Inside Arts

New music venues essential, but must be fit for purpose, writes Brian Ferguson

After a prolonged and depressing wave of venue closures, Edinburgh’s music scene has undoubtedly had a shot in the arm lately. The reopening of the old Leith Theatre for the Hidden Door Festival, and its undoubted success as a concert venue, was followed by big turn-outs and rave reviews for the Leith Late festival, which saw an unprecedented number of gigs happening in the area.

And in the much-maligned city centre, there has been significant progress with three longawaited projects. The most modest, but the one that may take the longest to deliver, saw plans emerge for a much-needed overhaul of the Queen’s Hall in time for the buildings’s 200th anniversary in 2023. With just £3 million needed to realise the ambitions for one of the city’s few high-quality music venues, it seems only a matter of time before its future is secured after years of uncertainty.

At the other end of the scale, with a price tag of around £45m, is a brand new home for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on a gap site hidden off St Andrew Square. In the six months or so since it was announced, the charitable trust set up to pursue the project has secured the backing of both the Scottish and Westminster governments, and shortlisted and then appointed architects. An ambition to open by 2020 no longer seems fanciful, even if the scheme has been somewhat shrouded in secrecy, particularly over what funding is on the table and what the new venue will look like – inside or out. The trust instigated by American arts philanthropist Carol Grigor and the SCO has promised the 1,000-seater venue will be suitable for jazz, folk, classical, rock, pop and electronica concerts.

Apex Hotels founder Norman Springford had a long and frustrating experience trying to persuade the city council to let him help break the long-standing impasse on how to replace the historic Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens. But it has picked up pace since an international design competition was announced in February. In contrast to the New Town project, Mr Springford has been happy to discuss his vision and has also pledged that public opinion on its design will be taken into account.

He came good on his promise last week when the seven competing concepts for the new “Ross Pavilion” appeared online and were showcased in the City Art Centre. This was always likely to be a high-risk strategy and the released images have created animated discussion, particularly on social media.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the more ambitious designs for the venue and the surrounding landscape seem to have been the least popular. Two involve large stone structures encircling the open-air concert arena. A third envisages what appear to be over-sized greenhouses on either side of the venue. Two of the other four have drawn inevitable but favourable comparisons with a “Hobbit House” with their attempts to blend into the landscape.

But with their imaginative designs, could they be up to scratch as 21st century concert venues? There are plenty of event organisers far better qualified than me to judge, but I have my doubts. The tricky task awaiting the judging panel will be balancing the different ambitions for the garden. Mr Springford and his team want the new pavilion to be capable of hosting events every week, while ensuring it is suitable for the city’s most high-profile events. But they also want it to be a haven of peace and tranquillity.

Picking a winner by the beginning of August that commands public support and ticks all the right boxes will be no easy task.