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City Hall, which had another year of intensive and varied usage in 1970. The demand for use of the City Hall facilities is greater than can be satisfied and a considerable number of performances have had to be given elsewhere in school and other halls.
The City Hall, which was opened in 1962, includes a concert hall with approximately 1,500 seats, that is quickly convertible for use for theatrical performances, an intimate 470-seat theatre that is also used for film shows, a museum and art gallery, two public restaurants with bars and several rooms for exhibitions, lectures and conferences. Most of the facilities are available for hire throughout the year and both local performers and overseas artists are presented regularly in the two auditoria.
The City Hall is administered under policies laid down by the Urban Council, which, often in association with national cultural organisations such as the British Council, the Goethe Institute, and the Alliance Francaise, engages artists regularly to give performances of music, ballet and drama. In 1970, a total of 43 such performances were given. The Urban Council also arranged 26 concerts of recorded music at the City Hall using very sophisticated equipment to excellent effect in the Concert Hall where the acoustics are exceptionally good. In planning these 'Hi-Fi' concerts attempts are made to include works which are unlikely to be heard 'live' in Hong Kong such as Berlioz's 'Requiem'; these concerts have been particularly well received by the public. The admission price for students at all Urban Council cultural presentations was $1, and the great majority of the 92 performances presented had completely full houses.
Local impresarios also arranged visits of internationally renown- ed artists. In the City Hall, they presented 20 artists and groups with a total of 26 performances.
In addition to participation in the Urban Council's own presentations, local musical groups and soloists gave a total of 73 concerts in the City Hall during the year. In drama, three active English amateur groups and many Chinese dramatic groups, amateur and professional, presented 35 productions with 105 performances in the City Hall.
The City Hall Theatre was also used for frequent presentations of films which would almost certainly not have been shown in