Auditorio Nacional de Música (Madrid: SPAIN)

The Auditorio Nacional de Música (National Concert Hall of Music) in Madrid is the principal concert hall for music in Madrid. From the outside, it is a pretty bland looking building in comparison to the many old-style architectures that you will find in other cities around Europe and the world... however, the outside isn't the substance of a place. It is important... but it is what is on the inside that counts!

Now, I have a little bit of a special love for this unassuming building. I have played concerts here as a soloist and as an ensemble player in groups that are pretty well known in the Early Music sphere. Some based in Europe, and others further afield... so, it goes without saying that I have a touch of an emotional connection to this red brick place!

The entrance for the artists is somewhat unusual... instead of a tiny little door somewhere in a dark back alley where you would expect to be mugged, you enter through the main entrance along with all the REAL PEOPLE! However, instead of going up the stairs to the audience areas... you head on forward to a security desk and scanner and straight through to the backstage areas. Security is a touch laxer than most places...

Like many concert halls the walls are adorned with photos of past players and soloists. The really big names in the field... all in striking action poses!

There is a little backstage cafeteria and green room at the bottom of the stairs from the stage... quite large and luxurious, and in previous visits it was nice to be able to get Spanish tapas and little snacks at the bar... but thanks to Coronavirus, it was closed... and we only had access to water bottles and a coffee machine. Sigh...

Heading out onto the stage, you can see that it is much more impressive on the inside than it is on the outside, with raked/tiered seating and different levels. It has a pretty decent capacity, and each time I have played here, it has been quite full. On stage, it does feel a bit weird acoustically... but these things are quite difficult to judge how the audience will hear things. That said, that is our job to make things good for the audience regardless of what we may be thinking or feeling on stage!

Looking backwards into the stage from the front... you can see that there is also a tiered seating arrangement behind the stage. It is always funny to do the bows after the concert in all sorts of directions!

I'm also quite fond of the chandeliers in this direction as well. Personally, I prefer this view rather than the view that we get as performers! ... but again, we aren't the paying customers!

So, just a quick mention of how this was the venue of my last concert in Europe. A few days before we were due to leave, I did a concert here with one of my most beloved ensembles. Needless to say, it was a pretty emotional experience for me... I'm not the sort of person who tends to just break down in public... but I did have a moment of shedding a tear at the end. In some ways, I was grateful to be wearing a mask... that covered it up a bit, but I'm sure that my colleagues knew it.