corny but, oh, so effective!
Orchestra
The large orchestra included 9 double basses, 10 percussionists and 3 ondes Martenot. The man sitting next to us (an organist and choral director who had travelled 3 hours from northern Germany) said it was rare to see these instruments much less have three of them on stage at the same time!
The ondes Martenot or ondes musicales is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a lateral-vibrato keyboard or by moving a ring tied to a wire, creating “wavering” sounds like a theremin. Dynamics and timbre are adjusted by the ondist using controls in a drawer on the instrument’s left side. The instrument was invented in 1928 by the French inventor Maurice Martenot, who was inspired by the accidental overlaps of tones between military radio oscillators and wanted to create an instrument with the expressiveness of the cello. The ondes Martenot is used in more than 100 orchestral compositions.
Acoustics
As anticipated, the acoustics in this hall were fantastic. We sat in what would be the lower circle, facing front-on to the orchestra, and every note from the soloists, orchestra and choir could be heard clearly. There was a vibrancy of sound that made it feel like we were in an intimate recital hall and totally immersed in the collective sound created by the 300 musicians before us. The man sitting on our right (an organist and music professional) thought he discerned a low disturbing reverberating rumble in the background during the fortissimo passages, but it didn’t bother us.
Operatic and musical content
The work traces the life stages of St. Francis of Assisi, who, as a possessionless traveling monk, took care of the poorest of the poor and preached animals and plants. The opera vividly describes some formative stations on the life path of the saint: the healing of a leper, the reception of wounds on the hands and feet and of course the “Bird Sermon” and the “Sun Song”, which show Franz of Assisi’s special connection to nature.
For Olivier Messiaen, the setting was obvious. Not only was he a deeply devout Catholic, who was 60 years old, worked as an organist of the Paris church La Trinité. As a synesthete, he experienced a quasi-transcendent perception of colours, shapes and sounds. And as a passionate hobby ornithologist – a pastime that Saint Francis of Assisi also indulged in – he recorded around 700 bird calls in musical notation.
Messiaen’s music reflects these sources of inspiration in an extremely colourful way. He himself described the opera as follows:
“It describes the advancing stages of grace in the soul of St. Francis. I have left out everything that contained no colours, no miracles, no birds, no piety and no faith.”
Just to be sure, the musical idiom wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The 80-year-old retired doctor (who sang in a doctor’s choir) sitting on my left said he wouldn’t have come for this program if not for his musician son insisting on attending. Give me a soaring romantic Tchaikovsky melody any day over this, he said.
We heard frantic percussive gamelan passages to amorphous pitchless groans from the chorus and loud hammering in the stigmata scene to cacophonous flute whistles in the bird scene, all trying to create an evocative mood to tell the story.
By the first interval we had lost quite a few of the audience members and by the end of Act 2, which was admittedly tedious and repetitive, we were probably left with around 85% of Act 1 starters.
Videography design
The video featured modern scenes selected to capture and reinforce the mood of the music. This included urban street traffic scenes (which aptly matched the frantic percussion sounds of Messiaen’s sound palette) and actors representing the various characters. At times these actors (including orchestra members and the conductor himself) would mouth the text of the music which synchronised with what the soloists were singing.
And the very final scene of the piece—after the death of St François—was incredibly uplifting if not all a bit corny. The little refugee girl (representing the socially oppressed and vulnerable St François was saving), whom we had seen earlier carrying her lighted globe of the world, reappeared, ascended the stairs in the galleries, only to disappear through a door on one of the upper galleries then appear on the video walking through the vacant stepped concourses of the concert hall, then out onto the roof of the building. A drone camera then zooms out, showing the roof of the building which disappears as we pull away to show the earth from outer space.
I had chills watching this final sequence play out, as our consciousness was drawn spatially with the help of digital media and the incredible music from an intimate interior view of the players of this drama towards an externalised perspective. We were effectively lifted out of our humanly existing to an other-worldly one, looking back at the frailty and insignificance of the human condition.
As the audience member, an organist and choral director, who sat beside us said to us during the second interval, this music composed by Messiaen was from another world. And at that final moment Messiaen had succeeded, with the help of multi-media and technology, in transporting us to that other world!
Lighting design
There was a varied use of customised lighting effects throughout the piece. Most prominent was the soloists’ platform which glowed a luminous green, red or blue to suit the mood. The ceiling and wall panels changed to match at times. And during the bird scene, shadowy fluttering flocks filled our sky!
Surtitles and language translations
The work was sung in French with only German surtitles provided with the video projections. Knowing in advance that this would be the case, and not being French or German speakers, our only recourse was to try and find an English translation of the libretto. Unfortunately, all I could find online was a French-to-Italian version, so I ended up spending three days using Google Translate to convert that 26-page PDF document into French-to-English. And Ban-Foo helped me convert that into dark mode, so my lighted text on my mobile phone screen wouldn’t irritate anyone around us while I followed the drama during the performance with my own “self-serve-titles”!
Pre and post performance rituals
The 5-hour-long performance commenced at 5 pm and included two 40-minute intervals. In order not to be distracted by the architectural experience of arriving at the venue, we chose to visit the venue’s public Plaza the day before. As such the gawking was only done in the restricted foyers and of course the interior of the concert hall itself. More on the Plaza later, when we look at the architectural aspects of the building…
Also, because of the unconventional timing and start time, we chose not to have an extra early dinner and relied instead on having a proper late lunch which would carry us through part of the performance and then have some snacks in the expansive foyers during the long intervals.
Overall musical experience
Oh, what an extraordinary evening it was!
Of all the hundreds of live musical events we’ve experienced over the years, this was a truly memorable one. What we got was a positive sensory overload, preceded by high expectations which were surpassed in every way possible.
Part 2 - The architecture
Location & urban context
The Elbphilharmonie is in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg, located on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River. It is within the historical Speicherstadt (warehouse district) which is reputedly the largest of its kind in the world where the buildings stand on timber-pile foundations—oak logs, in this case.
An existing brick building is known as the Kaispeicher A, built in 1963, would have it’s façade retained with its insides gutted out, foundations strengthened, and a new building built and extended upwards above it.
The new building form resembles a hoisted sail, water wave, iceberg or quartz crystal resting on top of the old warehouse. It is the key project of the new HafenCity development and now stands as the tallest inhabited building in Hamburg, with a final height of 108 metres.
The Elbphilharmonie is sometimes described as a Stadtkrone (City Crown, a concept of urban planning put forward by German expressionist architects, and particularly championed by Bruno Taut in the early part of the 20th century) that dominates the skyline as a cathedral does in older cities. Like the Sydney Opera House it stands apart on a site that juts into the harbor and captures the spirit of the water in its wave-like profile.
Sadly, because of the way the new building is sited, hemmed in by other warehouse buildings, the best way to appreciate its expressive form is from the water or across the river, which has limited access.
Private genesis, public execution
The project was the result of a private initiative by the architect and real estate developer Alexander Gérard and his art historian wife Jana Marko. The couple had commissioned the original design by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron.
This was back in 2003, when they developed and promoted the project in collaboration with Hamburg-based real estate developer and investor Dieter Becken. Three and a half years later, the City of Hamburg decided to take over and develop the project by itself.
Planning and construction issues
The project faced public criticism along the way because of its cost and schedule overruns. While initial cost estimates had put the construction at around €200 million, the final cost was €870 million. Despite these cost blow-outs the final product was deemed appealing enough for the local masthead Der Spiegel to do a comparative analysis and declare the overrun relatively “modest” compared with some other notorious international mega-projects.
Elphie, as the new cultural icon was affectionately nicknamed, had been identified as one of Germany’s three biggest engineering/infrastructure/building disasters, along with Stuttgart’s alleged new central railway station and the “mythical” airport in Berlin. The building of this new cultural icon was described as a tire-fire of ineptitude that dented the Hamburger’s self-image as an industrious people, sound businessmen who know how to plan, execute and handle money responsibly.
Berlin's troubled Brandenburg Airport
Ephie’s delays and cost overrun surely pale in comparison to Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport project which, having been initiated in 1991, only finally opened for operations in 2020 after initial funding complications, followed by one technical glitch after another which resulted in massive cost escalations (in the range of billions) and delays which were finally tallied at seven missed opening dates.
In fact, one of its earlier opening dates in 2012 was missed when building inspectors denied operating clearance after reporting some 120,000 defects, including fire safety issues, automatic doors that didn’t open and sagging roofs. Around 170,000 kilometres of cable installed in and around the airport were reportedly found to be dangerously wired with some lights unable to be turned on while other couldn’t be turned off, requiring the whole thing to be re-done.7
Elevated public piazza on Level 8
Perhaps as a significant social element of the design to justify its public funding, there is a public piazza on the eight-floor which forms an intermediate transition zone between the old brick original building from the new section built above it. This open terrace along the perimeter of this new cultural icon offers the public and visiting tourist ready access and spectacular views of the city and its historic harbour located along the Elbe River.
Anyone can visit this expansive public outer deck by showing up and obtaining a free ticket from one of the ticketing machines. We bypassed the long queues for a free ticket by booking one online for a nominal fee of £2.
An exceptionally long escalator leads up to the Piazza, describing a slight curve so that it cannot be seen in full, from one end to the other. Travelling up this “tube” is a spatial experience in itself; it cuts straight through the entire Kaispeicher, passing a large panorama window with a balcony that affords a view of the harbour before continuing up to the Piazza.
The latter, sitting on top of the Kaispeicher and under the new building, acts as a gigantic hinge between old and new. It is a public space that houses restaurants, bars, ticket office and hotel lobby are located here, as well as access to the foyers of the new philharmonic Grand Hall and the other secondary performing venues.
To separate the inside from the outdoor terrace, we have huge expressive curved glass walls which add to the drama of the expressive interior space contrasting with the panorama of the outside.
In some ways, this public piazza is similar to the forecourt and promenade around the Sydney Opera House or the Guggenheim Museum at Bilbao. It acts as a social space that offers anyone—not just the concert goer or art viewer—the ability to enjoy what is an egalitarian and unifying social/cultural space, overlooking a harbour or waterfront and edifice which gives new prominence to the city.
Three performance spaces
The Elbphilharmonie has three concert venues; the Grand Concert Hall (Grosser Saal) which can accommodate 2,100 with performers in the centre surrounded by the audience in a vineyard style arrangement, the Recital Hall (Kleiner Saal) which seats 550 people and is intended for the performance of recitals, chamber music and jazz concerts, and the Kaistudio that allows for 170 visitors and is intended to serve educational activities.
We only got to see the inside of the Grand Hall, when we attended the opera, and not the other two halls.
Grand Hall
The largest of the performance venues employs a cascading vineyard style arrangement first set out by the ur-model of the Berlin Philharmonie (1963, designed Hans Scharoun, acoustician Lothar Cremer) which established a precedence for many other similar concert halls that followed.
Scharoun was inspired by the delightful vineyard terraces that sculpt the slopes beside the Rhine River in Germany. For his Berlin auditorium design, Scharoun went back in time and placed music at the centre to gather audiences around the orchestra and immerse them in direct sound, thereby preventing grazing (the absorption of sound by the audience, which increases with the number of rows) and ensuring good lines of sight, which had been major failures of the traditional hall-type auditorium.
Similarly, every seat in the Elbphilharmonie auditorium offers a unique visual experience of the performance but supposedly ensures the audience member has a clear auditory experience of whatever sound is produced on the concert platform or from the organ pipes. No seat in the entire hall has a physical distance exceeding 30m from the conductor’s podium which is quite an impressive parameter to achieve.
Vineyard-style concert halls
Although the Sydney Opera House concert hall seating arrangement (1973, designed by Jorn Utzon, interiors completed by Peter Hal, acoustics by Dr Vilhelm Lassen Jorden then Lothar Cremer) was inspired by Scharoun’s Berlin Philharmonie, it is not considered vineyard-style. Constricted by Utzon’s prioritising of external sculptural form over interior and function, the final concert hall design remains more of a traditional shoebox configuration. It’s elongated shape and volume—with domical acoustic shell being too long, narrow and high—resulted in disastrous acoustic outcomes which the more recent refurbishment (using German acousticians Müller-BBM) hasn’t satisfactorily resolved.
Other subsequent examples of vineyard-style concert halls include Leipzig Gewandhaus (1981, designed by Rudolf Skoda, acoustics by Wolfgang Fasold), Tokyo Suntory Hall (1986, designed by Yasui Architects), LA Disney Hall (2003, designed by Frank Gehry), Shenzhen Concert Hall (2007, designed by Arata Isozaki), Copenhagen DR Konsethuset (2009, designed by Jean Nouvel), Helsinki Music Centre (2011, designed by Laiho-Pulkkinen-Raunio Architects), Philharmonie de Paris (2015, designed by Jean Nouvel), National Kaohshung Centre for the Arts (2018, designed by Francine Houben, acoustics by Albert Yaying Xu).
Perhaps, not coincidentally, with the exception of a few (as indicated above), these other examples have all used the same performing arts acoustics specialist. i.e. Nagata Acoustics to guide and inform technical acoustic performance of their hall interior designs.
Acoustic design
The architects collaborated with designer Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics to produce an intended acoustic performance that prioritises clarity and vibrance of sound from any seat in the auditorium.
Wall panels are collectively made up of around 10,000 individually micro-shaped drywall plates to disperse sound waves. They are each moulded with unique and distinctive concave shell patterns which are designed, each shape and texture determined to contribute to the overall effect within the hall.
The retractable seats were designed with a customised fabric and quality of cushion material to mimic that of a typical audience member – so that the overall acoustic performance of the hall remains constant whether the seat is occupied or not. While attending the performance of Messiaen’s opera, the local person sitting next to me explained that the initial seats and (fabric covering of the seats) had to be replaced altogether after installation prior to completion and opening of the hall because the acoustic performance failed to meet the design criteria. This contributed to costs and delays.
Elphie's acoustic performance
Reviews for Elbphilharmonie have mostly been favourable, with Time Magazine placing it on its “World’s 100 Greatest Places of 2018” list, Kate Rockwood writing that the acoustics “steal the show” and that the hall’s panels provide “a richer, better sound“, and quoting Toyota who said that the more time performers spend in the hall, “the better their ensemble becomes since they can hear themselves and each other more.”
Forbes contributor Jens F. Laurson noted during an initial performance that “Everything musical (and otherwise) going on up and around the hall is beautifully audible down where I sat and, as per other audience member’s accounts, most everywhere else as well“, that “the hall is bright, very dry, direct, unforgiving. You can hear everything and immediately, for better and worse“.
Philip Kennicott of The Washington Post wrote, “The acoustics, designed by the renowned Japanese acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, are a marvel of clarity, precision and cool objectivity“.
In contrast, there has been some criticism too, with complaints about poor acoustics in the hall. After the grand opening on 11 January 2017, some musicians as well as conductors called the acoustics in the hall “appalling” and “terrible“. Further, in a 2019 performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, audience members shouted, “can’t hear you” at tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who himself later complained, “This hall does not help…“.
Such is the subjectivity and complexity of acoustics.
Pipe organ
The Great Concert Hall contains a pipe organ with 69 registers built by the famous Johannes Klais Orgelbau workshop in Bonn, now run by a fourth generation of organ makers. Not only does the Elbphilharmonie organ fit perfectly into the spectacular interior architecture of the Grand Hall, but it also honours the exciting concept for Hamburg’s new cultural landmark: making music accessible, approachable and affordable for everyone.
The concept for the organ itself was developed by Manfred Schwartz, the organ expert who oversaw the project from the very beginning. The organ does not tower high above the heads of the audience. It is subtly located in, next to and behind the terraced rows of seats. It’s really with 4,765 pipes visible and placed where you can touch them, subtly integrated into the sculptured wall panels behind the seating terraces. The organ can be played from a remote console on the concert platform.
Although we didn’t get to hear this organ which was not used in the orchestration of Messiaen’s work, we were fortunate to have heard the Elphieharmonie’s titular organist, the accomplished Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna. She gave a thrilling recital on the organ of the decorative Art Nouveau interior of the Smetana Hall at the Obecni Dum (Municipal House). This was part of the Prague Spring Music Festival. The recital was followed by an interview and Q&A session during which she very articulately explained the work that goes into delivering a sound that capitalises on the colours and registers of each unique organ offers.
We would have loved to hear her playing organ at the Elbphilharmonie, but were grateful for the next best thing, along with a recording of her performance premiering the grand organ back in 2017.
Foyers and interior finishes
We arrived early for the performance so we could explore the spatially dramatic foyers of the Grand Hall. Very much like the foyers of the Berlin Philharmonie, London’s Royal Festival Hall or even the Sydney Opera House concert hall, you always had a sense of being outside the concert hall box with cascading stairs taking you to doors that opened into the auditorium at different levels.
The visual relationship to the outside (through the expanse of an exterior glass façade speckled with ceramic frit patterns) was always a useful element in helping you orientate where you were in an otherwise labyrinthian arrangement of stairs and doors.
There were several food serveries, all stylishly appointed, serving very stylishly presented snacks and drink.
The toilets were exquisitely designed, as was the signage. I particularly liked the row numbering inside the auditorium, which was formed by metal row/seat numbers embedded into timber floor.
Hotel
Apart from the three performance spaces, ancillary service spaces and the public piazza, what else could they fit into the new building form above the original brick base building? Well, given its prime location with panoramic views of the harbour and city, it was decided that there would also be a hotel, which the city would lease out and run on a commercial basis, in order to recoup the hefty development investment outlay. As such, at easternmost part of the building is a Westin Hotel comprising 250 rooms and 47 serviced apartments, also designed by the architects Herzog & de Meuron.
We considered staying at the hotel for our visit, perhaps for just for the night of the performance we were attending at the concert hall, but cost for this luxury accommodation were unsurprisingly prohibitive.
Public access and transport
The nearest rail station is Baumwall on the Hamburg Metro line, located some 450 metres away. Having travelled from out hotel to and from the venue using the Metro, we found it convenient enough but wondered how satisfactory or convenient it was for aging visitors to do the 450-metre walk from the station to concert hall in bad weather.
The nearest bus stop is Am Kaiserkai, 150 metres away. And Elbphilharmonie is the name of a ferry pier, accessible from Hamburg’s nearby St. Pauli Piers.
The opera
Staatsoper Hamburg: Saint François d’Assise an der Elbphilharmonie Trailer 2024 (in English)
Saint François d’Assise – Concert documentation | Elbphilharmonie Hamburg 2024 (in German)
Saint François d’Assise 1983 Paris premiere filmed – conducted by Seiji Ozawa
Messiaen: Saint François d’Assise, complete recording (1983) with score and English Subtitles
Messiaen: Saint-François d’Assise – Pierre Audi (Netherlands recording)
Libretto translation: French to English, which I produced myself using a French to Italian one I found
Concert reviews
- Bachtrack: Franciscan virtues for a modern age: a multimedia Messiaen remix in Hamburg
- Concerti: Musical-Theological Walks
- Neumann & Muller: Event Factsheet
- Observer: While U.S. Companies Struggle, German Opera Houses Move Ahead Ambitiously
- Die Deustche Buhne: Olivier Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise
- ARD Mediathek: Mammoth project: Saint Francois d'Assise in the Elphi
Olivier Messiaen
The composer & his brilliance
Olivier Messiaen: Portrait + Saint Francois d’Assise (Act 3) London,12 December 1988
Great Composers – Olivier Messiaen
What’s the Colour of Music? Messiaen and Colour
Olivier Messiaen – The Modes of Limited Transposition
Messiaen: O Sacrum Convivium (with score) – Cambridge Singers, conducted by John Rutter
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time – filmed @ Solsberg Festival 2016 -Antje Weithaas (Violin), Sol Gabetta (Cello), Sabine Meyer (Clarinet), Bertrand Chamayou (Piano)
Messiaen: Turangalila-Simphonie – 2017 performance by Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela, Gustavo Dudamel (conductor), Yuja Wang (piano solo,) Cynthia Millar (ondes martenot)
Elphie
The architecture
Elbphilharmonie Hamburg Concert Hall | a detailed visit
Acoustics of the most expensive concert hall in the world
What’s so Special About the Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall in Hamburg?
Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg – by Allthegoodies architecture
Elbphilharmonie Construction – HD Time-Lapse
A flight around Elbphilharmonie
Elbphilharmonie organ – Birth of a Monarch
Architectural reviews on Elphi
- Arch Daily: Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
- The Guardian: Elbphilharmonie: Hamburg’s dazzling, costly castle in the air by Rowan Moore
- Planethugill: A magnificent architectural statement by Planet Hugill
- Forbes: Elbphilharmonie Hamburg Opening And First Impressions Of The Great Hall by Jens F Laurson
- Architectural Review: A Civic Masterpiece by Charles Jencks
- The Guardian: 'We thought it was going to destroy us' … Herzog and De Meuron's Hamburg miracle by Oliver Wainright
- Metropolis: How the Vineyard-Style Concert Hall Took Over the World (and Changed How We Hear Music)
Elphie seen from around the city
With Stephanie Rees, my MSc classmate along the Hamburg waterfront with Elbphilharmonie in the distance
