Westdeutsche Zeitung 7 November 2012

Rattle campaigns for Wuppertal

Talk: The Conductor of the Berliner raves about the Town Hall

Munich: Sir Simon Rattle (57) , conductor of the Berliner Philharmonic, is campaigning for the town hall of Wuppertal. Already two years ago the British conductor shocked friends of music in Munich with the statement that his Berliner Philharmonic prefers in the meantime to perform at Wuppertal than in the Bavarian metropolis – because of the bad acoustics in Munich’s Gasteig concert hall.

 “Wuppertal has – from the acoustical standpoint – one of the best concert halls worldwide”

Now he reopens the subject: “The people in Munich should be irritated and look to Wuppertal. They should be sad that they don’t have something like that,” Rattle told the Süddeutsche Zeitung [leading German newspaper, from Stuttgart].

Because Wuppertal has one of the best acoustics in the world. "It’s like the Musikverein in Vienna. In Wuppertal I performed one of my best concerts with the Berliner Philharmonic ever. One reason was this inspiring hall. Wuppertal may not be the loveliest place on earth, but there is this fantastic concert Hall,” says Rattle.

The grand hall was renovated extensively in the 90s. However the “bergische” town is in debt now, and cutting back the money it can spend on culture. The grant for the cost of operation for the Town Hall was up to now 885,000 Euros and will be cut next year by about 100,000," said manager Silke Asbeck yesterday. “We are struck hard by the cost cuts.”

Another good reason to be so glad about the praise from Sir Simon Rattle.

Simon Rattle played 2006 with the Berliner Philharmonic in the Town Hall of Wuppertal: “One of my best concerts!” Talking about Wuppertal. “Munich should look to Wuppertal. Wuppertal has in acoustics one of the best concert halls in the world. It’s like the Musikverein” in Vienna.”

Sir Simon Rattle, conductor of the Berliner Philharmonic, praised the Town Hall in Wuppertal in an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung. At the same time he repeated again his critique of the acoustics in the Munich concert hall, “Gasteig”. Already in 2010 Rattle had already given gave the Wuppertal Town hall an extremely good attestation, after visiting a concert, as a guest, in 2007.