THE logo for Belfast City Council's new £29 million, 2,300 seater Waterfront Hall has a banner which reads "conference and concert centre". But the programme of the opening festival, which starts next Friday, steers well away from conferences.
The opening concert features the Ulster Orchestra with two of Belfast's most famous musical sons, pianist Barry Douglas (playing Beethoven's Emperor Concerto) and flautist James Galway appearing in a low brow, "Oirish" romp, Vapors and Capers by Lorin Maazel. The concert, conducted by Jerzy Maksymiuk, begins with a fanfare, specially commissioned from Belfast composer Philip Hammond. The Ulster Orchestra plays - again on Saturday 18th (with James Galway and harpist Marisa Robles) and will also be giving concerts under Matthias Bamert (Friday, January 31st) and Yuri Simonov (Friday, February 7th).
The first visiting orchestra to the new hall will be one of the world's greats, the St Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov, settling in for three concerts over a single weekend, playing Tchaikovsky (Friday, January 24th), Rachmaninov (Saturday 25th), and Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich (Sunday 26th).
Beyond that, the programme ranges far and wide, from veteran Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe (Sunday, January 19th), to Daniel O'Donnell (Tuesday, February 11th), Phil Coulter (Thursday, February 6th), Jasper Carroll (Wednesday and Thursday, January 29th and 30th), and Mary Black (Wednesday, February 5th).
The offerings in the 500 seater Studio are even more varied, from the Lyric Theatre's Playboy of the Western World (Monday, January 20th to Wednesday 22nd), Twentieth Century Saxophones (Monday, January 27th), a Percy French Society Concert Party (Thursday, February 6th) and Benjamin Zephaniah (Sunday, February 9th).
Altogether, there will be nearly 60 performances in the first four weeks of the new hall's life.
Full details available from the Belfast Waterfront Hall at 08 01232 334400. Box office (24 hours a day): 08 01232 334455.
