Sydney Opera House Architect Reminisces About Construction

Australia's most famous building now is popular for architectural projection mapping on the iconic rooftop.

Famous Builder: Architect John Zaat

"'I JUST got lucky, I suppose ... but it was absolutely mind blowing, being involved in the design of one of the great buildings of the world.' Rosebank man John Zaat was one of the architects who worked on the iconic Sydney Opera House. As a young graduate in 1966, it was a life-changing opportunity for him, and it's a story he loves to share with fellow members of U3A Northern Rivers (Lismore). Mr Zaat is the current president of the group. Although he doesn't run any of his own classes, he regularly speaks about his time working on the opera house and what it meant for his career in architecture. 'Eleven years of my career were spent on that building,' he said. 'I first started work on the initial design in 1966 ... it was my job to design the ceiling in the concert hall. Then in the 1990s I worked on the upgrade program, which was a $120 million program.'" [Source]

Netflix Series "Sense8" Shoots At Harpa Hall In Reykjavík, Iceland

Tuppence Middleton  (right) as Riley Blue [née Gunnarsdóttir], stands with her father Gunar (second from left)
 getting high in front of Harpa concert hall in Iceland before the big concert.

In April 2015, Opera Fresh did a feature on architect Olafur Eliasson and his work with opera houses. Now one of his projects is featured in the newest Netflix hit series Sense8. The 12-episode series was released in its entirety on June 5. The show is shot on location in Chicago, San Francisco, London, Berlin, Seoul, Reykjavík, Mexico City, Nairobi and Mumbai. The science fiction drama web television series created, written and executive-produced by Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix, Bound, Jupiter Ascending) and J. Michael Straczynski (World War Z, Changeling, They Marched into Sunlight).

Episode 10, "What is Human," features a climactic scene where Riley's father Gunar is giving a performance of the "Allegro" movement from Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 ("The Emperor") and all the sensates present recall the moment of their births. This intoxicating musical moment also triggers something in Riley and blood begins running down her face as she faints at the end of the episode. She will soon be sent to a hospital and discovered by Mr. Whispers. 

"Despite its use of simple chords, including a second theme constructed almost entirely out of tonic and dominant notes and chords, the first movement is full of complex thematic transformations. When the piano enters with the first theme, the expository material is repeated with variations, virtuoso figurations, and modified harmonies. The second theme enters in the unusual key of B minor before moving to B major and at last to the expected key of B-flat major several bars later. Following the opening flourish, the movement follows Beethoven's trademark three-theme sonata structure for a concerto. The orchestral exposition is a typical two-theme sonata exposition, but the second exposition with the piano has a triumphant virtuoso third theme at the end that belongs solely to the solo instrument. Beethoven does this in many of his concertos. The coda at the end of the movement is quite long, and, again typical of Beethoven, uses the open-ended first theme and gives it closure to create a satisfying conclusion." [Source]

More about Sense8, the actor who plays the piano-playing character of Gunar, a complete performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major (Op. 73) by Krystian Zimerman, and another operatic connection to Sense8, after the jump.

Scottish Opera Wins Cultural Award For Architectural Expansion

The exterior of the award-winning structure in Glasgow.
(click on image to enlarge)

"Scottish Opera's recently transformed performance home, Theatre Royal Glasgow, has won Cultural Building of the Year at the RIAS (Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland) Awards 2015. From 65 submissions across Scotland and a shortlist of 24, 12 winners were announced last night at an awards ceremony in The Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh. The judging panel of industry specialists praised Page\Park Architects’ innovative design of the building: ‘Creating a welcoming entrance foyer and embracing a dramatic, sinuous stair, this new structure boldly signposts Scottish Opera’s HQ. 'Street to seat' was the ethos, with the client wanting to literally 'open up' theatre and opera as art forms. By providing a welcoming entrance, addressing the street corner, the theatre experience has been 'democratised'.’ All the RIAS Award-winning buildings - including a nursery, a distillery and a cancer care centre - will now go forward to be considered for Britain’s richest architectural prize, the £25,000 Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award, to be announced in November. RIAS was founded almost 100 years ago in 1916, and the awards, though only in their fourth year, have already become the most important recognition of architectural achievement in Scotland."

A winding staircase makes for a dramatic centerpiece.
(click on image to enlarge)

"The Theatre Royal Glasgow's stunning new foyers have won Best Leisure/Culture Building at the Scottish Design Awards 2015. Organised by The Drum magazine, the Scottish Design Awards are now in their 18th year and are Scotland’s most prestigious awards for architecture firms and design agencies. The awards aim to recognise creativity within Scotland’s design industry, with the judging panel of specialists looking for innovative pieces of work and concepts that stand out from the crowd. The awards ceremony took place on 21 May in the Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow. Lynn Lester, Managing Director of Drum Events said ‘It was an incredible night for the industry and all those involved should be proud of what they have brought to design in Scotland’." [Source]

Read the architect's concept for the expansion, and see more photos, after the jump.

Michigan Opera House Joins Prestigious List Of Historic Theatres

"The Tibbits Opera House in Coldwater has been included in the 2015 Membership of the League of Historic American Theatres (LHAT), a list that also includes all the major NYC Broadway houses operated by Disney, Nederlander, Shubert, and Jujamcyn. As an LHAT member, Tibbits Opera House staff will have access to professional development opportunities and national media attention and will be able to attend the National Conference of Historic Theatres taking place in Nashville this summer. 'I am delighted to include Tibbits Opera House as a member of the League,' said Ken Stein, Executive Director for LHAT. 'We constantly showcase the important contributions being made in arts and preservation from historic theatres throughout North America, and it will be great to include the contributions from Coldwater.' The League champions the preservation, restoration and ongoing operations of historic theatres across the United States and Canada. Tibbits Opera 1-louse is among the distinguished list of theatres that have proven to be economic drivers and cultural cornerstones in communities across the nation." [Source]

Olafur Eliasson: Where Art Design Meets The World Of Opera

Three chandeliers (2004) by Olafur Eliasson, adorn the lobby of The Royal Danish Opera House in Copenhagen.

"Olafur Eliasson (Icelandic: Ólafur Elíasson; born 1967) is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer’s experience. In 1995 he established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial research. Eliasson represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003 and later that year installed The Weather Project in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern, London. Eliasson has engaged in a number of projects in public space, including the intervention Green river, carried out in various cities between 1998 and 2001; the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2007, London, a temporary pavilion designed with the Norwegian architect Kjetil Thorsen; and The New York City Waterfalls, commissioned by Public Art Fund in 2008. Olafur Eliasson was born in Copenhagen in 1967 to Elías Hjörleifsson and Ingibjörg Olafsdottir.

Glasfassade Bühnenfenster (2005) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

His parents had emigrated to Copenhagen from Iceland in 1966, he to find work as a cook, and she as a seamstress. He was 8 when his parents separated; he lived with his mother and his stepfather, a stockbroker. His father, then an artist, moved back to Iceland, where the Eliasson spent summers and holidays. At 15 he had his first solo show, exhibiting landscape drawings and gouaches at a small alternative gallery in Denmark. However, Eliasson considered his "break-dancing" during the mid-1980s to be his first artworks. With two school friends, he formed a group — they called themselves the Harlem Gun Crew — and they performed at clubs and dance halls for four years, eventually winning the Scandinavian championship. In 1987, Eliasson’s grandfather killed himself, in Copenhagen. The same year, Eliasson’s father, who had

Music Wall (2006) at the Alsion Concert Hall in Sønderborg, Denmark. (Photo by Adam Mørk)

remarried, was hospitalized for alcoholism. Olafur returned to Iceland to help care for his two-year-old half sister, Anna Viktoria, and he decided to apply to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied between 1989 and 1995. In 1990, when he was awarded a travel budget by the Royal Danish Academy, Eliasson went to New York where he started working as a studio assistant for artist Christian Eckhart in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and reading texts on phenomenology and Gestalt psychology. Eliasson received his degree from the academy in 1995, after having moved in 1993 to Cologne for a year, and then to Berlin, where he has since maintained a studio. First located in a three-story former train depot right next door to the Hamburger Bahnhof, the studio moved to a former brewery in Prenzlauer Berg in 2008. In 1996, Eliasson started working with Einar Thorsteinn, an architect and geometry expert 25 years his

Echo House (2007) for Manchester International Festival Opera House. (Photo by Joel Fildes)

senior as well as a former friend of Buckminster Fuller. The first piece they created called 8900054, was a stainless-steel dome 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and 7 feet (2.1 m) high, designed to be seen as if it were growing from the ground. Though the effect is an illusion, the mind has a hard time believing that the structure is not part of a much grander one developing from deep below the surface. Thorsteinn's knowledge of geometry and space has been integrated into Eliasson's artistic production, often seen in his geometric lamp works as well as his pavilions, tunnels and camera obscura projects. For many projects, the artist works collaboratively with specialists in various fields, among them the architects Thorsteinn and Sebastian Behmann (both of whom have been frequent collaborators), author Svend Åge Madsen (The Blind Pavilion), landscape

Olafur Eliasson created the production for Henze's opera Phaedra at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin (2007)

architect Gunther Vogt (The Mediated Motion), architecture theorist Cedric Price (Chaque matin je me sens différent, chaque soir je me sens le même), and architect Kjetil Thorsen (Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, 2007). Today, Studio Olafur Eliasson is a laboratory for spatial research that employs a team of c. 30 architects, engineers, craftsmen, and assistants who work together to conceptualize, test, engineer, and construct installations, sculptures, large-scale projects, and commissions. As professor at the Berlin University of the Arts, Olafur Eliasson founded the Institute for Spatial Experiments (Institut für Raumexperimente, IfREX), which opened within his studio building in April 2009. Eliasson had his first solo show with Nicolaus Schafhausen in Cologne in 1993, before moving to Berlin in 1994. In 1996, Eliasson had his first show in the United States at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) organized Eliasson's first major survey in the United States Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson, on view from 10 September 2007 to 24 February 2008. Curated by the director of

The Other Wall (2010) in the lobby at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo.

the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Madeleine Grynsztejn (then Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA), in close collaboration with the artist, the major survey spanned the artist's career from 1993 and 2007. The exhibit included site-specific installations, large-scale immersive environments, freestanding sculpture, photography, and special commissions seen through a succession of interconnected rooms and corridors. The museum's skylight bridge was turned into an installation titled One-way colour tunnel. Following its San Francisco debut, the exhibit embarked on an international tour to the Museum of Modern Art, and P.S.1. Contemporary Art Center, New York, 2008; the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, 2008–09; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2009; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 2009–2010. He has also had major solo exhibitions at,

Glass brick façades (2011) of The Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall home to The Icelandic Opera.

among others, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, and ZKM (Center for Art and Media), Karlsruhe (2001); Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2004); Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2006); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa (2009); and Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2010). Eliasson has also appeared in numerous group exhibitions, including the São Paulo Biennial and the Istanbul Biennial (1997), Venice Biennale (1999, 2001 and 2005), and the Carnegie International (1999). The Spiral Pavilion, conceived in 1999 for the Venice Biennial and today on display at Kunsthalle Bielefeld, brought Olafur Eliasson the Benesse Prize by the Benesse Corporation. In 2004, Eliasson won the Nykredit Architecture Prize and the Eckersberg Medal for painting. The following year he was awarded the Prince Eugen Medal for sculpture and in 2006, the Crown Prince Couple's Culture Prize. In 2007, he

Artist Olafur Eliasson

was awarded the first Joan Miró Prize by the Joan Miró Foundation. In 2010, Eliasson was the recipient of a Quadriga award; he returned his award one year later after it was revealed that Vladimir Putin would be recognized in 2011. In October 2013, he was honored with the Goslarer Kaiserring. That same year, Eliasson and Henning Larsen Architects were recipients of the Mies van der Rohe Award for their Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Center in Reykjavik, Iceland. In 2014, Eliasson was the recipient of the $100,000 Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); the prize is considered an investment in the recipient’s future creative work, rather than a prize for a particular project or lifetime of achievement. The awardee becomes an artist in residence at MIT, studying and teaching for a period of time. On the occasion of a state visit to Germany in June 2013, the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, visited the Studio Eliasson in Berlin. Brazilian filmmaker Karim Ainouz's documentary piece, Domingo, shot from his encounter with Eliasson during the 17th Videobrasil Festival, had its world premiere at Rio International Film Festival in 2014, and will be released on DVD in 2015. Eliasson is married to Danish art historian Marianne Krogh Jensen, whom he met when she curated the Danish Pavilion for the 1997 São Paulo Art Biennial. They adopted both their son (in 2003) and their daughter (in 2006) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The family lives in a house designed by architect Andreas Lauritz Clemmensen in Hellerup near Copenhagen; Eliasson commutes to Berlin. Eliasson speaks Icelandic, Danish, German, and English." [Source, Source] See more select works of Olafur Eliasson after the jump.

Maria Callas Artwork Appears In Architect Abeijón-Fernández Work

All eyes on the room: Maria Callas watches over all at Cuatro Caminos

"El estudio Abeijón-Fernández Sociedad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, se fundó en el año 1996 con el objeto de desarrollar, desde el ejercicio libre de la profesión, algunos de los conceptos iniciados durante el aprendizaje académico. Desde este inicio, trabajamos en la elaboración de proyectos enmarcados en varios ámbitos de la Arquitectura. Elaboramos proyectos para obras de carácter público encargadas por administraciones y por entidades privadas. También desarrollamos una amplia labor en el ámbito de la vivienda; llevando a cabo obras de vivienda colectiva, tanto vivienda libre como vivienda protegida, y obras de vivienda unifamiliar. En particular, en la Arquitectura Residencial, entendemos como fundamental la profunda reflexión para la consecución de arquitecturas que permitan la mayor claridad funcional, buscando siempre las máximas prestaciones para el usuario final, sin descuidar la innegable importancia formal de los objetos construidos. Asimismo realizamos proyectos de Arquitectura interior, para espacios comerciales, administrativos y vivienda. En toda nuestra trayectoria trabajamos para conseguir un compromiso entre el creador y el observador, tratando de generar una complicidad visual y formal entre la obra, el lugar y las personas. Por último, cabe destacar el reconocimiento obtenido por parte de la sociedad, reflejado en la cantidad de publicaciones que han recogido nuestras obras, tanto en prensa diaria como en publicaciones internacionales." [Source] See the original use for the image that inspired the artwork, after the jump.

Lyric Opera Of Chicago Gets Acoustic Makeover On Stage

The proposed backdrop that could add recital capabilities to the cavernous opera house. 

"In the latest collaboration between the renowned Chicago architect Jeanne Gang and a Chicago-area arts institution, Gang and her firm, Studio Gang Architects, have designed a new acoustical shell for Lyric Opera the company will use for its concert performances at the Civic Opera House beginning in the fall, Lyric announced Wednesday. The dynamic, modular stage enclosure, to be unveiled at Lyric's 60th anniversary concert on Nov. 1, will be the first concert shell to be created by the architectural firm, although Gang and her partners have dealt with similar acoustical design issues in previous projects, she said. 'This is a unique project for us,' she said of the new concert shell, which Lyric plans to use for performances distinct from the operatic productions that constitute its main stage season. Lyric Opera officials have not disclosed the cost or funding sources for the project. Construction of the shell is scheduled to begin next week, followed by acoustical tests of the completed enclosure later in the summer. Their intention, officials said, is to replace Lyric's existing stage shell with a more efficient, more visually appealing enclosure that will improve the projection of acoustical sound in the cavernous, 3,500-seat Ardis Krainik Theater and relate, in a design sense, to the Art Deco style of the stage proscenium, with its receding perspective. 'We thought it would be far more interesting if there was something connected to the space, so it wouldn't look like it simply dropped in from outer space,' Gang said." [Source]

Opera Manager Andrea Anson Opens The Doors To His Townhouse

"A New York townhouse filled with family heirlooms and antique treasures. In his 1830s Manhattan home, music-world consultant Andrea Anson lives amid colorful rooms layered with African artifacts, European accents, and fond memories. Most people prefer clarity over confusion: crisp thoughts, unequivocal conversations, and perfectly precise rooms where just enough is quite enough. Manhattanite Andrea Anson is not one of those people. Stepping inside the transitional Federal/Greek Revival townhouse of this classical-music power broker—he is a consultant to Columbia Artists Management, where he has guided the careers of superstars such as Deborah Voigt and Angela Gheorghiu—is like walking into another place and time. The front door closes, muffling the touristy clamor of SoHo just outside, and a virtual English country house suddenly comes into view. Gilt-framed portraits and landscapes punctuate the colorful walls, portly delft vessels march across the top of a doorway, and every floor is spread with a Turkish carpet or two. 'Believe it or not, this place started out very clean and spartan,' Anson says. Some 30 years ago, though, his mother and father—a widowed Italian duchess and a British Army officer who crashed into each other on a ski slope during World War II and fell in love—gave up their enormous apartment in Rome, along with the king’s ransom of antiques and art it contained. Anson flew over to see what he could take back to the U.S. Accompanying him was his partner, Gordon McCollum, a commercial real-estate executive with an encyclopedic knowledge of New York City architecture. (McCollum died in 2000.)....Decorative exuberance wasn’t McCollum’s

plan in 1970, when he acquired the then-derelict property. One of the city’s grand merchant’s houses, the 1834 structure had been ill-served by the passage of time. At some point it had been divided into apartments, and in the 1920s a speakeasy took over the parlor floor. (Repairs to the basement boiler uncovered evidence of a secret corridor through which tipsy flappers fled during police raids.) A fire escape had been added to the redbrick façade, and the home’s stone mantels had vanished. Enough charm remained, though, to entice McCollum to purchase the building, for about $17,000, settle into one of the cramped flats, and begin a restoration that expanded into the other spaces as tenants gradually departed. McCollum retrieved period architectural details from demolition sites in New York and transplanted an 1830s staircase from a condemned house in Connecticut. Off came the fire escape, and beige and white paints were brushed onto the plaster walls—a neutral background for a few sinewy American Colonial antiques. Then, in 1978, along came Anson. The couple’s meeting was as much a thunderbolt as the ski-slope collision that brought together Anson’s parents. As he recounts, 'A friend invited me to a dinner party here, and when Gordon opened the door, I was done for.' The alliance changed not only their lives but also their surroundings, as the pared-down decor swiftly evolved into an Anglophilic layer cake of styles and eras. As Anson explains, 'Gordon allowed himself to become much more playful after we met.'" [Source] More photos of the interior after the jump.

Opera Influencing Fashion Influencing Architecture in Asia

Starhill Gallery: Inspired by Christian Lacroix

"'I was inspired by an exhibition at Singapore’s National Museum featuring French designer Christian Lacroix’s opera and ballet costumes, especially the use of heavy, folded fabrics,' Pimbley, 53, says at an interview after the relaunch ceremony. 'There was an immediate corollary between the quality of Lacroix’s folded fabrics and the fine tailoring of luxurious labels in Starhill Gallery. I never knew Lacroix designed for opera, and I found it fascinating, the way he drew and designed the diaphanous clothing and flowing robes. I translated the idea into architecture so that the building appears wrapped in flowing fabric, which, in fact, required some very complex engineering. Architecture is meant to make people’s lives better' maintains Sparch founding partner Stephen Pimbley. 'I didn’t want to create just another conventional mall but a visual statement for Bukit Bintang that offers a fresh,

Norwegian National Opera Eagerly Anticipates Per Boye Hansen

Per Boye Hansen will take charge in
Norway starting January 2012
(Photo: Nytt Kunstnerisk)

Although he doesn't officially take over the position of director at Den Norske Opera until January 2012, certainly there is excited anticipation for Per Boye Hansen to arrive. Chosen from a list of 61 names, Mr. Hansen was one of only two Norwegian applicants for the job. The current director, Paul Curran has held the position since August 2007. Per Boye Hansen, born October 11, 1957, is a Norwegian opera director and has worked in opera for more than 30 years. He has previously worked as director of the Bergen International Festival (2005-2011). In the years 1983 to 1989 he was assistant director at the opera in Cologne and the Salzburg Festival. During these years he worked with such regarded directors as Michael Hampe, Willy Decker, Hans Neugebauer and Jean-Pierre Ponelle. From 2001 to 2005 he was director of the Komische Oper Berlin. Hansen has a degree in theater studies and musical director at the University of Oslo and received his diploma from the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, the Ruhr, the line of music-director. He founded the Oslo Summer Opera in 1983 where he was artistic director until 1992, and Oslo Arts Management AS in 1990 as he led until 2000. He is from 2011 chairman of the jury for the International Ibsen Award. [Source, Source] More about the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, as well as photographs of the award-winning structure of the Oslo Opera House, after the jump.

Third Time May Be a Charm for Palais Garnier Restaurant

"After three attempts since 1875, a restaurant opened its doors on the eastern facade of the building in 2011. It was designed by French architect Odile Decq. The chef is Christophe Aribert." [Source]

"Recessed within the historical building, visitors pass the facade's original pillars to enter the undulating interior. The mezzanine space is carefully integrated to resist touching the existing structure's walls, columns and roof. The contemporary addition compliments the classical details of the vaulted stone ceiling without altering history. Accommodating and seating 90 guests at one time, the large floor plate is suspended with concealed steel plates. A glass wall encompasses the interior isolating the space from the existing shell. The billowing white structure touches down to the lower level producing integrated organic supports." Lots of really great photos here. One more image after the jump. [Source]

Will There Be Opera at the Peabody Opera House of St. Louis?

The Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, Missouri, was originally opened in 1934 as the Kiel Opera House and hosted performances by The Rat Pack, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles and Bruce Springsteen. The 3,100-seat theater closed in 1991. It was only three years ago that planners began work on a $78.8 million renovation project to revive the space. On October 1, the historic auditorium (minted with a new name compliments of Peabody Energy) will hold its re-opening night event called "An Encore 77 Years in the Making" featuring Aretha Franklin and Jay Leno. But will there be any opera performances taking place at the Peabody Opera House? According to John Urban (executive vice president for events and new business at Sport Capital Partners Worldwide), "We've met with quite a few including the St. Louis Symphony, Dance St. Louis, Opera Theatre, Shakespeare Festival, St. Louis Actors Studio," he said, and "already have some tentative plans and dates on hold." Looking at the calendar of events for the 2011-12 season one can see Roger Daltry performing Tommy, concerts by Widespread Panic and Wilco, family events with themes of Dr. Seuss and Sesame Street, a touring production of Green Day's American Idiot and a "Homecoming Comedy Jam" featuring Cedric the Entertainer on New Year's Eve. Read a full article about the detailed craftsmanship that went into restoring this historical venue by clicking here. Once upon a time, the Metropolitan Opera toured the United States and the original Kiel Opera House was the venue for a series of

The new Peabody Opera House lobby.

performances in May 1952 that included Aida (Zinka Milanov, Mario del Monaco, Blanche Thebom, Jerome Hines, Lucine Amara; Fausto Cleva), Carmen (Risë Stevens, Ramon Vinay, Nadine Conner, Frank Guarrera; Fritz Reiner), La Bohème (Eleanor Steber, Richard Tucker, Anne Bollinger, Frank Valentino; Alberto Erede) and La Traviata (Dorothy Kirsten, Jan Peerce, Leonard Warren; Fausto Cleva). The company returned to perform Samson and Dalila (Risë Stevens, Mario del Monaco, Martial Singher; Fausto Cleva) in May 1958, Aida (Birgit Nilsson, Franco Corelli, Irene Dalis, Robert Merrill, Ezio Flagello; Nino Verchi) and La Bohème (Dorothy Kirsten, Jan Peerce, Laurel Hurley, Lorenzo Testi; Thomas Schippers) both in May 1961. But who knows, maybe one day Phantom of the Opera will be the closest thing Peabody Opera House gets to hosting anything operatic and don't worry about the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis because it seems they are just fine in their home. [Source, Source, Source, Source]

Watch a local news channel discuss the renovation, during its beginning stages, after the jump.

Busan Opera House Architecture Directly Inspired by Music

"We've seen plenty of music houses sculpted around the concept of music--warm wood-paneled theaters that evoke the insides of instruments; symphony halls where a massive pipe organ becomes part of the architecture. But it's not often that the form of the building itself is driven by music. Anisotropia is a concept by Orproject for an opera house in South Korea where the music -- a composition for piano, to be exact -- shapes the building's form. The competition sponsored by the Busan Opera House hoped to bring ideas to light that could add another cultural destination to the port city. The basis for the opera house's design is a piece called Klavierstück I or Piano Piece No.1. Orproject's Christoph Klemmt composed the piece (he writes music on the side, but was trained as an architect). Like a piece of sheet music with its notes connected, a swooping web of lines dance up and down to make the "strips" in the building's facade and interior. 'In the composition we have the simple twelve tone row, and in the building the simple strips,' Klemmt tells Co.Design. 'Both of them are getting deformed and modulated to form the composition and the building.'" [Source]