The
theatres are in a series of large shells,
conceived by dissecting a hemisphere.
The Concert Hall and Opera Theatre are
contained in the largest shells, and the
other theatres are located on the sides
of the shells. The smallest building is
home to the Bennelong Restaurant. A much
smaller set of shells set to one side
of the Monumental steps houses one of
the restaurants. There are five theatres
which make up the performance facilities
of the Opera House: The Concert Hall,
with 2,679 seats, contains the Sydney
Opera House Grand Organ, the largest mechanical
tracker action organ in the world with
over 10,000 pipes. The Opera Theatre,
with 1,547 seats, is the main performance
space for Opera Australia. The Drama Theatre,
with 544 seats The Playhouse, with 398
seats The Studio Theatre, with 364 seats.
The Sydney Opera House can be said to
have had its beginning during the late
1940s in the endeavours of Eugene Goossens,
the Director of the NSW State Conservatorium
of Music at the time, who lobbied to have
a suitable venue for large theatrical
productions built.
At
the time, the normal venue for such productions
was the Sydney Town Hall, but this venue
was simply not large enough. By 1954,
Goossens succeeded in gaining the support
of NSW Premier Joseph Cahill, who called
for designs for a dedicated opera house.
It was also Goossens who insisted that
Bennelong Point be the site for the Opera
House. Cahill had wanted it to be on or
near the Wynyard Railway Station, located
in the north-western Sydney CBD.The competition
that Cahill organised received 233 entries.
The basic design that was finally accepted
in 1955 was submitted by Jørn Utzon,
a Danish architect. Utzon arrived in Sydney
in 1957 to help supervise the project.
The Fort Macquarie Tram Depot, occupying
the site at the time of these plans, was
demolished in 1958, and formal construction
of the Opera House began in March, 1959.
The project was built in three stages.
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