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Sydney Opera House

History of the Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House is one of the busiest performing arts centres in the world and also one of the 10 construction wonders of the world in the 20th century.

Prior to the Sydney Opera House, orchestral concerts were held in Town Hall because no concert hall as such existed and there were no suitable stages for medium sized operas. In 1946, Sir Eugene Goosens was appointed to Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Director of the NSW Conservatorium of Music. His ambitions included a new home for the orchestra and opera company. He became more and more embarrassing to the State Government of New South Wales with his press statements. Finally a meeting was arranged with the Premier in 1954. The Premier Joseph Cahill was enthusiastic about the idea put forth by Sir Eugene Goosens , so a committee was set up. The committee examined many sites and Bennelong Point was chosen. The name of Bennelong comes from the first English speaking Aborigine who was born and lived in the area.

In January 1956 the Government announced an international competition for a structure that contained two theatres for different purposes with over 3000 and 1200 seats. Designers were free to choose any approach and they had no limit to cost. The competition attracted 233 entries from all over the world. The winner announced in 1957, was the Danish architect Jørn Utzon. Construction of the building commenced in March 1959 with the podium (stage one) even though Utzon hadn't completed the designs for the structure and the government still required the building to be altered to accommodate four theatres. The present design after some internal changes has five theatres.. The construction proceeded slowly over the years and it took much longer time than the originally envisaged four years. There were many problems and difficulties that hampered the progress of the project. One of the major problems was that structurally the shapes proved to be very difficult to build.

After four years of research Utzon altered the whole shape of the shells by cutting each of them out of the same sphere. This enabled prefabrication which reduced both time and cost significantly. A new government was elected in 1965 that wanted to control the cost overruns and withheld fee payments to Utzon. It also voiced disagreements about the design and construction methods. Finally 1966 as roof shells were nearing completion (stage two) Utzon resigned, left the country and never returned ever since. A team of Australian architects (Peter Hall, Lionel Todd, David Littlemore and Ted Farmer) were involved in the review, the design and the completion of interior (stage three). Eventually the construction was finished in September 1973 after 14 years. The original estimated cost of $7 million had shot up to $102 million, which was funded by a public lottery. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Sydney Opera House on the 20th of October 1973.

The building is 185 m long, 120 m wide and its highest point is 67 m. It weights 160.000 tonnes that supported on 580 concrete piers sunk to depth of 25 m. The roof covered with 1,056,056 Swedish ceramic tiles. There are 6,200 sq m of glass made in France and 650 km of electrical cable. There are nearly 1000 rooms. The largest hall is the Concert Hall with 2600 seats. It has the largest organ in the world with 10,500 pipes. The Opera Theatre is the second main hall with 1500 seats. Smaller venues are The Drama Theatre, The Playhouse and The Studio. The Sydney Opera House is one of the busiest performing arts centre in the world. It presents around 3000 events per year with 2 million audiences. It operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year expect Christmas Day and Good Friday.

In 2001, the NSW Government allocated $69 million for internal improvements. Utzon was commissioned to redesign the improvement providing him the opportunity to realize his original vision.