A new £89 million centre to train stars of the future will also offer London audiences a 608-seat concert hall and two theatres after it is formally inaugurated with a concert tonight.
Trumpeter Alison Balsom and soprano Sally Matthews will be the first to perform at Milton Court, part of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before the venue opens to the general public on Friday next week.
The building has been funded mainly by the City of London Corporation with Heron International, which has built more than 280 flats on the site in a smaller version of the Barbican.
It doubles the space of the Guildhall, whose alumni include Daniel Craig, Simon Russell Beale and Bryn Terfel. Facilities include a 223-seat theatre, a studio theatre, rehearsal rooms, a TV studio suite and public foyers. The school will programme public events but the Barbican will also use it for about 45 events a season.
