FROM the outside, the new, £32 million sterling Belfast Waterfront Hall, a squattish circular tower with generous glass frontage, makes a striking impression. From a distance it's a distinctive landmark. Closer up, it seems like a misplaced, clean-lined intrusion into a mucky building site within the Laganbank Development, an impression that's probably going to last for a few years, while the rest of the site is built on (even the open space in front of the hall itself is not scheduled for completion in time for the opening). The public areas inside - with three levels of access to the auditorium (including gallery space for exhibitions) - convey a pleasing brightness and airiness. However, during the daytime, the current views of the building site are less than inspiring.
When I was shown around last weekend, the auditorium was still being worked on and there was a lung-arresting aroma of boiled sweet flavour emanating from the application of floor varnish. Obviously, in the circumstances, I didn't get to hear any music played, but the initial visual impression was of a building more intimate than the seating figure of 2,234 might suggest. The feeling of contact with the stage was not as remote as might have been expected, the sight lines were clear, and leg-room, even for six-footers, felt generous.
From a Dublin perspective, the new Belfast Waterfront Hall is in many ways a most extraordinary undertaking. This £32 million sterling venture was initiated - as long ago as 1978 - by the Belfast City Council, a body which already owns the Ulster Hall, internationally renowned for the fineness of its acoustic for orchestral music. The council has contributed £21.5 million sterling towards the final cost of the project, with the remainder coming from the British Government (£6.5 million sterling) and the European Regional Development Fund (£4 million sterling).
The new hall is actually the core of a much larger project, the ongoing Laganbank Development which, when completed, will include a 187-bedroom Hilton International Hotel, 450,000 square feet of office space and 70,000 square feet of shopping. The hall's main auditorium, with staggered, steeply-raked groups of seats inspired by the Scharoun-designed Philharmonic Hall in Berlin and St David's Hall in Cardiff, can accommodate audiences of between 2,234 and 2,688. A second performing space, called The Studio a flexible, "black box" style of auditorium can cope with audiences of up to 500.
Of course, the success or failure of the new venue depends on what's going to be put on there. It's not exclusively a concert hall and general manager Tim Husbands expects that in the region of 20 to 25 per cent of its use will be for conferences. And in spite of the political infighting that accompanied Belfast City Council debates about the hall, the council is planning to support the Waterfront and its activities to the tune of £1.5 million sterling per annum.
If you want toe get a handle on what this really amounts to, the most informative comparison is the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Although the NCH is, as its name indicates, a national institution funded by the Government, in 1996 it received a subsidy of £485,000, or less than a third the level in Belfast, and this in spite of the fact that, with only 1,200 seats, its potential box office income is much more restricted than the Waterfront's.
IT would be foolish to regard the Belfast Waterfront Hall as primarily a venue for classical music. It has been designed as a symphony hall.
Choir seating for 200 has been incorporated into the stage area, room has been left for the installation of an organ, and the venue has purchased a Steinway concert grand piano. But, explains Tim Husbands, the range of political and social agendas which have to be met, not to mention the absolute size of audience available in a city with a population of 400,000, impose restrictions of their own.
"Our opening festival programme," he says, "is a microcosm of the type of programme we would like to present, which is a mixture of the very best of homegrown talent, but also international and national artists." Roughly one in six of the 60-odd performances in the opening festival are of classical music. Events range widely: Daniel O'Donnell, Ben Elton, "Sounds of the Sixties", Phil Coulter, Mary Black, Shakespeare (Romeo And Juliet and Macbeth), Joyce (Molly Bloom's soliloquy), Belfast Fashion.
As Tim Husbands sees it, the Ulster Orchestra (who'll give four concerts during the opening festival) could play anything from six to 12 concerts a year at the Waterfront, and he expects there will be another 12 concerts by visiting orchestras. There are three concerts by the St Petersburg Philharmonic later this month, with visits already planned from the Moscow State Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Mozart Players and the Dallas Symphony.
With nearly as many visits again remaining in 1997 to meet the projected dozen, this scale of orchestral visitation must surely dwarf anything yet witnessed in Ireland. Knock-on benefits may well be experienced in cost-sharing exercises between the Waterfront and the NCH (and, possibly, the University Concert Hall in Limerick). And the opening of the new venue may take pressure off the Ulster Hall, creating the possibility of it becoming the full-time home of the Ulster Orchestra, which currently works out of the Elmwood Hall as a rehearsal venue and administrative base.
Tim Husbands sees the Belfast Waterfront Hall as offering an experience" that's not available elsewhere in the city. Pre and post-concert uppers will be available and the cafe will be open all day (10 a.m. to 10 p.m.). The Irish premiere of Kenneth Branagh's film of Hamlet will provide an early opportunity to show off the hall's 70mm projection facilities, and Husbands talks with enthusiasm about creating a proscenium arch for the main auditorium. In general, he expects the programme to be events and artist-led, with more experimental work and ventures in partnership with community organisations finding an appropriate forum in The Studio.
He sounds rock-solid in his confidence that the new venue will succeed. "We have a highly polished venue that's state-of-the-art, that's providing facilities that nobody else has. We actually think that we will create a new audience." He's aware that the Waterfront will be seen as challenging competition for existing venues and promoters. "If I'm looking to promote a ballet or an opera, we'll ensure, in conjunction with the Grand Opera House and Opera - Northern Ireland, that we're not seen to be treading on each other's toes. It's the only way that we can all actually survive.
Flautist James Galway and pianist Barry Douglas are the soloists with the Ulster Orchestra under Jerzy Maksymiuk in tonight's opening concert. The Belfast Waterfront Hall can be contacted at 08 01232 334400: further information can also be had from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, 16 Nassau Street, Dublin 2, 1850 230230.
