Performing-arts centre on Bennelong Point, opened 28 September 1973. Architects: Joern Utzon, stages 1 and 2, 1957-66; Peter Hall, Lionel Todd and David Littlemore in association with NSW Government Architect, E. H. Farmer, stage 3, 1966-73: Originally comprised Concert Hall seating 2690, Opera Theatre seating 1550, Drama Theatre seating 544, Music Room seating 419 and Recording Hall seating 300. Recording Hall became Broadwalk Studio April 1986. Music Room became Playhouse November 1983.
Whatever the problems of design, cost and function before and after its completion, the Sydney Opera House is a major architectural achievement. Its unique site and exterior design have made it the sight tourists most wish to see in Australia. It has become a symbol and a centre for civic events in Sydney. It gave patrons of the performing arts facilities that remain far superior to any others in Sydney, and this has helped to generate a considerable increase in audiences, especially for drama and opera. It has been the principal venue for the Sydney Theatre Company and its predecessor, the Old Tote Theatre Company.
The Sydney Opera House was the most complex structure proposed for Sydney, perhaps anywhere in Australia, since the Harbour Bridge was built in 1927-32. In 1954, after several years' discussion about a venue for concerts and opera, the NSW government resolved to build a music centre on Bennelong Point. It was to comprise a large concert hall, seating about 3000 persons, that could be converted for performances of opera, and a small multipurpose theatre for chamber opera and drama, to seat 1200.
Sir Eugene Goossens has been credited with promoting the idea when he was director of the NSW State Conservatorium of Music and conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, but students at the University of Sydney School of Architecture had a project to design an opera house on Bennelong Point in 1947 and another in 1951, which was exhibited in a department store.
An international architectural competition was held in 1956, judged by Professor H. Ingham Ashworth of Sydney, Professor Leslie Martin of Cambridge (England), the American architect Eero Saarinen and the NSW Government Architect, Cobden Parkes. From 222 entries they chose a design by a 38-year-old Dane, Joern Utzon. It was so sketchy that a perspective drawing had to be made by a local architect before it could be exhibited and a local quantity surveyor had to make a rough estimate of cost. As with many competitions, imagination mattered more than strict conformation to specifications. It is usually argued that because competition designs are hardly more than architectural ideas, it is less important to select a design than to select a designer who will produce a superior building.
In the event there was probably more controversy during the construction of the Sydney Opera House than any other building in Australia. A change of government from Labor to Liberal, changes in the design brief, the lack of a theatre consultant, rising costs, the forced resignation of the architect in 1966, and the appointment of a consortium of architects to complete the design, mostly the interior, all contributed to a first-rate public scandal. The architect, the government and the committee set up to act on its behalf all have been criticised for their actions and their organisation of the job. The government produced a poor design brief for the building and insisted on the work beginning before the design had been satisfactorily developed or proper costing done. The Public Works Department's procedures of calling for public tender were incompatible with Utzon's need to work with manufacturers on the mass production of revolutionary components. A new government in 1966 reviewed and changed the design brief, causing considerable redesign of the interiors to produce the present spaces.
The space originally intended to house the auditorium and fly-tower stage of the main theatre was converted to a concert hall. The space beneath the stage, originally to be occupied by machinery for moving scenery, was converted to the Recording Hall. The original space for chamber opera and drama had to be 'stretched' to become the Opera Theatre - in which 98 seats have poor views of the stage. A space allocated for an 'experimental' theatre became the Drama Theatre. For years designers and directors had difficulty in filling its wide low-proscenium stage with setting and action. The Music Room quickly became a cinema for art films, and when the Ensemble Theatre Company found a home there during rebuilding of its premises, it became the Playhouse, now used by entrepreneurs. Apart from these five auditoria there is the Reception Hall, which accommodates 200 persons.
The Sydney Opera House was Sydney's first theatre in the 20th century to provide bars serving alcoholic drinks in the foyer. The management has fostered catering as well as performance. Soon after the opening of a restaurant and a harbour-side cafeteria, it converted part of the box-office lobby into a cafe. Alterations to the forecourt in 1986-88 added a third restaurant as well as shops and a new pedestrian concourse. The management also hires out the harbour-side foyers of the concert hall and the opera theatre for luncheons and other functions. All this and the bar trade provide more income than the box office.
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