This selection of ninety halls traces their evolution from the baroque era to the latest innovations and explains how architects and acousticians enrich the experience of playing and listening. It’s a celebration of two arts that support each other and of a glorious legacy that is constantly renewing itself.

Architectural writer Michael Webb and music impresario Thomas Aujero Small travelled all over Europe, exploring theaters, talking to their artistic directors and attending performances. They chose exemplars, grand or modest, which delight the eyes and the ears, while embodying a rich heritage or building a new audience. Their account of the history, architecture and programming of each theater is illustrated with 190 vivid images.

The halls are featured chronologically, with break-out chapters on the musical capitals of Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Prague and London, as well as festivals and music academies. Yasuhisa Toyota, who worked on eight of the halls, offers his insights on acoustics. Renzo Piano and Esa-Pekka Salonen contributed forewords.

This is a perfect gift for opera-lovers, concertgoers, and everyone who is captivated by great architecture and design, old or new. It will also serve as a guide to inspire cultural tours of European cities, small towns and summer festivals.

Author: Michael Webb and Thomas Aujero Small

Publisher: Oro Editions

ISBN: 978-1-966515-37-1