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2000
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Jul 29
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Second production of The Eight Wonder opens in Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House. The character of the
Architect is played by Grant Smith. Conductor: Richard Gill. |
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Aug 18
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Olympic Arts Festival opens with Opera Australia’s production of Don Giovanni by Mozart.
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Sep 15
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Opening ceremony of Sydney 2000 Olympic Games,
the XXXV11 Olympiad, at Stadium Australia. Sydney Opera House used as
the venue for the Triathlon course on Sep 16-17.
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2001
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Feb
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Utzon’s son, architect Jan
Utzon, spends two
weeks in Sydney making a video of all the important spaces
within the Sydney Opera House for use by his father in preparing his
Design Principles
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Apr
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Yuzo Mikami publishes
Utzon’s Sphere: Sydney Opera House> (Shokokuska
Japan, distributed by Tower Books). See review by Paul Bentley. See also
review by Philip Drew in The Weekend Australian 13-14 April 2002.
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2002
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Mar
07
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Richard Weston’s new publicationUtzon, Inspiration, Vision, Architecture is published by Edition
Bløndal, Hellerup, Denmark for 1250 DK krona ($380). See reviews: The
Bulletin 14 May 2002; Sydney Morning Herald 11 June 2002.
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Mar 20
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NSW Government announces plans for $24.1 million
upgrade for improvements to the forecourt, expansion of the Opera
theatre orchestra pit and improvements to the Concert Hall
acoustics.
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Apr
05
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Jørn Utzon talks to Giles Tremlet
on his
new role for the Sydney Opera House Trust in newspaper article The
Architect Returns in the Sydney Morning Herald. (reprinted
from The Guardian, 2 April 2002).
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Apr 17
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Pianist Roger Woodward announces 13th
Sydney Spring Festival will not go ahead due to lack of funds and
the high cost of hiring the Sydney Opera House Studio.
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Apr 27
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Henry Dunker Cultural
Centre opens in Helsingbørg, Sweden.Designed by Jørn Utzon’s son, Kim, following an international
architecture competition, the centre houses the Helsingbørg Town
Museum, Arts Museum, School of Music and Cultural Centre for Children
and Young People, Concert Hall and Theatre, Studios and Workshops,
Restaurants, cafes and shops. Henry Dunker (1870-1962), the man behind the Dunker Foundation, established
Tretorn, manufacturer of rubber goods from galoshes to car tyres. On his
death, he gave 58 million Swedish krona to be used for cultural
purposes. According to Henryk Sten Møller in Politken 30 January 2002: “This art centre in the city is
really a radiant portal to the harbour, the sea and the sky, from where
you can look directly towards Kronborg Castle…Thanks to Dunkers
Kulturhus, you see a new opening in the new city planning.
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May
06 |
Sydney
Opera House Trust receives two Helpmann Awards, presented by the
Australian Entertainment Industry Association: Best Special Event (Buena Vista Social Club, presented on the Forecourt), and Best Live
Music presentation (Capsis vs Capsis, presented in the Studio).
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May
23 |
CEO
Michael Lynch announces resignation following his appointment as
chief executive of London's South Bank Centre.
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May
29 |
NSW
government announces additional funding of $45 million for major venue
improvements following the release by the Sydney Opera House Trust
of Utzon Design Principles and Venue Improvement Plan.
Premier
Bob Carr says: "Today is a gesture of reconciliation because
the architect was sent packing". In addition to
projects announced in March, work will include a Western Broadwalk
colonnade and Reception Hall improvements. Proposals in the Venue
Improvement Plan suggest that the Opera Theatre interiors
will be redesigned in accordance with Utzon's original proposal for
the Major Hall interiors (now the Concert Hall).
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Jun
11 |
Elizabeth
Farrelly criticises Venue Improvement Plan in Sydney Morning Herald
article Our Chance to Make a Real Difference. "For the Carr
Government to have inveigled Jørn Utzon back into the Opera House
project is a coup. But the most dramatic result will be a sad little
colonnade".
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Sep
08 |
Norman Gillespie announced as new CEO to replace Michael Lynch.
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Nov |
Peter Myers in Utzon's Return (Architecture
Australia Nov/Dec 2002: pages 74-77) looks at the Utzon Design
Principles and Venue Improvement Plan and outlines the
significance of both.
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2003 |
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Mar 20 |
Anti-Iraq war protesters paint No War on
the largest
shell of the House, attracting security concerns.
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Mar 25 |
Sydney University announces that it
will award an honorary degree to Jørn Utzon.
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May 15 |
The Sydney Opera House is to be
considered again for World Heritage listing, reports the Courier
Mail. A consultancy team will draw up plans for the submission.
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May 22 |
Jørn Utzon awarded the Pritzker Prize
for architecture. In a ceremony at Madrid's Royal Academy of Fine
Arts, the award was accepted on Utzon's behalf by his son, Jan, and
was subsequently delivered to him in Majorca by Sydney Opera House CEO
Norman Gillespie. At the ceremony, architect Frank Gehry said
that Utzon had 'made a building well ahead of its time and he
persevered through extraordinary malicious publicity and negative
criticism to build a building that changed the image of entire
country'' [Sydney Morning Herald 22.5.03]
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Jun |
Sydney Opera House Trust publishes 3rd
edition of Sydney Opera House: a Plan for the Conservation of the
Sydney Opera House and its Site by Dr James Semple Kerr. In a
section on managing the process of change, under collective memory
(or easy access to archival material and living repositories of
essential information), he writes:
In 1996 the annual
report of the Sydney Opera House Trust noted the importance of
the Dennis Wolanski Library. The 1997 report noted its closure
and the dispersal of its contents. In 1993 it was the Dennis
Wolanski Library that made it possible for a stranger to the
Opera House to research and write the first edition of this
conservation plan in a relatively brief time and at reasonable
cost. In any long term organisation, management, staff,
consultants and contractors change. The major impediment to the
full understanding of a place of the complexity of the Sydney
Opera House is the loss of collective memory. If people no
longer have access to what was done and why it was done,
decisions on development and conservation may be primarily
guided by short-lived aesthetic and operational fashions—to the
detriment of the place. He proposed
Conservation Policy 58.1: It should be the long term objective
of the Sydney Opera House Trust to bring together at one
accessible location (or in the mini-mum possible number of such
locations) all documentary, graphic and oral records relating to
the development of the Opera House and its site.
Echoing the library's role in
managing an oral history program during the 1980s and 1990s, he
commented: At the moment such material is spread among a range of
government archives and agencies, commercial firms, universities and
individuals. Also those individuals involved in the design and
construction of elements of the place that are still alive are
approaching the end of their life. Now is the time to secure their
documentary or oral contribution. He proposed Conservation
Policy 58.2: Consideration should be given to recording the
contribution and reminiscences of the lesser known but important
consultants, contractors and staff of the Sydney Opera House and
Department of Public Works who had an intimate connection with the
Opera House between 1960 and the 1990s.
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Jul 01 |
Norman Gillespie,
in article in the Sydney Morning Herald, Old Music Meets New
Technology at the House, speaks about the variable quality of
the Sydney Opera House archive, the lack of digital experiences at
the House, and plans for an educational facility.
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Jul 02 |
Sydney Opera House Trust announces
that it has signed an agreement with Disney to allow major presenting
companies to perform at the Capitol Theatre from October 2005 when
renovations commence to the Sydney Opera House Opera Theatre.
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Sep 24 |
Loss of Dennis Wolanski Library
lamented. Geraldine O'Brien, in The Sydney
Magazine, highlighting 30 significant events in the history of the
House, says 'the disappearance of the Dennis Wolanski Library of
the Performing Arts, established in 1973...has been a loss for not
only those interested in the arts, but also ironically, for those
interested in the Opera House itself.'
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Sep 29 |
Sylvia Lawson's novel The
Outside Story is launched. Dorothy Johnston in a review in the
Sydney Morning Herald 18-19.10.2003 days the novel 'dramatises a
battle between excellence and mediocrity, presenting Utzon as striving
for the best that can be imagined, and the imagination as a force for
good, then chronicling the failure of this ideal, the compromises that
have many hidden and not so hidden, costs.' Bronwyn Rivers, in The
Age 18 October 2003, says Lawson's
work not only captures the emotions of this story but manages to make
them infectious. The visionary nature of the project and its
architectural excellence engender pride, while anger follows the
realisation of the perfect whole which could have been.
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Oct 15 |
Philip Drew raises concerns about
upgrade program. In Building on Past
Glory (The Australian), reviewing the development application for an
upgrade and refurbishment of the Reception Hall, he queries the extent
of Utzon's involvement in the project and says the 'superficial
nature of the reception hall changes is disappointing, and indicates
what can be expected in the critically important concert hall, opera
theatre and western foyer'.
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Oct 20 |
Utzon says involvement on latest
contract has been limited. Peter Fray, in an interview
with Jørn Utzon, reports that Utzon's latest consultancy appears to be
'more of a redress by NSW for past wrongs'. According to the
article in the Sydney Morning Herald, although Jørn Utzon
considers the latest contract with the Sydney Opera House has been 'heaven', his only involvement
has been to design a new tapestry for the Reception Hall. Most of the
new work, Utzon suggests, has been carried out by his son, Jan.
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Oct 25 |
Campaign begins to restore the display
of John Coburn's Curtin of the Sun to the Opera Theatre and
the Curtin of the Moon to the Drama Theatre. The curtains fell
out of favour with presenters because their imagery often clashed with
the mood of the production about to unfold. Constant use had also
caused damage to their fabric, necessitating major restoration work. [SMH]
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Oct 28 |
Louis Nowra's play The Devil is a
Woman threatened with legal
action by the English owner of Goossens' private letters. The play is about Rosaleen Norton, 'the witch of Kings Cross', and
her relationship with Sir Eugene Goossens. [SMH]
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Dec 03 |
Opera House placed on State Heritage
Listing. NSW Premier Bob Carr sees listing as a step towards being recognised on the new National Heritage list,
and eventually on the World Heritage List. According to the press
release 4 million people enter the doors of the Opera House each year
and spend more than $7.3 million a year on paid tours, merchandise and
concerts while visiting the Opera House.
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Dec 11 |
Shambles at the Opera House,
proclaims the Sydney Morning Herald in editorial criticising the House over
proposals for marquees on the northern broadwalk. 'It would
destroy the Opera House as a place of pure enjoyment, at close
quarters, on quiet stroll.'
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Dec 17 |
Sydney Opera House refit put on hold. Plans
to close the Opera Theatre for renovations are postponed indefinitely
after "designers realised that more worked need to be done to
improve the venue." [The Australian]. |
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2004 |
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Jan 09 |
Security upgrade. NSW
Premier Bob Carr announces $9 million security upgrade to combat
terrorism at the Sydney Opera House. Package includes changes in vehicle access, new locks,
digital surveillance cameras and staff recruitment and training. [The
Australian]
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Jan 10 |
Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay opens
with performances of Harbour by Katherine Thomson and The
Republic of Myopia by Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip
Scott, presented by the Sydney Theatre Company. [SMH]
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Jan 17 |
Eugene & Roie previewed at
Parramatta's Riverside Theatre. A concert version of act one of a
new opera about Sir Eugene Goossens and Rosaleen Norton, by
composer Drew Crawford, was performed, despite the threat of legal
action by Goossens' companion and executrix Pamela Main. [SMH].
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Feb 03 |
Bond plan to finance Opera Theatre
reconstruction. Valerie Lawson reports that the NSW Treasury is
considering a plan to issue bonds to help remake the Opera Theatre,
involving lower of the theatre floor and improved air conditioning, at
a cost of $300 million. [SMH]
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Feb 10 |
Western Broadwalk redevelopment.
Premier Carr unveils plans for reconstruction of the western side of
the building, involving the opening up of the western foyer to the
harbour by a new glass facade and a $6 million loggia or colonnade.
Plans for the development were created by Jørn Utzon with his son, Jan Utzon, and Richard Johnson. [SMH]
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May |
Cameron Bruhn interviews Jan Utzon
on his collaboration with Jørn Utzon. Architecture Australia May/June
2004.
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Jun 21 |
The Fall of the House, a
documentary film about Sir Eugene Goossens and his demise in 1956,
premieres at the Sydney Film Festival. |
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Sep 16 |
Utzon Room opens.
The former Reception Hall, redesigned by Utzon Associates, officially
launched featuring Jørn Utzon's14 X 2.7 metre tapestry Homage to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. See article
by Joe Rollo Jorn Again in The Weekend Australian Magazine
11-12 September 2004 and Steve Meacham's At Long Last, Utzon's
Legacy is Sewn Up in the Sydney Morning Herald 16 Sep 2004.
. |
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Oct 27 |
FT Spirit, a former America's Cup
yacht, crashes into rocks surrounding the Sydney Opera House,
throwing those board into the harbour.
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Oct 31 |
Kim Williams, Foxtel chief executive,
appointed chairman of the Sydney Opera House to replace Joe
Skrzynski. Other trust appointments announced by Premier Bob Carr are
Renata Kaldor and Leo Schofield, replacing Diane Grady and Dennis
Watkins.
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2005 |
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Mar 18 |
Frank Barnes, inspiring general
manager of the Sydney Opera House from 1973-1978, dies suddenly of
a heart attack at the Sydney Showground..
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Apr 01 |
The Sydney Opera House Trust, in a
Sydney Morning Herald report Utzon, utzoff: Opera House Facelift
Sags, confirms that there is no fixed starting date for the
proposed $350 million renovations to the Opera Theatre.
There is no reference to the status of plans for the theatre, only a
misleading illustration of Jørn Utzon's scheme for the Major Hall, now
the Concert Hall. In an editorial the next day, the Herald suggests
that the Opera House Lottery be resurrected to pay for the
renovations.
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Apr 21 |
Tessitura announces Sydney Opera House
Trust purchase of Tessitura(R) for box office operations,
fundraising, reporting and customer relations management.
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Apr 28 |
Sydney Opera House described in report
as a tragedy in world architecture which destroyed its designer's
career and robbed the world of other great works he may have made. The
study, Design by Deception: The Politics of Megaproject Approval,
compares the Sydney Opera House and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao,
was written by Professor Bent Flyvbjerg of Aalborg University,
Denmark, and published by Harvard Design Magazine. [ABC Arts &
Entertainment News].
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May 02 |
Start of construction of a 45m loggia
along the western all of the Opera House, raises fears that the
proposed World Heritage listing will be jeopardised. James
Weirick, professor of landscape architecture at the University of NSW,
says the designs are out of keeping with the rest of the building.
Utzon's Biographer, Philip Drew, described the loggia as a
"bastardisation" of the building: it spoils its poetry. [The
Australian]
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May 03 |
Conductor Richard Gill calls for a
beautiful performing venue for opera in Sydney. "The Opera
House is undeniably one of the world's great buildings, however, as
with many things in this country, it went wrong along the way. We need
a simple space specifically designed for opera, where the orchestra
can play properly and the audience can hear them properly. Angel Place
is gorgeous - the ideal concert hall. Now we need an Angel Place for
opera". [SMH] |
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Jul 12 |
Sydney Opera House placed on the
National Heritage List. The Federal Heritage Minister, Ian
Campbell, says the Federal Government will now work with NSW to get
the Opera House placed on the World Heritage List. [SMH] |
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Aug 11 |
Lloyd Martin, AM, dies at the age of 71.
Lloyd Martin was General Manager of the Sydney Opera House 1979-1997, and
Deputy General Manager, 1973-1979. |
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Sep 3 |
Professor H. Ingham Ashworth
(1907-1991).
Peter Myers seeks leads to research material and family
contacts as part of his research on the role of Professor Harry Ingham
Ashworth (1907-1991) in the architectural competition for the design
of the Sydney Opera House. Professor Ashworth drafted the conditions,
selected his fellow competition jurors, and was chairman of the jury
that awarded first prize to Jørn Utzon. Peter Myers' contact details:
phone 02 6722 1287, PO Box 754, Inverell, NSW 2360. [SMH 3-4 Sep]
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Sep 16 |
Fragmented and inconsistent building
data, lack of a set of definitive plans, and lack of integrated
documentation are to be addressed as part of Sydney Opera House
Facilities Management Exemplar Project. It brings to fruition previous
attempts to deal with documentation deficiencies in the late 1980s and
early 1990s. [Infolink.com.au]
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Oct 04 |
NSW Planning
Minister Frank Sartor says an application to put the Sydney Opera
House on the World Heritage register will be lodged in 2006, after the
Federal Government reversed its long-standing opposition to the
international listing in July. [ABC Arts Online]. |
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Oct 10 |
Jørn Utzon, interviewed by
Adrian Mourby in The Guardian, proclaims 'Every morning I wake up and
think of my building'. Claiming, somewhat misleadingly, that
"at last Utzon's original ideas for the Opera House will be realised"
the article reflects on influences for the design of the Opera House, Utzon's departure from the project, recent construction, and the
architect's emotional attachment to the building. [The Guardian].
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Oct 27 |
Anthony Davis expresses scepticism on
the realisation of Utzon's new plans for the Opera House. Although
work has been completed on the reception hall and begun on the loggia,
"it seems it'll take a state government far more courageous than
the incumbent to implement the thrust of Utzon's blueprint."
[Sydney Magazine no 31].
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Nov 26 |
Elizabeth Farrelly raises
questions about construction work at the Opera House in an article
What Utzon Did Next about Jørn Utzon's grandson Jeppe: The
latest Opera House project may have come to a (second) shuddering
halt, but that didn't stop Bob Carr, from Macquarie Street, sorry Bank,
claiming it as a coup at the Royal Australian Institute of Architects'
awards event at the Opera House recently. What does Jeppe think of the
changes so far - the colonnade, the podium openings? "It's a dangerous
thing to do, opening it up. It'd probably be best if they hadn't, but
they're good architects, so it'll probably be all right. It'll be
interesting to see how much the building can take. I'll wait and see."
[SMH Spectrum 26-27 November] |
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Nov 28 |
Sydney Opera House reports that work on
the Western loggia should be finished by the end of the year. In
response to criticisms that the loggia is a bastardisation that upsets
the balance of the building by corrupting its solid base, Opera House
chief executive Norman Gillespie highlights improvements that will
enliven a "dead space". However, work on other projects - the upgrade
of the opera theatre to raise the orchestra pit and improve the
acoustics - have been delayed "due to wrangling over financing with
the NSW Government." [SMH]
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Dec 25 |
Birgit Nilsson dies. The soprano
who was the featured artist in the first public performance in the
Concert Hall, on 29 September 1973, dies at the age of 87. Accompanied
by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras, Nilsson sang Dich Teure Halle (Dear Hall of Song)
from Tannhauser, Prelude and Liebestod (Love Death) from Tristan
and Isolde and Schlussgesang der Brunhilde (Brunnhilde's
Immolation Scene) from Twilight of the Gods. |
