HGC Venues

Glee Club has decided on several venues in Amman that they would like to use for their performances next year, so they asked me to check them out in person while I am here. Zaid Al-Rifai made some calls and arranged tours of three venues - the Royal Cultural Center, the Hussein Cultural Center, and the King Hussein Club. His driver and I traveled around town last Wednesday to check things out. 

Our first stop was the Royal Cultural Center. I met with the managing director who, I soon found out, did not speak great English. So we switched to Arabic, which was a bit scary, but it turns out that the meeting went a lot more smoothly in that language. I got a tour of the entire facility, including recording studios, conference rooms, the dance studios, and other places, even though I was really only interested in the Main Hall and rehearsal rooms. But since I was in no real rush, I was happy to see the entire place. 

The Main Hall at the RCC is a theater, not a concert hall. It wasnt designed with acoustics in mind - the entire hall is carpeted, so there's no reverb, and the flyspace above the stage will likely eat up lots of sound. And, while there are lots of dressing rooms backstage, there was also no real backstage warmup room large enough for the entire group. We'll probably just hang out next door, in an exhibition hall with a piano. There were also a few problems with communication - I wasnt sure how to ask about "choral risers" or "orchestral shells," so I'm not sure if that equipment will be available. 

Overall, though, I'm sure it will be a fine place for a concert. The hospitality was incredible - I felt very welcome, and I'm sure HGC will get the same treatment next year. It's also one of the most prestigious venues in the city. Finally, the managing director offered the use of the facilities for free, which is a pretty incredible offer. Hard to argue with that. 

We headed next to the Hussein Cultural Center, which seemed more of a community arts facility than the RCC. The director spoke excellent English, so I was out of the woods. We toured the HCC, which I personally liked a lot more than the RCC. The HCC director also gave me two free tickets to the Amman Symphony Orchestra's performance at the HCC that evening. A Jordanian woman played a Chopin piano concerto, and a Lebanese/Armenian tenor sang a selection of arias and art songs. I had performed many of the songs myself during my eight years of voice lessons. The concert gave me a chance to listen to the acoustics of the space. The Main Hall was once again a theater, without much acoustical treatment, rather than a concert hall. There was no reverb at all - even loud blasts from the orchestra disappeared quickly into the carpet. They used microphones during there performance, so we might see if there is a way to create some reverb through amplification or something. 

Finally, we swung by the King Hussein Club (pictured), a swanky club downtown. This will be the site of an Alumni event organized by Mr. Al-Rifai, rather than a big concert. HGC's 12-person sub group, HGC Lite, will sing during the event, but it wont be a formal concert. 

Aside from these venues, I need to get up to Irbid in the north of the country, where we are expecting to have a joint concert with Yarmouk University. I'd also like to get to the King's Academy, an elite prep school in Amman, where Lite may have another performance. Overall, though, it was a very productive afternoon and a great introduction to the performing arts in Amman.