Ongakudō, Music venue in Nishi-ku, Japan.
Ongakudō is a concert hall in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, designed by Kunio Maekawa and opened in 1954. Its upper facade has a dark glass curtain wall on the left and light grey square panels on the right, with a tan brick band above a recessed ground floor supported by slender grey columns. The hall's walls are entirely wood, and it seats 1,054 (966 fixed, 88 movable).
Ongakudō opened on 4 November 1954 alongside the neighbouring Kanagawa Prefectural Library. Kunio Maekawa, later the architect of Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, modelled its acoustics on London's Royal Festival Hall. In 1999 DOCOMOMO Japan listed it among twenty modern movement buildings in Japan, and in 2021 it was designated a Kanagawa Prefectural Important Cultural Property together with the library.
The hall's all-wood interior gave it a reputation for sound: Sviatoslav Richter and Vladimir Ashkenazy, who played here after its 1954 opening, called it the finest acoustics in the East. Today it also hosts university and vocational school entrance and graduation ceremonies and lecture meetings, not only concerts.
The hall seats 1,054: 966 fixed seats, 88 movable seats and standing room for 52, with a total capacity of 1,106. The stage opening is 19.4 m wide, 7.4 m deep (8.6 m with the extended stage) and 8.8 m high. The hall closed for a year of renovation from April 2018.
The hall's walls are built entirely of wood, a choice that helped produce the sound quality Sviatoslav Richter and Vladimir Ashkenazy reportedly called the finest in the East. In 1999 DOCOMOMO Japan listed the building among its 20 selections of modern movement architecture in Japan.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,797 contributors worldwide.