National Music Centre

The National Music Centre or NMC, is a non-profit organization located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Its new building, branded StudioBell,[1] is located in Downtown East Village, Calgary and opened on Canada Day, July 1, 2016, with an estimated 5600 people attending.

History

The National Music Centre and its collections origins can be traced to the installation of a pipe organ (known as the Carthy Organ) in Calgary’s Jack Singer Concert Hall in 1987.[2] This installation of this instrument was the genesis of the International Organ Festival and Competition operated by TriumphEnt from 1990 to 2002.[3] It also subsequently inspired the creation of a new organization known as the Chinook Keyboard Centre, which began developing a collection of keyboard instruments in mid-1996.

Chinook Keyboard Centre was soon renamed Cantos Music Museum[4] and expanded the scope of its collection beyond keyboard instruments to include electronic instruments and sound equipment beginning in the year 2000, it also began to offer limited programming in the way of gallery tours and concerts.

In 2003, TriumphEnt and Cantos Music Museum joined forces to become the Cantos Music Foundation, and expanded its presentation of music programs using the collection and gallery spaces. In 2005, an exhibition commemorating 100 years of music in Alberta to mark the Centennial planted the seed to expand the organization’s scope to chronicle, celebrate, and foster a broader vision for music in Canada. In February 2012, Cantos became the National Music Centre.[5] The National Music Centre broke ground on February 22, 2013.[6]

StudioBell

Originally the price was set at $168 million, however with the costs going over it went to $191 million, NMC building designed by Portland architect Brad Cloepfil, is a 160,000 square-foot facility in Calgary’s East Village. With interactive education programming, artist incubation, engaging exhibitions and performances daily, NMC’s new space will showcase the collection, which includes over 2,000 rare instruments and artifacts including the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, the TONTO synthesizer, and one of Elton John's pianos, along with the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame collections.[7]

Some features that the National Music Centre includes has a broadcast facilities of the CKUA Radio.[8] Also there is a 300 seat performance hall that has already hosted a variety of events, most notably the Tragically Hip’s last concert which was streamed on CBC. There are 226,000 custom glazed terracotta tile cladding that was made in Germany, fired in the Netherlands.

The National Music Centre facility will also include the historic King Edward Hotel to operate as a seven nights a week live music venue.[9]

When the National Music Centre was located at 134-11th avenue S.E which was at the historic Customs House building,[10] it held its last public tour there on December 28, 2014. After that the Customs House location shut down in order to begin the move to the new centre. East Village.[11] The address of the current National Music Centre is 850 4th street S.E.

The final steel beam of the new National Music Centre structure was set into place on December 12, 2014[12]

Bell Canada has paid $10 million for naming rights for the centre, for 12 years.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Bain, Jennifer (8 September 2016). "7 reasons to love Canada's new National Music Centre". Toronto Star. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  2. Norman, Barbara. "Calgary International Organ Festival". Thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  3. "About Us - Cantos". Cantos.ca. Archived from the original on 2011-08-03. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  4. "Visit | Studio Bell". Nmc.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  5. "Infrastructure Canada - National Music Centre breaks ground in Calgary". Infrastructure.gc.ca. 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  6. "Calgary's National Music Centre begins to take shape in revitalized East Village". Calgarysun.com. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  7. "Calgary Foundation CKUA Studio - CKUA Radio Network". Ckua.com. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  8. "King Eddy hotel dismantled, pieces stored meticulously - Calgary - CBC News". Cbc.ca. 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  9. "Venue Rentals | National Music Centre". Nmc.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  10. "National Music Centre to close its current space as it prepares to move to its new building in 2016". Nmc.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  11. "Building toward a delightful crescendo at the National Music Centre in Calgary". The Globe and Mail. 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2016-09-15.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.