The public eye has finally seen the inside of Mount Royal’s new Conservatory, as well as the beautiful Bella Concert Hall after 3 years of construction! While the building is still a work in progress, the open house on January 24th offered a sneak peek of the soon-to-be-glamorous musical palace.
Notably, the area went from this…
…To this! (Pretty impressive!)
A panoramic view of the building’s main entrance reveals a very modern and inviting design.
The color scheme coordinates beautifully with the interior scheme of creams, yellows, oranges, and browns.
Upon entering the building, the spaciousness and open-concept design become very apparent. You find yourself in a huge lobby, with the doors to the Bella Concert Hall in front of you, and a towering wall of glass behind you:
The Bella already has impressively engineered acoustic paneling in place to ensure optimal sound flow in the large, open space. Both the ceiling and the side walls are covered in wooden and plastic sound panels.
This is what you would see if you looked up at the ceiling… …And this is what you would see on the side walls around you
On the day of the open house, the esteemed Calgary Youth Orchestra (CYO) was performing inside the Bella as a prelude to the marvelous concerts yet to come. Since the stage was still under heavy construction, the CYO performed from the seating area instead. What an interesting reversal of arrangement!
This is the viewpoint musicians and orchestras would normally see audience members from. At least, it will be once the Bella is completed:
To read Hui Wen’s interview with a talented young musician, click here!
However, if your destination was not to enjoy a concert in the Bella, you would likely be headed down this hallway to one of the practice rooms or classrooms…
…Which look something like this! (Awesome paint and panel choices right?)
…Or this! (This one is likely for bigger masterclasses and recitals.)
The individual practice rooms are the same idea, just smaller:
The Open House was also an opportunity to see some of the Conservatory programs in action! Pictured here is the Calgary Boys’ Choir rehearsing together:
To end the tour, you would likely head upstairs to one of the West-facing rooms. Why? To observe none other than…
…The former Conservatory building!
How cool is that? You can literally look into the past and reflect on how far MRU’s music program has come!