Reid Concert Hall

Reid Concert Hall
Reid Concert Hall
Location of the Reid Concert Hall in Edinburgh
Former names	Reid School of Music
General information
Type	Concert hall
Address	Teviot Row, Bristo Square
Town or city	Edinburgh
Country	Scotland, UK
Coordinates	55.9448062°N 3.1896425°W / 55.9448062; -3.1896425
Construction started	13 February 1858
Opened	14 February 1859
Owner	University of Edinburgh
Design and construction
Architect(s)	David Cousin
Website
Reid Hall website

The Reid Concert Hall is a small music venue in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is located in the south-western corner of Bristo Square about 0.53 kilometres (0.33 mi) south of the Royal Mile, and is part of the University of Edinburgh. Originally opened as the Reid School of Music in 1859, it was designed by the Scottish Architect David Cousin and is a Category A listed building. The hall is named after Ganeral John Reid, an army officer and musician who founded the Chair of Music at the university.

The Reid Hall is hosts a number of classical chamber music concerts throughout the year, mostly performed by students and academics.

Architecture

The Reid School of Music is a tall, rectangular sandstone ashlar building, designed by David Cousin in an Italianate Neoclassical style. The exterior large sash windows flanked by decorative shell-headed niches. The roof is surrounded with an ornate, dentilled cornice and heavy, bracketed eaves, below which is an inscription carved into the frieze, " Endowed by General Reid — School of the theory of music — University of Edinburgh". Steps lead up to the entrances, which are flanked by pairs of classical columns and topped with porticos.

The interior consists mostly of a spacious concert hall, which is noted for its highly decorated neoclassical coffered tunnel vaulted ceiling. Against the east wall of the concert hall is a reproduction classical organ, which was built by Jürgen Ahrend in 1978. The wooden casing was designed by James Haig Marshall of Ian G Lindsay and Partners. The concert hall was designed to offer "dry" acoustics with low reverberation. By contrast, the neighbouring McEwan Hall opened in 1897 is a grand, colossal space with high reverberation.

Music museum

The Reid Hall was also built to house a museum of musical instruments, and it is considered to be the oldest purpose-built musical museum in Europe. Today, the North Room houses the John Donaldson Collection of Musical Instruments, which, along with the Russell Collection, forms part of the Musical Instruments collection of the University of Edinburgh.

See also

• St Cecilia's Hall

External links

• "Virtual Tour of the Reid Concert Hall". Edinburgh College of Art. University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 9 March 2018.