The Montréal Symphony Orchestra's new Maison Symphonique de Montréal is a welcome addition to the Place des Arts complex in the heart of downtown. In Montreal for the inaugural gala in September, I caught up with architect Jack Diamond, acousticians Tateo Nakajima and Bob Essert, and music director Kent Nagano. Read all about it in the upcoming February issue of Lighting & Sound America.

Maison Symphonique de Montréal with acoustical panels lowered, showing Meyer Sound performance sound system loudspeakers deployed

Rear view showing orchestra seating, three balconies and loges

Ceiling acoustical panels in place (photo: Tom Arban)

The Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal rehearsing in its new home (photo: LuceTG)

Inaugural gala of the Maison Symphonique de Montréal, September 7, 2011 (photo: LuceTG)

The 1,900-seat concert hall will serve as the new home of the Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal, which will have exclusive occupancy rights for 240 days each year, well above the 100 days it was formerly granted in Salle Wilfred Pelletier, the 2,990-seat multi-purpose centerpiece of Place des Arts that opened in 1963. This will permit the orchestra the rare luxury of rehearsing in its performance space, something it was unable to do in its old digs. The remaining 125 days each year will be programmed mainly by the Orchestre Métropolitain, Les Violons du Roy (an early-music ensemble) and the McGill Chamber Orchestra.

The Maison Symphonique is unique in being the first public-private partnership (3P) in the construction and management of cultural infrastructure in Québec. 3Ps in other sectors, such as construction and operation of roads and public utilities, have proven to be very efficient: for one thing, the government knows exactly what the project will cost before construction begins. In addition, strict controls are usually in place in 3Ps so that there is no ballooning of costs, as was the case, for example, with Montréal’s Olympic Stadium, a project fully funded from the public purse that took 12 years to build, wasn’t finished until long after the 1976 games for which it was intended, and wasn’t finally paid off until November 2006.

A unique advantage inherent in the structuring of the Maison Symphonique deal stems from the fact that the builder and the operator of the facility are both wholly owned by the same party, SNC-Lavalin, which may resolve any tensions regarding the balance between investment in capital costs versus operating expenses. In most other situations, where the builder and the operator represent different parties, battles can erupt over where the money is spent: the operator usually wants all the facilities and amenities that make operation of the venue efficient, but the builder wants to keep construction costs down in order to maximize profit. A central vacuum system, for example, is more costly up front, but for the operator, it facilitates cost-efficient cleaning of the building.

The fact that the builder and the operator of the Maison Symphonique are under the same umbrella may be key to a much happier outcome here. And the government may well not care whether a particular cost center appears in the capital or the operating column—in the end, it’s all coming out of the same pot.

The Maison Symphonique will be operated and managed until 2038 by SNC-Lavalin ProFac, a wholly owned subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin, for $9.1 million per year from the Québec government, at which time the hall will be returned to the government’s control for one dollar. (SNC-Lavalin ProFac also operates all the federal government buildings in Ottawa.)

Of the total $266 million price tag that includes the cost of financing, design, building, operation and maintenance, Québec was required to make a down payment of $75 million, leaving a balance of $191 million to be paid over the next 27 years.

The “private” designation of the 3P partnership ensures that the cost of operation and maintenance will remain undisclosed—it has never been broken out publicly from the $266 million total. Jean Roy, director of Québec’s Ministry of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women’s project management office, estimated the construction project cost to be around $150 million, so by this reckoning, of the $191 million balance outstanding after December 31, 2011, $75 million (39 per cent) represents the balance of the estimated $150 million cost of the construction project, and $116 million (61 per cent) will go toward financing, operation, and maintenance—in 2008 dollars, to be indexed to inflation.

In addition to the $9.1 million it will receive annually from the government of Québec, SNC-Lavalin will also derive revenue from the hall’s operations, including rentals, concessions and bars, and the cloak room. Parking revenues, however, will accrue to Place Des Arts. The five other theatres in the downtown arts complex receive no government subsidies at all, according to Place des Arts’ director of programming, Michel Gagnon.

Adding to his existing responsibility for Salle Wilfred Pelletier, Théâtre Maisonneuve, Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, Cinquième Salle, and Studio-théâtre, Gagnon is now tasked with filling the 100 newly dark nights in Salle Wilfred Pelletier no longer reserved for the OSM. This should present few difficulties, however: he has already booked a touring production of Wicked for 31 performances next August, in addition to the line-up of Mamma Mia, Beauty and the Beast, and Shrek. He has also programmed a 25-performance run of Romeo et Juliet, a French-language musical, something he described as “a rarity.” Noting with no little enthusiasm that touring musicals generally command substantially higher ticket prices than orchestral performances, Gagnon said that he broke even for 2011 early in October, due in part to a very successful run of The Lion King last summer. His responsibilities do not extend to the new hall.

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