<Praha> announced a tender for the construction of a concert hall</Praha>

Prague - The capital city has announced a tender for the construction of a new concert hall, which should be created in the courtyard of the Prague Conservatory. The order's specifications were published on the website of the Information System for Public Contracts. The construction of the hall for four hundred spectators is expected to cost 100 million crowns. However, many music experts believe that Prague also needs a large modern multipurpose concert hall for 2000 people.
    "The 'conservatory hall' could, according to the specifications, start being built as early as this July. It should be completed by the end of May next year. This project will be part of the renovation of the school's interior, which will also include the construction of a school theater with facilities and an elevator to the recently built 12 classrooms in the attic extension."
    According to the director of the Prague Conservatory, Pavel Trojan, the new concert hall would be used not only for concerts, opera, and drama performances, but also for pedagogical conferences and meetings. "In the summer, courses for foreign students could be held in the hall. Its utilization would be truly wide-ranging. Above all, though, it would serve the needs of the school," Trojan told ČTK.
    The conservatory urgently needs a concert "orchestral" hall to improve the quality of education, which includes public performances by school orchestras. Currently, they are forced to rent halls, which reduces the number of concerts due to lack of funds.
    Last year marked the 200th anniversary of the issuance of the school's founding charter, and the conservatory started a cycle of celebrations that will culminate in 2011, marking 200 years since teaching began. After the Paris Conservatory, its Prague counterpart is the second oldest school of its kind in the world.
    According to Trojan, the Czech metropolis deserves a much larger hall, approximately for 2000 spectators. "A city of European significance would need a large concert hall. That would be great," thinks Trojan, who is supported by well-known conductors Jiří Bělohlávek, Zdeněk Mácal, and Martin Turnovský. A larger hall in Prague should have been built a long time ago; compared to other European capitals, it could eventually lose its prestige due to this, Turnovský said some time ago.
    Neither the Rudolfinum nor the Municipal House fully meet the needs of large orchestral and vocal-instrumental concerts with dynamic parameters; they are also inadequate for recording conditions. Although both halls have their genius loci, they do not provide modern facilities for listeners. People in the audience do not have enough legroom, they crowd in the hallways during intermissions, and in the Municipal House, those in the back rows see and hear poorly.
    Meanwhile, the metropolis could have had a new concert hall as early as the mid-1990s. Japanese investors wanted to donate one to the Czech Philharmonic. The project was prepared, but the politicians ultimately rejected the proposal.