‘The Opera House belongs to everyone’

“The problem with our concert hall is that it was originally designed to have a grid, a flying system [theatrical rigging] above the stage so it could be used for opera and plays. It was called a multipurpose hall,” says Louise Herron, the Opera House’s chief executive.
That concept was thrown out midway through construction – after Utzon’s enraged departure – and the objectives of the building’s two main venues were switched. Operas and plays were moved to the smaller Joan Sutherland theatre, where rigging was installed to support theatrical performances, and the concert hall was decked out for classical music instead, the justification being that symphonies would be more popular.

The construction on the Opera House in 1970s Sydney Opera House.

At 45 metres, the concert hall is at least 10 metres longer than most acoustic-oriented spaces, and double the optimum height. As a consequence, much effort has gone into compensating for its cavernous proportions, including wood-panelled walls to aid reverberation, and fibreglass acoustic reflectors hung from the roof to create a sonic ceiling.

But in the years since it was built interest in symphonies has been challenged by the ubiquity of pop, hip-hop and rock. While rock bands – including Massive Attack and the National – are often set up in the outdoor forecourt, acts including Lizzo, Interpol, Nick Cave, Iggy Pop, the Wu-Tang Clan, José González and Hot Chip have played the concert hall.

They take some wrangling.

"The shows that we currently put in there were never in the initial scope for the hall,” says Andrew Mackonis, Sydney Opera House’s production manager. He leads a team of nine.

“Essentially it’s designed to be a big echo chamber, and that’s the opposite of what you want when you’re doing an amplified event,” he says. “You want the space to be as dead as possible. You have these two diametrically opposed ideals.”

The space has had multiple smaller upgrades along the way to help it cope, including a high-quality PA system being installed and heavy drapery created to hang over the wood panelling. But the process of getting the hall ready for an amplified show is cumbersome – the drapes alone take hours to install – and the PA system is long past its prime.