Kristiansund Opera and Cultural Centre will house Norway's oldest opera, dating back to 1805, which every year arranges the Opera Festival Weeks - Norway's largest and most comprehensive presentation of opera and musical theatre and one of Scandinavia’s largest opera festivals.
The vision of the new Opera House is to create a cultural power centre in Kristiansund, the capital of the region of Nordmøre, west of Trondheim – a landmark to the entire region.
Apart from the opera the new cultural centre will house a ballet centre, library, college centre, conference rooms, a restaurant, and a café. The task has been to integrate two existing buildings, one of them the former Folkets Hus, in the new and create a vibrant urban space around the building by connecting the cultural centre with the pedestrian streets, squares and a nearby park. Kulturkvartalet, as the project made by C. F. Møller Architects is called, unites the different cultural functions in a dynamic and creative environment, centred round the main concert hall. The concert hall has been designed to offer sublime acoustics and super flexible theatre settings.