Melbourne Recital Centre-The Daily Ledger

Melbourne Recital Centre is a venue for live music in Melbourne and welcomes over 200,000 visitors each year. The organisation programs and presents more than 500 concerts and events a year across diverse range of musical genres including classical and chamber, contemporary, pop, folk, rock, electronica, indie, jazz, cabaret and world music. It was opened in 2009, as part of the Melbourne Recital Centre and Melbourne Theatre Company Southbank Theatre complex designed by Ashton Raggat McDougall, and is located on the corner of Southbank Boulevard and Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, Southbank. It is Melbourne's second largest auditorium for classical music (after Hamer Hall in Arts Centre Melbourne).

Facilities

The centre features two auditoria, the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, and a smaller Salon. The former, a "modified shoe box" shaped music venue, is named after Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. It has seating for 1000 on two levels and was designed by Ashton Raggatt McDougall with acoustic and theatre consulting by Arup.

Melbourne Recital Centre

The stage, with optional extension is designed to accommodate up to 45–65 musicians, making it well suited to chamber music and other small ensemble music. To eliminate noise from the nearby Southbank Boulevard cars and trams, it is surrounded by 250mm of concrete, mounted on 38 steel springs. The interior is lined with Hoop Pine plywood and is designed to give ideal bass response for cello and low brass. The shoebox shape, size and wooden surfaces were designed to provide a reverberation time of 1.6 to 1.8 seconds

Melbourne Recital Centre

The Salon can seat 136 people. The lighting, seating and stage can be configured to suit the performance.

Melbourne Recital Centre

Building awards

Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre complex won the Moore Stephens National Award for Public Buildings at the Property Council of Australia – the country's highest award for a public building. The complex also won the Victorian Architecture Medal, the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture and the Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design at the Australian Institute of Architects Victoria Chapter State Architecture Awards in 2009.

Awards and nominations

Music Victoria Awards

The Music Victoria Awards are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music. They commenced in 2006. The award for Best Venue was introduced in 2016.