Former Royal High School should make a music school and concert hall worthy of the ancients – Susan Dalgety

One of the best concerts of my life – to date – was Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint performing at the foot of the Parthenon in Athens in the summer of 2007.

The venue was the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an ancient Roman amphitheatre, built on the slopes of the Acropolis in AD 161 and restored as an outdoor concert hall in 1955. Some of the world’s greatest singers, including Maria Callas, Luciano Pavorotti and Frank Sinatra, have performed there.

It was once described as “the finest building of its type”, an accolade the Old Royal High School that sits at the foot of Calton Hill, has rarely attracted – at least in recent years. Since 1968, the building has glowered at the heart of Edinburgh, unloved and never properly used.

In 1997, I and my then colleagues on Edinburgh City Council failed in our bid to persuade Donald Dewar that it would make the perfect home for the new Scottish Parliament. We had drawn up plans to link the neoclassical building with the Art Deco St Andrew’s House across the road, creating a “democracy plaza” at the east end of Princes Street. Dewar chose instead a scheme based on upturned fishing boats tucked away at the bottom of the Royal Mile.

An artist's impression of the former Royal High School on Edinburgh's Calton Hill transformed into a new 'world-class centre for music education and public performance' (Image: Richard Murphy Architects)

But all that is about to change with the High School’s transformation into the National Centre for Music, or as violinist Nicola Benedetti describes it, “a beacon of true 21st century music education for all the world to see.” The A-listed building will house an independent music school as well as a purpose-built concert hall.

For over 50 years, local and national politicians pointlessly argued with each other as to how best to use this magnificent resource, built in the 1820s and modelled on another Athenian wonder, the Temple of Hephaestus.

It’s embarrassing that it took the generosity and imagination of American philanthropist Carol Grigor to realise its potential. A former concert pianist, she has made significant donations to the arts in Edinburgh over the years, but her support for the old Royal High School is surely her greatest achievement.