TivoliVredenburg

TivoliVredenburg is the main music centre of Utrecht, a large complex beside the Catharijnesingel canal, next to the railway station and the Hoog Catharijne shopping centre. It opened in 2014 and brought together two earlier institutions, the Vredenburg concert hall and the Tivoli pop venue, in a single building. The result is one of the most varied music venues in the Netherlands, a place where a symphony orchestra, a jazz trio, a metal band and a club night can all take place at the same time in different rooms.

The site has a long history. The name Vredenburg recalls a castle built by Emperor Charles V in the sixteenth century to keep the unruly citizens of Utrecht under control, which the townspeople tore down soon after, and the open area that remained became a public square. In the 1970s a concert hall was built here by the architect Herman Hertzberger, and its distinctive stacked and terraced style made it a landmark of Dutch modernism. The new building of 2014 wraps around and incorporates parts of that earlier structure, so that old and new are combined. The canal in front of the building, which had been filled in during the 1970s, was reopened as part of the redevelopment, a rare case of a Dutch city restoring a lost waterway.

What makes the centre special is the number of halls. There are six separate rooms of different sizes and characters, each designed with its own acoustics and atmosphere. The large hall is mainly used for classical music and has seating for well over a thousand. Another large hall hosts pop and rock concerts with a standing audience, and smaller rooms are used for electronic music, jazz, club nights and more intimate performances. Names such as Ronda, Pandora, Hertz and Cloud Nine belong to some of these spaces, and programmes cover every genre from orchestral concerts and opera to hip hop, dance and experimental sounds.

The building also contains cafes and a restaurant, so it can be visited for a drink or a meal as well as a concert. Opening times depend on the event schedule and on the hours of the restaurants, so it is wise to check the programme on the official website and book tickets in advance for popular shows.

The venue suits music lovers of all tastes and visitors who want an evening out in Utrecht. It is a short walk from the station and the old centre, with the Dom Tower and the canals close by. A tour or a drink takes an hour, and a concert takes an evening.