Auditorio Nacional de Música

The Auditorio Nacional de Música, located in Madrid's Chamartín district and opened on 21 October 1988 after more than twelve years of planning and construction, is Spain's most important concert hall and home to some of the country's leading musical institutions. Designed by Spanish architect José María García de Paredes — who had previously created the Manuel de Falla Auditorium in Granada — the building marked the end of a decades-long debate over a worthy concert venue for the Spanish capital, which had long since abandoned its former home, the Teatro Monumental of 1923, to decay. The hall has two performance spaces. The Symphony Hall (Sala Sinfónica) seats 2,324 in a vineyard configuration of rising terraces around a centrally placed stage and features a concert organ by the German firm Klais with 4,302 pipes. The more intimate Chamber Hall (Sala de Cámara) seats 692 for solo recitals, chamber music, and song evenings. Both spaces are renowned for their acoustics and rank among the most-used recording venues in Spain — countless recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Harmonia Mundi, and Naxos have been made here. The Auditorio is the official seat of the Orquesta Nacional de España and its choir (Coro Nacional de España), hosts the season of the Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, and serves as principal venue for the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical (CNDM) — the state institution dedicated to the promotion of classical and contemporary music in Spain. It also hosts the annual festivals Universo Barroco (early music), Liceo de Cámara XXI (chamber music), and Series 20/21 (contemporary music). International orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra count the Auditorio among their regular touring venues. Conductors from Claudio Abbado and Daniel Barenboim to Gustavo Dudamel have appeared here. With more than 800 events per season, the Auditorio Nacional is one of the most active concert halls in Europe.