Richard said it was a massive challenge but he saw the potential
When Richard Hartwell was standing on the corner of Grove and Oxford Street in the city centre, he recognised its potential. The 39-year-old had arrived at work, and while everyone else saw a building site, he saw what was going to be the home of Liverpool’s next “world-class” culture centre.
Although a “massive challenge” to undertake, the artistic director was determined to bring the Tung Auditorium, a state-of-the-art hub found inside the Yoko Ono Lennon Centre, from an idea to a reality within the year. And he did exactly that.
The Londoner, who now lives in Buxton, told the ECHO: “When everything goes live, you hope for the best that everyone goes to plan. You hope people want to come and see it for themselves. Slowly and surely, you build an audience over the years.
READ MORE: Woman wants people to meet her at park for this reasonREAD MORE: What was waiting at the end of mum’s train journey would change her life forever
“They say it takes 10 years to fully establish a venue as a household name and we are in year three – and I think we are on the right path. We need to keep the momentum going. There are still people, even in the city, finding out about us every day. There is still work to do.”
Richard first started working with the University of Liverpool in January 2021 to create its dedicated, acoustically optimised, music performance space. Alongside university alumni architects Jade Meeks and Mush Saleri, he designed a 399-seat concert hall that would contribute to the city’s already rich cultural offerings.
Richard is no stranger to “starting from scratch” with venues, having successfully established one in Manchester and London. He said: “I’ve worked with venues all my career, particularly ones allied with education. I worked at Manchester’s Chetham School of Music, and there, I set up the Stoller Hall.
“I did that from scratch; I recruited all the staff and devised all the programmes. I took it from basically an empty box to a full venue, and I did the same here in Liverpool with the Tung.
“When the university was looking to open the new concert hall, I had the blueprint of what I had done in Manchester and was ready to go. The halls are almost identical in design, acoustics and integration into a larger organisation.
“I’ve got the experience of working with builders and then them heading over the keys and saying ‘there you are, it’s yours now’. It’s a massive thing to undertake, but it’s massively rewarding when it all comes together.”
The auditorium first made headlines when it was officially opened in March 2022 by Sean Lennon, the only son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The 49-year-old musician said it was a “beautiful statement” for his mum to be recognised in the city synonymous with his dad’s achievements.
Richard said meeting the songwriter and producer is an experience he won’t forget anytime soon. He added: “It was magical and surreal. You never quite know what to expect when you meet someone that famous and who arguably has the most famous parents in the world. He was lovely, though. He had so much time for everyone.”
Less than three years after starting in the role, Richard delivers over 120 concerts annually in the venue, and the team has no intention of slowing down this autumn and winter season. The programme ranges from classical and jazz to electronica and spoken word, with diversity at its core.
He said: “It’s not the 1,700 seats at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s its own place, and we want to position ourselves to bring artists in from around the UK and the world as well as those local.
“We want to continue growing with our reach and our audience and continue doing interesting things with interesting people. Diversity is so important to us, and that importance will continue. We are doing everything we set out to do.”
From now until December, the venue will showcase a season of live music, with the opening show being a collaboration with BlackFest. Other standout features include performances from BBC’s young musician of the year finalist Elodie Chousmer-Howelles, Stella Marie Lorenz and jazz legend Courtney Pine.
