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Articles and stories from the Sydney Opera House
Classical Music
Evolving Traditions: Your Guide to Utzon Music 2025
Ahead of the stellar new season of Utzon Music, curator and musician Genevieve Lacey unpacks what you can expect from the series.
Art at the House
Restoring the Coburn Tapestries
John Coburn was at the height of his fame when the artist was pitched to architect Peter Hall to design the Sydney Opera House theatre curtains in 1969. Hall had taken over from Danish architect Jørn Utzon and was ushering the building towards completion.
The inside story of Olsen’s celebrated Opera House mural
When I went to see Kenneth Slessor, he was working as a journalist, his poetical self long since disappeared, and he told me a story. It was the story of an artist who drowned in Sydney opposite the place where the Opera House now stands.
A Possum Story
Michael Jagamara was born into and revelled in a time of great change and opportunities. Following the end of World War II, abstract expressionism had arrived in the Australian art world and Sidney Nolan completed his Ned Kelly series. Also in that year, in the north part of Western Australia, in an amazingly unread, event, at least 800 Aboriginal pastoral workers walked off the job and began one of the longest industrial strikes in Australian history.
Cinema and Screen
What’s new to Stream?
The latest collection of free concert films, performances, and talks has just dropped on Stream, our platform that brings the magic of our stages to the comfort of your home. Turn your Sunday evening into a concerto, transform your living room into a theatre, or let a captivating talk draw you deeper into some of the world's greatest minds.
Surfing at the Opera House: An Unexpected History
Discover the hidden origins of Cinema at the Opera House and its connection with countercultural surf films.
5 Sydney Opera House near misses (in the movies)
From killer sea creatures to crashing UFOs, the Sydney Opera House has been threatened in the most imaginative and unexpected ways. Here are just a few of our close calls.
Classical Music
Evolving Traditions: Your Guide to Utzon Music 2025
Ahead of the stellar new season of Utzon Music, curator and musician Genevieve Lacey unpacks what you can expect from the series
There's Something in the Wata
Paul Grabowsky has spent two decades exploring ways to combine ‘Western’ musical tradition with the traditions of the world’s oldest-continuing culture. With Wata, which receives its Sydney premiere this July, he has arrived somewhere new, old, familiar and unique all at the same time.
50 extraordinary ACO moments at the Sydney Opera House
Take a look back at 50 of our favourite ACO moments, inside and outside the House.
Contemporary Music
The artists you should be listening to: The Vivid LIVE Official Playlist
This May - June, Vivid LIVE will transform the Sydney Opera House into an electric hub for live contemporary music and art as part of Vivid Sydney. With only two weeks until the festival kicks off, we spoke to Ben Marshall, Head of Contemporary Music, on what it takes to curate a festival lineup, which acts to look out for, and why Vivid LIVE will be an unmissable night out this winter.
Eavesdropping on Nils Frahm
Cynthia Loh reflects on Nils Frahm's extravagant yet intimate ode to the harbourside city: Music for Sydney.
The Steve Lacy song for every star sign: a cosmic guide
To celebrate Steve Lacy’s latest album, Gemini Rights and his only Australian headline shows at the Sydney Opera House this Jan – Feb, we thought we’d find the perfect Steve Lacy song for every star sign, not just Geminis.
Comedy, Circus & Magic
What’s it really like to run away with the circus?
Ever wondered what it's like to run away with the circus? Jascha Boyce and Darcy Grant from contemporary circus production The Mirror share the high-flying details.
Exposing the fallacy of circus ‘showmen’
Debunking the myth of circus showmen ahead of Opera House original production Natives Go Wild. Learn the truth of a business that coerced and scammed First People, who were put on display and forced to perform.
Vietnam’s villages bloom into a city in À Ố Làng Phố
Tuan Le's new circus challenges how we see Asia.
Dance
An interactive guide to DanceRites
Your handbook for the song and dance of Australia's ancient cultures.
A New Stage
From 2025, Bangarra Dance Theatre will proudly illuminate the Joan Sutherland Theatre, after 20 years of making fire in the Drama Theatre. Watch A New Stage, our new film celebrating this exciting new chapter of Bangarra's story at Sydney Opera House.
What you need to know about… Romeo and Juliet Suite
In a dazzling new production, the L.A Dance Project is set to make their Australian Debut in Benjamin Millepied’s bold and contemporary reimagining of Shakespeare’s masterpiece Romeo & Juliet Suite. This multilayered show fuses together cinema, dance and theatre to tell the classic story through a daring new lens.
First Nations
Tubowgule
Ever since it was a place for ceremony, gathering and celebration in Aboriginal Australia, Tubowgule has always reflected the society tucked in around Sydney Cove.
Why NAIDOC matters
We ask some of our Opera House family – performers and artists who take centre stage during this week of celebration – to discuss this year's NAIDOC theme and to unpack why the week matters to them.
Music for... Love by Budjerah
Teen R&B sensation Budjerah has themed his playlist around love, and all the daydreaming and sweet talking that comes with a budding romance. Listen in, then tune in to his exclusive Opera House show for Liminal.
Kids & Families
Stage Direction: Grug & Magic Beach
How does a treasured childhood classic become a living, breathing three-dimensional theatre tale? Lenny Ann Low looks at the art of adapting two iconic picture books for the Opera House stage.
School holidays survival guide
Our guide to surviving the school holidays with your sanity, and your kids' imagination, intact.
Opera House parents on what we’ve learnt from Bluey
To many the mum and dad, Bluey is a beacon of how families can be: honest, forgiving, patient, fun. It's also a reminder to embrace creativity, in a world in short supply. With Bluey's Big Play around the corner, we've asked parents of the Opera House to share what they've learnt watching Bluey with their kids.
Musical Theatre & Cabaret
Stage Direction: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard
From the silent era to the talkies, get to know the story that defined Hollywood fame forever, and the stars that made it along the way. Stephen A Russell uncovers Sunset Boulevard's long road to the Joan Sutherland Theatre stage from its origins in Billy Wilder's classic 1950 film.
Stage Direction: In the Heights
Your step-by-step guide to dancing like you’re in Washington Heights, the setting of Lin Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical In the Heights.
Stage Direction: The Phantom of the Opera
Unmask Phantom, the original ‘mega-musical’, from its humble beginnings in a French newspaper to being part of our cultural DNA over 100 years later.
Opera
Love List: Great Opera Hits by Guy Noble
Know your Nessun Dormas from your Habaneras? Find out what makes a ‘great opera hit’ in this special playlist curated by conductor, composer and broadcaster Guy Noble.
Cheat sheet: La Bohème
Everything you need to know about the original bohemian love story
Brett Whiteley: A life, an opera
A rebel. An icon. Learn about one of Australia's greatest artists.
Talks & Ideas
Why your next computer may be a lab-grown brain
We interview Dr Brett Kagan, Chief Scientific Officer at Cortical Labs, a Melbourne-based biological computing startup trying to revolutionise the AI industry by replacing current computer chip technology with biological alternatives, offering far more processing power for significantly less energy usage.
The recipes that made her famous: Alison Roman’s internet-breaking meals
From the flavourful Spiced Chickpea Stew with Coconut and Turmeric to the legendary Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread, Alison Roman’s simple but oh-so-delicious creations have amassed millions of shares, likes, and followers around the world.
Dancing with Zadie Smith
Sisonke Msimang on the playful call and response of the British writer
Theatre
Stage Direction: Amadeus
In this edition of Stage Direction, Stephen A Russell delves into the irresistible appeal of a feverishly imagined operatic tragedy.
Stage Direction: The Little Prince
In the first of our new series on page-to-stage adaptations, Neha Kale looks at how Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s poignant tale of a young prince lives on in the 21st century.
John Bell in seven acts
To celebrate Bell Shakespeare’s 30th anniversary we highlight seven of the best John Bell moments on stage with the Bard.
