Royal Albert Hall celebrates eleventh Pollstar Award!

2 February, 2009

The Royal Albert Hall is thrilled to once again be awarded International Theatre of the Year at the prestigious Pollstar Concert Industry Awards.  Since 1994, the Hall has received this honour a record eleven times maintaining their leading position within the international entertainment industry.

The Pollstar Awards are voted by representatives of the music industry from all over the world - other finalists in this area included: Hammersmith Apollo, The Bridgewater Hall, the Paris Olympia, and the Auditorio Nacional and Telmex, Mexico.

When collecting the award at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday, Royal Albert Hall Director of Events, Jasper Hope, said,
'We are delighted to win this prestigious international award. Thank you very much indeed, we are truly honoured for this recognition of the small contribution which we make to the fantastic shows promoters continue bring to the Hall. Thank you all.’

Of the fantastic and diverse range of international artists and events featured at the Hall in 2008, highlights included the Teenage Cancer Trust concerts with performances from Muse, Paul Weller, The Fratellis and Madness and the unique Orange RockCorps event with Busta Rhymes, The Guillemots and John Legend, where the only way to obtain a ticket was to complete four hours of charity work. Other fantastic headline performances were delivered by REM, The Killers, Pete Doherty, Jean Michel Jarre, Chris Rea, Katie Melua, Mark Knopfler, The Wombats, Lou Reed, Goldfrapp, Echo and the Bunnymen and Seasick Steve.

The BBC Proms featured virtuoso performers from around the world with highlights from the exciting young conductor Gustavo Dudamel with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle who returned with the Berlin Philharmonic. The annual Classical Brit Awards brought stars including Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman and Steven Isserlis and The Blackrock Masters Tennis tournament returned with John McEnroe and Pete Sampras. The Royal Albert Hall also promoted hugely successful productions of Tosca and Strictly Gershwin in partnership with Raymond Gubbay and English National Ballet.