Lotte to open classical concert hall in August

SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- A new concert hall exclusively for classical music performances will be opening in August, the second such large-scale hall in Seoul after one at the Seoul Arts Center.

The two-tier Lotte Concert Hall, seating 2,036, is housed in the eighth to 10th floors of the Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul.

The new concert hall at the nation's highest building will adopt a vineyard-style seating configuration with the seats completely surrounding the stage, according to officials at the mall on Tuesday.

The concert hall was designed by Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics, which was in charge of the acoustic design for the Suntory Hall in Japan, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in the U.S., and the Philharmonie de Paris in France.

According to officials, Lotte Concert Hall will be Korea's first large-scale 2,000+ seat concert hall to feature a pipe organ. The 4,958-pipe, 68-stop organ was designed by the Austrian company Rieger.

The seats are divided into 37 different sections by dividers which "act as reflectors" for the sound, according to Choi Yeon-sik, director of the concert hall's artistic planning.

The Lotte Concert Hall will be renting out its space for outside productions beginning next year.

This year some 20 performances are scheduled at the hall for its opening festival to be held from Aug. 18 to Dec. 31.
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