In a global construction explosion that echoes the last performing-arts center boom of the 1970s and '80s, spectacular buildings for music are replacing the art museum as the most conspicuous cultural icon of the 21st century. Stylistically, they represent architecture's leading edge. Musically, they signal radical changes in place, performance and audience attitudes. In the United States alone, 360 opera houses and concert halls were completed between 1994 and 2008. These are the buildings that have become the chosen symbols of national pride and progress for countries undergoing international shifts in status, money and power.
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