Royal Albert Hall – Source: commons.wikimedia.org
While tabulating the data listed below, I was quite surprised at the famous cities and venues that are not included in the list. This may be partially due to the minimum 2,000 seat size chosen, but may also have to do with the age of facilities, the number of communities with performance halls, lack of available data, multiple existing venues, and smaller national populations. Still, one would expect performance halls in cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Copenhagen, Naples, Dresden, Krakow, Lisbon, Athens, Zurich, and Vienna to reach the threshold. If there are any that I missed, please feel free to pass them along. FYI – sports arenas and outdoor venues are not included in this list.
Venue (location) – seating (date completed)
1. Royal Albert Hall (London, England) – 5,544 (1871)
2. Kuppelsaal (Frankfurt, Germany) – 4,600 (1963)
3. Sala Palatului (Bucharest, Romania) – 4,060 (1960)
4. Bilkent Odeon (Ankara, Turkey) – 4,000 (1999)
5. National Palace of Culture (Sofia, Bulgaria) – 4,000
6. Usher Hall (Edinburgh, Scotland) – 2,900 (1914)
7. Royal Festival Hall (London, England) – 2,900 (1951)
8. Santa Ceceilia Hall (Rome, Italy) – 2,756 (2003)
9. Opera Bastille (Paris, France) – 2,703 (1989)
10. De Doelen (Rotterdam, Netherlands) – 2,700 (1996)
11. Festspielhaus (Baden-Baden, Germany) – 2,500 (1989)
12. Royal Concert Hall (Glasgow, Scotland) – 2,500 (1990)
13. Alte Oper (Frankfurt, Germany) – 2,500 (1180)
14. Halle aux Grains (Toulouse, France) – 2,500 (1861)
15. Royal Concert Hall (Nottingham, England) – 2,499 (1982)
16. Grober Saal (Berlin, Germany) – 2,440 (1963)
17. Bridgewater Hall (Manchester, England) – 2,400 (1996)
18. Gasteig (Munich, Germany) – 2,387 (1985)
19. Auditirio Nacional de Musica (Madrid, Spain) – 2,324 (1988)
20. Caird Hall (Dundee, Scotland) – 2,300 (1923)
21. Oval Hall (Sheffield, England) – 2,271 (1932)
22. Symphony Hall (Birmingham, England) – 2,266 (1991)
23. Waterfront Hall (Belfast Northern Ireland) – 2,223 (1997)
24. L’Auditori (Barcelona, Spain) – 2,200 (1999)
25. Palau de la Musica Catalana (Barcelona, Spain) – 2,200 (1908)
26. Grobes Festpielhaus (Salzburg, Austria) – 2,179 (1960)
27. Euskalduna Concert Hall (Bilbao, Spain) – 2,164 (1999)
28. Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels, Belgium) – 2,150 (1929)
29. Elbe Philharmonic Hall (Hamburg, Germany) – 2,150 (2009)
30. Auditorium Maurice Ravel (Lyon, France) – 2,150 (1975)
31. Grand Canal Theater (Dublin, Ireland) – 2,100 (2009)
32. Concertgobouw (Amsterdam, Netherlands) – 2,037 (1888)
33. Barbican Hall (London, England) – 2,026 (1982)
34. Laeiszhalle (Hamburg, Germany) – 2,023 (1904)
35. La Scala (Milan, Italy) – 2,013 (1778)
36. Koningin Elisabethzaal (Antwerp, Belgium) – 2,000
37. St. David’s National Concert Hall (Cardiff, Wales) – 2,000 (1982)
38. Helmet List Halle (Graz, Austria) – 2,000 (2002)
39. Lutfi Kirdar Concert Hall (Istanbul, Turkey)
40. Audutorio Alfredo Kraus (Las Palmas, Canary Islands) – 2,000 (1997)
41. Del Montfort Hall (Leicester, England) 2,000 (1913)
42. Nouveau Siecle (Lille, France) – 2,000
43. Guild Hall (Portsmouth, England) – 2,000
44. Stadthalle (Wuppertal, Germany) -2,000 (1896)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concert_halls
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