The new headquarters of the Symphony Orchestra is the first publicly-owned performance space in Spain to be built with a public-private financing model.
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Work on the Caja de Música
The President of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, today visited the construction site of the Caja de Música, the new headquarters of the Symphony Orchestra of the Balearic Islands (OSIB), which will be finished by the end of the year. The works are already showing progress in the side naves, of which the left one will house the rehearsal areas, the musicians’ studio and the dressing rooms, and the right one, the administration and archive area. From the first floor, it has been possible to see the central structure, which will house the main hall for the orchestra’s performances.
Francina Armengol stressed that “only by investing in culture will we be able to have a present and a future as an autonomous community, and having a symphony orchestra is a distinctive feature of our territory, of quality and of making ourselves known throughout the world”.
The president recalled that “when we began to govern we had a marvellous orchestra, but it was on the verge of disappearing because it did not have the appropriate institutional support to consolidate and move forward despite its enormous potential”. A situation that has changed, with a Caja de Música that for Armengol is “a dream that has become possible because we believe in culture, in the symphony orchestra, and because we believe that we can be an international benchmark in classical music”.
Armengol also stressed that “it is the first public venue for a symphony orchestra, publicly and privately financed, with a venue that will be the headquarters of the four islands, because it will have cutting-edge technology and will be prepared so that what happens here can be seen live on each of the islands”.
The Caja de Música, with a budget of 8.5 million euros, is the first publicly-owned stage space in Spain to be built with a public-private financing model and the first auditorium to belong exclusively to a public orchestra. Of the 8.5 million that the work will finally cost, the Kühne Foundation is contributing two million, Fundatur two million more and the other 4.5 million will come from the Govern. The Palma City Council, for its part, ceded the site on which it is being built.
The new facility will have a main hall with a capacity for 700 people, a multi-purpose hall with a capacity for 100 people, as well as office rooms, an archive, five study rooms and an outdoor park for live projections, with a capacity for 800 people. It will also have unique technical equipment in Europe, with more than nineteen camera points for 4K recording with live production; a high-definition microphone system; an indoor system of atmospheric and stereo speakers in the outdoor park; a 150 M2MA outdoor high-definition LED screen; a 4K projection system in the main hall; a multidisciplinary stage lighting system; and solar panels that will produce 60 % energy independence.
Thanks to the technical features, all OSIB concerts will be recorded in order to increase the content of the Symphony’s record label, available on 70 digital platforms, every week. The design and acoustics will make it possible to collaborate with national and international concert agencies and to plan concerts by guest orchestras touring in Spain. The new project will also have a rental plan to increase its own income.
Among the objectives of the Caja de Música are to increase the existing audience and the number of concerts, the creation of new audiences and the reduction of costs for rehearsals, concerts, transport and logistics. In the last five years, the OSIB has become a musical figure in Spain through the presence of international artists and a varied programme.
The new building and video projection system will enable the OSIB to offer music 360 days a year, in a project that aims to promote cultural tourism and establish itself as an icon of international relations in European tourism.
The visit to the site, located in Nou Llevant, was also attended by the Minister of European Funds, University and Culture, Miquel Company; the Mayor of Palma City Council, José Hila; the Deputy Mayor for Culture and Social Welfare of Palma City Council, Antoni Noguera; the manager of the OSIB, Pere Malondra, and its titular director, Pablo Mielgo; the architect of TRAGSATEC, Diego Carreño; Carme Serra and Paula Serra, representatives of the Tourism and Cultural Foundation of the Balearic Islands (Fundatur), and Björn Spaude, of the Kühne Foundation, among others.