The Birmingham Symphony Hall is located within the International Convention Centre and stands close to the city centre and Broad Street and with other local attractions, is one of the numerous Birmingham entertainment venues on offer. The ICC as it is known locally is also, for those wishing overnight stays, close to a number of hotels or perhaps even a favourite cheap hotel near to the city centre. Also in close proximity, for the shoppers amongst us is the Mailbox. There is also the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Town Hall, Birmingham Hippodrome Ltd and Alexandra Theatre, all of which offer a good entertainment selection of shows, along with numerous other venues, including theatres & concert halls, or a known venue if you intend to experience two or even three nights of entertainment.
Information on what’s on in Birmingham and things to do is also readily available throughout the city. If it’s your first visit, you may even wish to participate in a tour around Birmingham?
You will also find a stroll along the local canal network interesting, with its pedestrian friendly towpaths, interesting footbridges, wonderful displays of locks, boats and narrow boats, and both old and new buildings of interesting architectural design. At the hub of the canal network you will see The Malt House pub and close by the National Indoor Arena or NIA, where you will, if you are interested, find information on forthcoming concerts and events at the NEC.
An evening walk along Broad Street will introduce you to the Birmingham Walk of Stars, restaurants, pubs, bars & inns, you may even walk past the gilded bronze statue of William Murdoch, James Watt and Mathew Boulton, three of the famous names associated with the 18 Century Industrial Revolution.
The Symphony hall is also the home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth, in 1991, although it had been in use since 15 April of that year. When first opened it was to immediate public and critical acclaim. With its stunning auditorium and world class acoustics, it is considered by many to be not only the UK’s finest but also one of the world’s best.
An innovative feature of the acoustics, designed by Russell Johnson of Artec Consultants Inc., is the halls flexibility. It has a reverberating chamber behind the orchestra, extending high along its sides, which adds some 50% to the halls volume, the doors to which can be opened or closed remotely. This ‘U’ shaped chamber area has a volume of 12,700 cubic metres. There is also an acoustics canopy above the orchestra, which can be raised or lowered. Damping panels can be either extended or retracted to ensure that the sound of the space is matched to the scale and style of the music performed. At the rear of the hall there are also fan walls which provide further sound reflections.
In 2001 a 6000 pipe symphony organ was added. The organs design being specially tailored to the halls reverberation chambers. The organ is said to be the largest mechanical organ in the UK.
The Symphony Hall seating, with its unique arrangement, can accommodate a seated audience of 2,262 people and its interior is modelled on the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Vienna’s Musikverein. For those booking tickets on the internet a seating plan is also available for viewing.
The hall, as well as its classical programme, also hosts the best in jazz, world music, opera, rock, pop, folk, stand up comedy, as well as community events, graduation ceremonies and conferences, with some 370,000 people attending around 320 events yearly.
The Symphony Hall is located on the A456 and adjacent to the well known Broad Street, with well signed directions for locally positioned traffic. Its postal address is Birmingham Symphony Hall, Broad Street, Birmingham, West Midlands and for the satellite navigation people the post code is B1 2EA.
There are a number of car parking facilities within 5 -10 minute walk of the hall and the main Symphony Hall parking area is a Pay & Display car park located directly under the NIA and is a mere 5 minute walk from the hall. The nearest railway station is New Street and Snow Hill is the nearest metro station. Buses stop within 5 minutes of the venue and taxi cabs are readily available.
Some of the events taking place in July 2011, included the National Festival of Music on Wednesday 6 commencing at 11.00am and the 7 & 8 commencing at 10.30am, Birmingham Music Service on Saturday 14 at 7.0pm and Last Night of the Summer on Saturday 16 commencing at 7.30pm.
Whatever your choice of music or entertainment we at Activ Birmingham are sure you will find an event of your choice and will not be disappointed.
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