The BBC is set to close down it’s iconic Maida Vale Studios which one hosted sessions from The Beatles, Morrissey, Nirvana to Adele after 84 years and planning to move its live music operations to a new location in East London.
The complex, built in 1909, has been utilized by the BBC since the 1930s, playing host to the BBC Symphony Orchestra and World War II radio news bulletins also hosted performances from icons like the Beatles, David Bowie, Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, Adele, JAY-Z, Nirvana, Joy Division, Oasis, and so many others.
The studios have been under regular threat of closure – with the BBC announcing in 2007 that the run-down facility, located in a residential area in north London, was “wholly unsuitable for the 21st century”.
The new BBC location will feature recording and rehearsal studios and a purpose-built base for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the BBC Singers. The BBC Concert Orchestra will also use the new space on the regular.
“I understand how much our musical heritage at Maida Vale means to us, to artists and to audiences,” said the BBC director general, Tony Hall, in a note to staff. “We haven’t taken this decision lightly”.
“We’re determined to ensure that live music remains at the heart of the BBC and moving to this new development gives us the opportunity to do just that”, added the director general.
> Shatabdi Sarker Poushi
