Tonhalle, Zurich

The Tonhalle is a concert hall in Zurich, home to the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, one of Switzerland's leading orchestras.^[3] The 1455-seat hall, located at Claridenstrasse 7 in Zurich, was inaugurated in 1895 by Johannes Brahms.^[4][5] The hall is considered to be "acoustically superb".^[6] In 1938, it made way for a new construction that now forms the building complex Kongresshaus Zürich.

Tonhalle
Great Hall of the Tonhalle
General information
Location	Zurich, Switzerland
Coordinates	47°21′58″N 8°32′16″E
Construction started	1893 (1893)
Completed	1895 (1895)
Renovated	2017 (2017)-2021 (2021)[1][2]
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Ferdinand Fellner Hermann Helmer
Renovating team
Architect(s)	ARGE Boesch Diener Elisabeth & Martin Boesch Architekten, Zürich Diener & Diener Architekten, Basel
Website
www.kongresshaus.ch

History

Tonhalle 'Trocadéro' (1895)

The Tonhalle was built between 1893 and 1895, and designed by the Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer,^[7] who had built the Zurich Opera House and various other theaters and concert halls across Europe. The architects had become especially experienced in acoustics, and also achieved excellent acoustics in the Tonhalle.^[8] In his comparison of concert halls and opera houses, Leo Leroy Beranek found the Grosser Saal (Great Hall) "an excellent hall", agreeing with three out of four conductors whom he had interviewed, adding "Music critics have generally given high praise to the acoustics".^[9] Johannes Brahms conducted his Triumphlied, Op. 55 for the opening on 19 October 1895.^[10] At the time, the Tonhalle is also known as the Trocadéro in Zurich due to its resemblance to the Trocadéro Palace in Paris.^[11]

• 
  Original building (1895)
• 
  Current structure (1939)

Current structure (1939)

In 1938, to make room for a convention center in the course of the Swiss National Exhibition, the building was almost entirely demolished, leaving only the inner hall and the north-east façade.^[12] The replacing structure was designed by the architectural the architectural firm Haefeli Moser Steiger and serves as one of the main examples of the Swiss variant of New Objectivity, called Landistil.

In 1950, Josef Müller-Brockmann produced his first of many concert posters for the Tonhalle concert hall in Zurich, which became known as the Tonhalle Series or "Musica Viva".^[13][14] The Tonhalle Series grew increasingly abstract and focused on the feelings of the music.^[15][16] Müller-Brockman used a visual form to translate the mathematical system that is found in music, playing with visual scale, rhythm, and repetition, while trying to stay true to each musicians composition who was featured on the poster.^[14]

In 1988,^[17] to replace the original organ built in 1872 by the Swiss manufacturer Johann Nepomuk Kuhn,^[18] the Tonhalle was equipped with a pipe organ built by the German firm Kleuker-Steinmeyer.^[19] The organist and organ consultant Jean Guillou was instrumental in its design.^[20]

Plans of new construction and renovation (2000s)

Plans to replace the Kongresshaus with a new convention center were submitted in 2006 but rejected in 2008. Renovations were planned for the 2013/14 season.^[21]

Major renovation works on the hall began in 2017,^[22] which included the removal of the old organ and installation of a new one^[23] built by the firm Kuhn.^[24] The old organ was donated to the Koper Cathedral in Slovenia.^[18]