
Main entrance to the Cité de la Musique, Paris, France.

Interior view of Cité et Musee de la Musique
The 'Cité de la Musique' (
French: 'City of Music'') is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the La Villette quarter,
19th arrondissement,
Paris,
France. It was designed by the architect
Christian de Portzamparc and opened in 1995. It consists of an amphitheater; a concert hall that can accommodate an audience of 800-1,000; a museum of music, containing an important collection of classical music instruments dating mainly from the fifteenth- to twentieth-century; and exhibition halls, workshops and archives. Part of
François Mitterrand's ''Grands Projets'' along with the
Parc de la Villette, the Cité de la Musique reinvented La Villette - the former slaughterhouse district.
[1]
Its official address is 221, Avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019 Paris.
[2]
Philharmonie de Paris
The Paris Philharmonic (''philharmonie de Paris''), a 2400-seat symphony hall, had been planned for about 20 years and is now scheduled for completion by 2012. The announcement was made on March 6, 2006 by the French
minister of Culture and communication Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, the mayor of Paris
Bertrand Delanoë, and the director of the Cité de la Musique, Laurent Bayle, at a press conference concerning the reopening of the Pleyel Hall, now associated with the Museum.
[3]
The cost of construction of the new auditorium may reach
EUR170 million, and will be paid for equally by the French Government and by the
Ville de Paris, who has not excluded the possibillity of funding from
Région Île-de-France or the use of private financing.
[4]
It was announced in April 2007 that the hall would be built by
Jean Nouvel.
Musee de la Musique
The Museum of Music (''Musee de la Musique'') features a collection of several hundred musical instruments collected by the
Conservatoire de Paris. The museum's collection contains instruments used in classical and popular music from the seventeenth century to the present time including
lutes,
archlutes, and violins by Italian luthiers
Antonio Stradivari, the
Guarneri family,
Nicolò Amati; French and
Flemish harpsichords; pianos by French piano-makers Erard and
Ignaz Pleyel; and
saxophones by
Adolph Sax.
The instruments are exhibited by period and by type. Audio devices are provided at the entrance allowing visitors to hear commentary and excerpts of music played on the instruments.
Gallery
References
1. The Glass State: The Technology of the Spectacle, 1981-1998, , Annette, Fierro, MIT Press, 2003,
2. Plan and location of all the elements at the official website
3.
4. La Cité de la musique bientôt achevée
External links
★
Cité de la Musique official website
★
Médiathèque de la Cité de la musique - Listen to excerpts of concerts