Moldovan culture minister says National Philharmonic needs hall with acoustic qualities

Chisinau, 5 May /MOLDPRES/ - A number of 27 projects from 13 countries have been presented at an international contest of architectural solutions for the rehabilitation of the Serghei Lunchevici National Philharmonic, titled, Revive the Philharmonic, launched on  29 September 2022. The Phoenix Bird was chosen as metaphoric symbol of this campaign – the image of the Philharmonic’s revival from ashes.        

The projects on 4 May were assessed by an international jury, led by architect, Ambassador of Malta to Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria Lino Bianco. The results today were announced at a news conference, organized by the Faculty of Urbanism and Architecture of Moldova’s Technical University (UTM).      

Contacted by MOLDPRES, Culture Minister Sergiu Prodan said that this was the first stage – the evaluation of the architectural solutions. ‘’These are architectural ideas, not projects for implementation. The project is to be negotiated, contracted with the winner company. At the same time, the project will be discussed by the civil society as well. Last week, I was honoured to participate in a symphony concert at the Paris-based Philharmonic and I repeatedly made sure that the modern acoustics in a hall of academic music is extremely important. The requirements we set for the participants in this contest represented the acoustic qualities of the future hall. Moldova has made available and continues to make available artists with great talent. It is regrettable that all these great artists had occasion to hear the voice or the musical instrument from their hands as late as when they left, as in Moldova, all concert halls which existed or exist at present were not constructed on such a purpose. Yet, the requirements for the hall are categorical and we will not accept an approximation or a compromise. The National Philharmonic needs a hall-instrument, with acoustic qualities,’’ Minister Sergiu Prodan stressed.      

Attending the event, singer Valentina Nafornița said that we have the chance to build a hall with a fantastic acoustics, which both artists and the audience will enjoy. At the same time, the director of the Serghei Lunchevici National Philharmonic, Svetlana Bivol, said she was sure that this hall would become the spiritual centre of Moldova.      

The company Bez+Kock Architekten General Planer GmbH from Germany, chief author – Kock Thorsten, co-author Bez Martin, ranked first in the contest; the CATARAGA Achitects Ltd, chief author – Vitalie Cataraga, is on the second position and the Tobias Wulf company, chief author Tobias Wulf, ranks third.     

On 24 September 2020, a fire burned up more than 3,500 square metres of the building of the Serghei Lunchevici National Philharmonic. The fire destroyed the building almost completely; both concert halls were devastated and more musical instruments burned, some of them unique ones. The Philharmonic’s building was constructed in 1912.