Some visitors' enthusiasm for Kronberg Academy's new Casals Forum was mixed with concern, as was often mentioned in the conversations during the breaks.
The question at stake is whether the beautiful and acoustically excellent concert hall with its 550 seats could not become dangerous competition for the 700-seat Mozart Hall of the Alte Oper.
In its appearance as a box concert hall with main and side galleries, it is by no means as attractive and acoustically not as suitable for chamber music as the Kronberger Hall, which was specially designed for this from the start.
Could many fans of classical music therefore prefer to make the pilgrimage to the Taunus in the future and lose listeners to the traditional and top-class chamber music series of the Frankfurt Museum Society?
"Not a small Elbphilharmonie"
There are several arguments against this assumption.
As its founder and artistic director Raimund Trenkler emphasizes, Kronberg Academy does not want to establish “a small Elbphilharmonie” with its own subscription series and those organized by external organizers.
In Kronberg, it's more about "experiencing music where it originates and doesn't travel through it".
Many regular Kronberg concert-goers are also the most eager visitors to the Alte Oper and are often even actively involved in the curatorships, circles of friends, the museum society, and the Frankfurt Bach Concert Association.
The Alte Oper is close to their hearts.
The hope is that the community of music lovers will be further inspired by the Kronberg initiative.
The example of the Casals Forum shows just how much is possible: 25 million euros have already been raised in donations.