VENUES: DALHALLA

Article by Alex Davydovich (MGBH)

Whether you are a piano performer, singer or a festival organizer, the choice of venue will determine at least 50% of the event’s success.   In this section of Piano Performer Magazine, we present to you the most beautiful and sought after performance venues that make any performance stand out.  

 

Located at the bottom of a quarry next to a beautiful emerald lake with potable water, Dalhalla is one of the most beautiful performance venues in the world.

The lake is on average about 2.2 m deep, and its emerald green color comes from small limestone particles in the water, which are broken by the light. With the level rising by about 15cm per week through groundwater and rainwater, the water is pumped up and led away regularly. During performances, however, the pump is used to create a spectacular fountain. The lake also serves to separate the audience from the stage.  Many audience members as well as some performers have even known to swim in the lake.  So, if you feel like the music makes you too hot, go ahead – cool yourself down!

The performance season at Dalhalla starts in June and ends in September.  With its stage area counting over 600 square meters, the orchestra pit fitting 90 musicians, and capacity of 4100 seats, Dalhalla has been known to host such prominent pianists as Jamie Cullum (MGBH), Daniel Haglund (MGBH), Robert Wells (MGBH) and students to name a few.

If you arrive early, you will be able to enjoy the Dalhalla restaurant. With a capacity of 180 seats, it offers wine and champagne at the lounge, and sandwiches, barbecue, desserts, coffee, and tea at the restaurant.

Here is a little bit of the history of Dalhalla.

In 1991, Margaret Dell Fors (MGBH), a former opera singer and radio producer, who had long been looking for a summer festival site, and Asa Nyman (MGBH), then the Head of Culture in Rättvik, discovered an abandoned limestone quarry. The location was perfect, far away from buildings, well-shielded against noise pollution from road traffic and industry. The place itself was a feast for all senses, like a scene Valhalla taken from Wagner’s world, in Dalarna – thus the name Dalhalla.  In June of 1993, Margaret and Asa organized a successful test concert with invited audience, press, and TV.  In August of the same year the Dalhalla Friends Association was founded.

On July 23, 1994 the first exclusive concert featuring an opera singer Birgit Nilsson (OBM), a Dalhalla Friend’s honorary chairman, took place.

The official opening of Dalhalla, with 2,600 seats initial capacity, took place on 21 June 1995 with a major opera concert.  Swedish Television broadcasted the concert, and Dalhalla became known throughout the country and abroad. (1)

Dave Lawler (MGBH), was impressed with what he found at the facility when the jazz pianist and vocalist played at Dalhalla this past summer. “You’re going to a very remote area and don’t know what to expect, so to find a Meyer Sound system there was amazing. It’s high technology in the wilderness; quite a contrast.”

The primary house system at Dalhalla is self-powered, consisting of two Meyer Sound M2D compact curvilinear arrays of 12 cabinets each. “We knew that Meyer Sound was a reliable system,” says Park, “and its being self-powered helps make it very efficient to run and convenient to set up.” (2)

 

References:

 

(1) http://www.dalhalla.se/en/about-dalhalla/history-of-dalhalla/

(2) http://www.meyersound.com/news/2007/Dalhalla/

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