Manchester's Bridgewater Hall is home to what Orchestra?

The Bridgewater Hall is a concert venue in Manchester city centre, England. It cost around £42 million to build and currently hosts over 250 performances a year.

The hall is home to The Hallé orchestra, and is the primary concert venue for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The building sits on a bed of 280 springs, which help reduce external noise.

The venue is named after the Third Duke of Bridgewater who commissioned the eponymous Bridgewater Canal that crosses Manchester, although the hall is situated on a specially constructed arm of the Rochdale Canal.

The Bridgewater Hall held its first concert on 11 September 1996 and was officially opened on 4 December by Queen Elizabeth II, alongside the Duke of Edinburgh. The Bridgewater Hall was one of a number of structures built in the 1990s that symbolised the transition to a new and modern Manchester.

The Bridgewater was well received and won a number of awards. In November 1996, only months after opening, the concert hall won the RIBA North West award. In 1998 the Hall won the Civic Trust Special Award, which is given to a building which enhanced the appearance of a city centre.