Decade of Renewal
News, videos and features about the Opera House’s ten-year Renewal program
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Renewing an icon
Find out more about the biggest upgrade in Opera House history and how a 10-year program of capital works totalling almost $300 million has transformed this world-famous icon for the 21st century.
Stories
“Rebirth and resurrection”
Who better to help reopen the heart of the Opera House than William Barton? The celebrated Kalkadunga musician estimates he has played the venue over 300 times. This week, with clapsticks made from wood salvaged from the stage, he'll perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in a triumphant return to the Concert Hall.
In it for the long Hall
The Opera House’s biggest venue has been closed for two years, yet behind its shuttered doors the beat goes on. The hum of thousands of excited concert-goers has been replaced with the buzz of thousands of workers, busy future-proofing the venue for decades to come.
Opera House wins accolades for heritage conservation
We are proud to announce that the Opera House received three accolades at the 26th annual National Trust Heritage Awards. A highly-anticipated event, the Awards celebrate excellence in conservation, education, interpretation, advocacy and events, and promote greater appreciation and understanding of heritage.
Work begins to transform Concert Hall for new era
Better sound, better access and more ambitious performances will be enabled by a $150 million upgrade and renovations.
Preserving the Grand Organ
Each of the 10,244 pipes will be cleaned by hand – it's a tricky job.
The work that makes magic: Renewing the Joan Sutherland Theatre
One of the world’s great performance venues, the Joan Sutherland Theatre is being renewed for the next generation of artists and audiences.
Testing the Concert Hall’s acoustic reflectors
Work is underway to make the Opera House sound as good as it looks. Meet the acousticians solving a 40 year-old problem.
Fine-tuning the acoustics of the Joan Sutherland Theatre
What makes a concert sound good? Here's how our acousticians did it.
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.
Video gallery
Image gallery
The beginning, middle and end of the Sydney Opera House doughnuts
The former acoustic stage reflectors, commonly referred to as ‘doughnuts’ were an iconic backdrop for Concert Hall performances for almost 50 years.
During our decade of renewal, they were removed and replaced to make way for acoustic upgrades, however this is not the end of their story.
As part of our plan to conserve, honour and celebrate the doughnuts, we commissioned performance artist Angela Goh to develop a contemporary artwork, The Concert, which shared an interpretive story of the doughnuts, reimagining them as artefacts that connect us to both our history and the future.