Concrete Sails on Bennelong Point
Stand at the edge of Circular Quay and look east: the white shells rise from Bennelong Point, between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, with the Harbour Bridge behind you and the Royal Botanic Garden around the next headland. The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, and it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings — a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture. Danish architect Jørn Utzon won the international design competition in 1957; the building was completed by an Australian team headed by Peter Hall and formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973. In 2007 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You don't need a ticket to appreciate it: walk the podium, circle the shells, and let the scale do the work.
Look Closer at the Shells and the Grand Organ
The building is a modern expressionist composition of large precast concrete "shells," each formed from sections of a sphere, set on a monumental podium. From a distance the roofs read as uniformly white; up close you can pick out a subtle chevron pattern made from more than a million tiles in two colours — glossy white and matte cream. The exterior is largely clad in aggregate panels of pink granite quarried at Tarana, and the interiors make significant use of off-form concrete, Australian white birch plywood from Wauchope and brush box glulam.
Inside, the venues give you plenty to plan around:
- Concert Hall — home of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and holder of the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ, the largest mechanical tracker-action organ in the world, with over 10,000 pipes.
- Joan Sutherland Theatre — the Sydney home of Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet; known as the Opera Theatre until 2012.
- Drama Theatre — used by the Sydney Theatre Company and other dance and theatrical presenters.
- Playhouse and Studio — smaller spaces for plays, film and intimate performances.
- Utzon Room — a small multi-purpose venue, sometimes used for chamber music.
- Outdoor Forecourt — a flexible open-air venue that can use the Monumental Steps as audience seating for community events and major outdoor performances.
Guided tours take you behind the scenes; roughly 350,000 visitors take one each year. Book ahead if a particular venue or backstage area matters to you.
Time Your Visit Around a Performance
The building hosts more than 1,800 performances a year, so the surest way to make the most of it is to see something inside. Check the programme before you travel and match your dates to a concert, an opera or a play — a night in the Concert Hall or the Joan Sutherland Theatre turns a photo stop into an evening. If your schedule is fixed, a daytime guided tour is the reliable alternative.
For the building at its best from outside, walk the harbour foreshore in the softer light of morning or late afternoon, when the tile chevron catches the sun and the crowds thin. Allow at least an hour for the exterior and a tour, and longer if you stay for a performance. Don't miss the view back across the water from Mrs Macquarie's Chair, at the end of the Royal Botanic Garden — the classic framing of the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge.
Walk the Harbour Edge to The Rocks and the Botanic Garden
The Opera House sits within one of Sydney's great walks. Start underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, keep the harbour on your left through The Rocks and across Circular Quay, round the Opera House and on through the Royal Botanic Garden to Mrs Macquarie's Chair. The Rocks, right next to the city centre, holds Sydney's colonial heritage, and you can cross the Harbour Bridge on foot to Milsons Point. From Circular Quay, ferries run to Taronga Zoo and on to Manly — a 30-minute trip that shows you most of the harbour for the price of a ticket. In summer, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race sets off from the harbour on Boxing Day, and Watsons Bay is a fine vantage point to watch the fleet head out.
Whether you come for a concert, a tour or simply to stand beneath those tiled shells at the edge of the harbour, the Opera House rewards a little planning. Check the performance calendar, pick your walk, and build a day around Bennelong Point — the rest of Sydney Harbour arranges itself around you.