It is stunning - situated on Sydney Harbour at the end of Bennelong Point. From the Opera House you can see the Sydney skyline (the CBD) and the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge (which Matt has climbed…twice!). The Sydney Opera House is considered one of the wonders of the modern world and was named as a UNESCO world heritage site last year.
The opera house was designed by Jørn Utzon (Danish) and work started in 1958. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Sydney Opera House on October 20, 1973.
We've seen one opera at the Sydney Opera House – Mozart’s Don Giovanni. At intermission we kept remarking to each other how nice it was they apparently have extended intermissions in Australia - we could stand on the outside deck and look up at they twinkly lights of the Sydney skyline. But after a while we started to think it was a really long intermission. When they finally rang the little triangle to get us back in the hall, the director revealed that the lead soprano, playing Donna Anna, had taken ill and so he had called in the understudy for the second half. Unfortunately, the understudy was not in the Opera House - she was in the far suburbs and it took a while for her to arrive. But I think we would have figured out the switcheroo even if he hadn't told us - the first Donna Anna was a tall willowy blonde, in the second half she was a short woman with black hair. No matter, they both sang their hearts out.
1 comment:
That thing doesn't look a day over 34.
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