By Radka Hostašová
After announcing the development of a brand new, multi-purpose facility named after Yoko Ono, Liverpool has recently enhanced its cultural sphere with a large venue designed to listen to live music. The Tung Auditorium, as a part of the University of Liverpool’s Yoko Ono Lennon Centre, opened its doors to the public at the beginning of the year 2022.
The building is located on the university campus, on the corner of Oxford Street and Groove Street, and serves the purposes of performers and concert-goers, as well as the students and lecturers. Whereas the Tung Auditorium represents the concert hall, Paul Brett Lecture Theatre offers a space for art students to undertake professional world-class sessions.
The Tung Auditorium is significantly contributing to Liverpool’s cultural domain. Firstly, naming the centre after John Lennon and Yoko Ono builds on the musical heritage of the region and materializes the memory of an iconic artistic couple. Additionally, the Tung Auditorium is unique for its size and modern layout as the concert hall can host up to 400 visitors and provides a stage for large-scale orchestras. And finally, an advanced architectonic plan also comes along with excellent acoustic properties. The hall is equipped with cutting-edge technology that can be adjusted to accommodate ensembles of various sizes and genres.
Moving towards an artistic program, the Tung Auditorium embraces a broad range of musical styles. The audience can choose between classical music, jazz, folk, or electronic and alternative music. However, the diverse production does not only consist of a variety of genres. The programme combines the recitals of music students with high-profile national and international artists in order to attract a large group of attendees with different preferences.
Besides the evening events, The Tung Auditorium functions as a hub for a regular series of midday concerts, previously held at the Victoria Gallery & Museum. As an outcome of relocating the Lunchtime Concert Series to a spacious modern hall, the project can further expand and address more visitors across Merseyside.
Overall, the Tung Auditorium’s programme strategy is clearly complex. Along with bringing a high-quality music experience to its audience, the venue intends to broaden the audience’s knowledge through interactive workshops related to the music world.
Moreover, it brings up the concept of community and togetherness – both the key ideas of John Lennon and Yoko Ono which formed their approach towards life and society. In fact, without the collective financial support of the community the plans for building this new cultural centre might never have come to fruition. To honour the individuals and organisations who contributed to fund the venue, each seat in the Tung Auditorium is marked with the donor’s name.
To find out more about The Tung Auditorium and their programme of events visit https://thetungauditorium.com/