Sydney Opera!!!

          The Sydney Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is one of the most famous buildings of the 20th century and a high place of representation of the lyrical arts. Its original architecture - sailboat for some, seashell for others - was imagined by the Danish Jørn Utzon.

            Located in Sydney Harbor (the exact place is called Bennelong Point), it is surrounded by a wooded park to the south and is next to the Harbor Bridge (famous Sydney Bridge with a single arch). The resulting landscape has become a symbol of Australia, especially Sydney. Opera is today a major tourist attraction of the city although most visitors do not have the opportunity to attend a performance.

            Headquarters of the Australian Opera, the Sydney Theater Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Opera also hosts many foreign touring productions. It is administered by the Opera House Trust, a structure governed by the Ministry of Arts of New South Wales.

   History of the Sydney Opera House

            The project to build the Opera was born in the late 1940s when Eugene Goossens, director of the State Conservatory of New South Wales, campaigned for a suitable venue for great theatrical or musical productions. At that time, such productions were held at the Sydney City Hall, but this was no longer enough. Before 1954, Goossens succeeded in obtaining the support of the Prime Minister of the State, Joseph Cahill, who commissioned a study.

          He also insisted that the Bennelong Point site be chosen to host the project. Cahill, on the contrary, would have liked him to be on or at least near Wynyard station (north-west of the Sydney CBD).

           The architectural competition that Cahill launches receives 233 proposals. In 1955, the competition jury finally decided to retain the project of the Danish architect Jørn Utzon. Son of naval architect, nephew of sculptor, Utzon was born in Copenhagen in 1918. Very young, it shows a certain talent for the drawing, but it is the architecture that decides to study. Utzon was unknown outside his country when he won the international competition for the new Sydney Opera House in 1957. In 2003, he was awarded the Pritzer Prize. The latter died on November 29 in Copenhagen at the age of 90 years. He arrived in Sydney in 1957 to help supervise his project. The decision of the jury symbolized the will to take a radically new approach to construction.

   The construction

         The construction of the Opera House was carried out from 1958 to 1973. The building was completed by a group of local architects.

Finally, 102 million Australian dollars were needed for the construction of the opera, far from the 7 million expected in 1957.

  The inauguration

        The Opera was inaugurated on October 20, 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II. The program features fireworks and a performance of Beethoven's ninth symphony. Millions of people attended the event, which was broadcast on television.

         But already before the inauguration, two representations had taken place once the building was completed. On September 28, 1973 Serge Prokofiev's War and Peace was performed at the opera and the following day the Concert Hall resounded with the music of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Mackerras and accompanied by The singer Birgit Nilsson.

During construction, a number of musical "lunch breaks" had been scheduled for the workers. Paul Robeson became, in these conditions, the first artist to perform at the opera (unfinished) in 1960.

Since the opening

             The particularly high bill of the Opera was completely paid before 1975, thanks to a public lottery system.

But the building has been subject since 1973 to various additions and modifications. The great organ of the Concert Hall was completed in 1979.

An alleyway along the west side of Bennelong Point was built in 1988 for the celebration of the bicentennial of Australia.

Finally in 1999, a fifth theater, the Playhouse was added to the pre-existing buildings.

Famous all over the world, the building is visited by 7 million people a year.

On June 28, 2007, it was declared World Heritage by UNESCO.

For its successes in structural engineering and construction technology, the Sydney Opera House is of outstanding universal value.

The building is a great artistic monument and an icon, accessible to society as a whole.

ENJOOOOY!!!!

source:https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op%C3%A9ra_de_Sydney