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Schwarzman Centre opening concerts
Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, OxfordThe Sohmen Concert Hall’s acoustics made Scottish Ensemble’s Shostakovich pinprick clear, while the Great Hall showcased Devlin and Muhly’s ‘choral installation’
TL;DR
- The Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities in Oxford, funded by a £185m donation, has opened.
- It houses seven humanities faculties, the Institute for Ethics in AI, and performance spaces including the 500-seat Sohmen Concert Hall.
- The Sohmen Concert Hall is the world's first Passivhaus concert venue, noted for its energy efficiency and acoustics.
- The Scottish Ensemble performed Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky, with leader Jonathan Morton also performing a solo piece.
- The Great Hall featured a 'choral installation' called 360 Vessels by artist Es Devlin and composer Nico Muhly.
- The opening ceremony involved an audience drinking tea to a new anthem, described critically as a 'banal parody of the Eucharist'.