In Nendeln/Liechtenstein, the new home of the Music Academy in Liechtenstein was inaugurated this weekend. In the Hagenhaus on Feldkircherstrasse in Nendeln, built in 1837, the former K&K post office has been converted into a modern academy with a concert hall, recording studio, student and teacher rooms, as well as offices and social rooms by CN Architects – the same team that planned the now-stalled construction of the Munich Konzerthaus.
The historically and architecturally valuable ensemble, with its neoclassical semi-detached house, stable barn, wash house and rifle range, was placed under a preservation order in 1988.
The academy with main building and concert hall (front in picture) – (c) CN Architekten
Even after the renovation, various floors and plasterwork, restored windows, doors and tiled stoves testify to the historic substance of the building.
The multi-part courtyard provides the Liechtenstein Music Academy with a new location for its successful master classes.
In the main building, there are living and sleeping quarters for students and professors with a total of 25 beds, which can be used during the intensive weeks of the master classes. Most of the rooms are equipped with a piano.
Optimally renovated rooms ensure a positive atmosphere for the scholarship holders
(c) Remy Franck
The barn has been converted into a chamber music concert hall. The historic wooden cladding of the façade has been reinterpreted with adjustable wooden slats.
The concert hall in the former stable barn (c) CN Architekten
Acoustically, the hall is perfectly shielded from the traffic on the main street and offers optimum sound quality in terms of projection, spatiality and naturalness of sound. The hall has already been used as a recording venue by the world’s leading record label Naxos. A studio with excellent technical equipment is available for audio and video recordings.
Video and recording studio (c) Andreas Domjanic
The concert hall, which can seat up to 150 people, also has two grand pianos, a Steinway built for Grigory Sokolov and a Bösendorfer chosen by the successful Academy scholarship holder Dmitro Choni.
Hereditary Prince Alois and his wife Hereditary Princess Sophie as well as the Tout-Liechtenstein came to the Academy for the inauguration.
In the speeches, politicians and the President of the Hagenhaus Foundation Board repeatedly emphasized that the Music Academy is the most ideal user for this courtyard location, and the status of the Academy also made it easier to raise the necessary funds for the costly renovation and revitalization of the Hagenhaus. The public sector contributed, but by far the most money came from private foundations and private individuals.
Sara Domjanic and Moritz Huemer played at the inauguration (c) Remy Franck
The ceremony was musically framed by Sara Domjanic, concertmaster of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, Moritz Huemer, newly named cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Isa-Sophie Zünd, piano.
For Drazen Domjanic, Managing Director of the Academy, the move to the Hagenhaus is “a dream come true”. And no one will deny that with its new premises in the old, highly renovated building, the academy finally has a structure that is suited to this top-class talent pool at the foot of the Alps.
