Concertgebouw

Royal Concertgebouw
Koninklijk Concertgebouw
Concertgebouw in 2011
Location in Amsterdam
General information
Status	Complete
Type	Concert hall
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Location	Museumplein
Address	Concertgebouwplein 10 1071 LN Amsterdam
Town or city	Amsterdam
Country	Netherlands
Coordinates	52°21′22″N 4°52′46″E / 52.356223°N 4.879517°E / 52.356223; 4.879517Coordinates: 52°21′22″N 4°52′46″E / 52.356223°N 4.879517°E / 52.356223; 4.879517
Current tenants	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Construction started	1883
Completed	late 1886
Opened	11 April 1888
Renovated	July 1985–April 1988
Cost	300,000 Dutch guilders
Owner	Het Concertgebouw N.V. (privately owned)
Design and construction
Architect	Adolf Leonard van Gendt
Designations	Protected monument
Renovating team
Architect	Pi de Bruijn
Other information
Seating type	Theatre
Seating capacity	1,974 (Main Hall), 437 (Recital Hall), 150 (Choir Hall)
Website
www.concertgebouw.nl

The Royal Concertgebouw (Dutch: Koninklijk Concertgebouw, pronounced [ˌkoːnɪnklək kɔnˈsɛrt.xəˌbʌu̯]) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building". On 11 April 2013, on occasion of the building's 125th anniversary, Queen Beatrix bestowed the Royal Title "Koninklijk" upon the building, as she did previously (in 1988) to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Because of its highly regarded acoustics, the Concertgebouw is considered one of the finest concert halls in the world, along with places such as Boston's Symphony Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna.

The architect of the building was Adolf Leonard van Gendt, who was inspired by the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, built two years earlier (and destroyed in 1943).

Construction began in 1883 in a pasture that was then outside the city, in Nieuwer-Amstel, a municipality that in 1964 became Amstelveen. A total of 2,186 piles of length twelve to thirteen metres (40 to 43 ft) were sunk into the soil.

The hall opened on 11 April 1888 with an inaugural concert, in which an orchestra of 120 musicians and a chorus of 500 singers participated, performing works of Wagner, Handel, Bach, and Beethoven. The resident orchestra of the Concertgebouw is the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest), which gave its first concert in the hall on 3 November 1888, as the Concertgebouw Orchestra (Concertgebouworkest). For many decades the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest have also been regular performers in the Concertgebouw.