Sydney Opera House: oh the acoustics

I saw the Sydney Symphony, with choir and soloists perform Beethoven's Missa Solemnis last night. The choir was at least 100 strong and the orchestra a similar number, but the sound they made seemed to disappear into the walls of the building.  The ethereal quality of music disappears  - you can see the many musicians, but not hear them properly From my very back seat at Munich Opera House recently I heard more than from my seventh row seat in the Sydney opera house last night.   Very frustrating.

I couldn't help thinking as I listened last night how disheartening it must be for the musicians to play/sing in a hall with such inferior acoustics. It is high time we had another national lotto to collect funds to rectify the opera house interior and make it worthy of its stunning exterior.

Crowds still there at 10pm

The acoustics outside seem to be better than inside. Once there were only a few tables along the walkway and two food shops but both shops and tables have been steadily increasing and nowadays the convivial crowds can be heard from afar as you approach. It is a convenient place to meet your friends - and oh what a view. No wonder it is popular.

As night falls a band and singer entertain the gathered throng, so after your show in the opera house you could, if you were so inclined, listen to another one outside.

Sydney Symphony's Tristan and Isolde

After a major Wagner drought, all the antipodean Wagner riches came at once this year.  The wonderful NZSO Wagner Gala conducted by Pietari Inkinen and with soloists Christine Goerke and Simon O'Neill was sung in Wellington, Chistchurch and Auckland last week, the Auckland performance on Saturday coinciding with the first of two concert performances of Tristan and Isolde by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Tristan and Isolde was the first live performance in Sydney of  a major Wagner work since 2003! We Wagnerians have been dying of Wagner-thirst.

Smoke and mirrors: giant sail in the Sydney Opera House auditorium
onto which images were projected during Tristan and Isolde

The SSO played wonderfully well under David Robertson. The singers were placed behind the orchestra which could have been a problem in a hall with such dodgy acoustics, but they were voices of caliber and all of them could be heard clearly through the hall. At half time I was amused to hear a young actor/singer talking about the amplification of the singing and saying he could hear the singers well from the back of the hall.  He was astonished to be told that opera singers are not amplified.

The standout singers for me were John Relyea as King Marke and Katarina Karneus as Brangane. Both have voices worth traveling to hear. I hope they get another opportunity to sing Wagner in Sydney and that we don't have to wait another twelve years before we hear them again.

(Review of the SSO Tristan and Isolde)
(Review of the NZSO Wagner Gala)

The Dutchman Flies in Sydney

Huge sails soared to the ceiling of the Sydney Opera House concert hall on Saturday night. A sailing ship ... oh  yes ...  The Flying Dutchman no less.

Sails in the Sydney Opera House concert hall.

The Sydney Symphony together with a cast of fantastic singers presented a wonderful concert performance of Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. The orchestra, the soloists and the very large choir on both sides of the auditorium were exceptionally good. They got a wildly appreciative reception from the audience and a well deserved excellent review.  A video was projected onto the huge sails during the performance, which was successful in augmenting the music rather than distracting from it.

Sydney Opera house last Saturday night

Last year Sydney Symphony put on a fantastic concert version of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and now, after this performance of The Flying Dutchman (there is another performance this evening), my bet is that the Sydney Symphony will be winning a lot of new subscribers, refugees from Opera Australia which is concentrating on balancing its books by putting on musicals.

Go Sydney Symphony!