TWF: searching: sohstory8

In response to visitor demand, this chronology has been compiled by Paul Bentley to record the story of the Dennis Wolanski Library of the Performing Arts and associated projects within the context of the Sydney Opera House story, theatrical associations with the Bennelong Point site, Jørn Utzon’s involvement with the House and changes to the building. It draws on and updates Philip Drew’s extensive chronology Utzon and the Sydney Opera House and a number of other sources. See also Sydney Opera House: an annotated list of sources

2008
Jan 31	Evans sets course. In his first extended interview as CEO of the Sydney Opera House (In the Spotlight, Valerie Lawson, The Sydney Magazine, February 08), Richard Evans talks about the challenges of "having to report to so many bosses" and of raising funds for the proposed $700 million renovations to the House. He promises that the "secretive nature" of the House will change, as will the relationships with resident companies. "The hallmark of my time there, if I were to project 10 years — because I think it will take 10 years — would be for the work on the inside of the House to be as remarkable as the outside of the House."
Feb 07	Call for a new opera house instead of a better old one. Greg Lenthen, in Let's Rethink This Renovation, and Build a New Opera House, explores planned renovations at Bennelong Point and urges that "before the state and federal governments contemplate spending $700 million, or anything like it, on a significant overhaul of the existing structure, they should carefully consider whether a new opera and ballet would be better value. Sydney has the Eighth Wonder; its time it also had a first class opera house." [SMH]
Feb 07	Australian Galleries, Paddington, opens Playback, an exhibition of works on paper by Mika Utzon Popov, grandson of Jørn Utzon. The exhibition consists of 26 drawings in charcoal, pencil and acrylic ranging in price from $305-$5,940 and runs to 24 February.
Feb 08	Don't Create More Dramas for Utzon's Masterpiece is the heading for five letters prompted by Greg Lenthen's article in the SMH. David Brown, Head of Public Affairs at the Opera House (1970-1997), while acknowledging the genius of Jørn Utzon, notes the fragility of the building, limited wing space in the major halls, and the opportunity for spending the money on a new opera house, starting, for its design inspiration, on the inside. Architect Andrew Andersons says "the ill-considered [renovations] will produce an extremely expensive compromise, far removed from the quality and technical capabilities of recently completed houses, such as Copenhagen's." He suggests "the existing [opera] auditorium can be made into an excellent house by moving the pit forward by two rows, free of the overhang for much of the smaller scale repertoire. Echoing past criticism of other renovations recently completed, he says: "putting the theatre deeply into the podium will permanently defile the concept of this unique building." As a location for a new large scale opera theatre, he proposes the old Tivoli Theatre site, near Central Railway Station. For students of history, the NSW National Opera launched its first season in the Tivoli Theatre, on 7 March 1951, heralding the beginnings of a permanent opera company in Australia.
Feb 11	Another venue would lead to a decline in opera. Warren Kennedy in a letter to the SMH, says "30 percent of those who attend operas and other performances there say the bought tickets because they wanted to see a show at the Opera House." If the Opera Australia were to present performances in another venue, "the result would be an unviable opera company and the decline of opera in Sydney."
Mar 13	Architect Richard Johnson receives the Royal Australian Institute of Architect's Gold Medal. In a commentary (Quiet Achiever Wins Architecture's Top Award, SMH 14 March), Elizabeth Farrelly applauds the award to "one of our most accomplished and intelligent architects". She says "[Johnson has]managed to sustain the mix of warmth and discipline, as major works like the luminous new Asian Wing at the Art Gallery, the handsome Hilton on George and the more ambitious but less successful Westpac Plaza on Kent street attest. All of it is disciplined, but none of it selfless. Perhaps the most selfless of Johnson's arrangements is simultaneously the highest profile: refurbishing the Opera House under the mantle of not one Utzon, but two. Which also means it will likely prove his least remembered." In contrast, Elizabeth Wynhasen (Constructive Offerings, The Australian, 15 March), commenting on his association with the Opera House says "the building for which he will be best remembered isn't his building at all, as he is quick to point out." Head of Public Programs at the Opera House and former member of the Trust, Dennis Watkins says "I think the work being done on the Opera Theatre is truly sensational...Of course I couldn't say anything else because I work here." Architectural historian Philip Drew, however, is quoted as saying that the medal "is evidence that the Institute has lost touch with what good architecture is" and of regarding the renovations that have been carried out on the building's western colonnade as dreadful. The project will no doubt continue to attract controversy until the designs are made public.
Mar 21	Architect Ken Woolley proposes a second opera theatre near the Sydney Opera House, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens. He calls for the construction of an 1800-seat theatre at an estimated cost of $400 million, with "a large stage, proper wing spaces, backstage areas and fly tower, along with the association rehearsal rooms, workshops and other facilities." [Sydney Morning Herald, No Room for Compromise]. Not at original idea in terms of claiming the land for Sydney Opera House purposes (Architect Leif Kristensen submitted proposals to the Trust in 1989 to use the site as a discrete, subterranean exhibition space on the history of the House), but a new idea in terms of adding a new theatre.
Mar 24	Ken Woolley's proposal attracts a number of letters to the Sydney Morning Herald. Francois Kunc calls for a feasibility study, public debate and comment from Jørn Utzon. Garth Clarke draws attention to the need to solve the need for additional parking at the same time. Ian Farrier suggests that even if such a development were permitted under the terms of World Heritage Listing, other sites such as Darling Harbour or Barangaroo might be more appropriate. Geraldine Brooks hits the nail on the head by urging that we first take a look at what's already proposed within the Opera House itself: "It's ridiculous that Jørn Utzon's magnificent plans and sketches for the redesigned interior of the Opera Theatre have not been released to the public....It's time we all got a look-see."
Mar 25	Paul Keating is galvanised to rebut the Woolley proposal. "The city got tapped on the shoulder by a rainbow", he writes. "Let us rejoice in the that masterwork and the outcome and not pander to the interests of opera administrators and their willing pipers." The main points of his argument: the site is no place for a structure of the kind proposed, site lines to the Opera House would be negatively affected, the Botanic Gardens would lose some of its land, and it may be better to locate a new theatre — capable of performing large operas — in other precincts.
Mar 26	The Sydney Morning Herald publishes cropped images of plans to refurbish the Opera Theatre in an article that raises more questions than it answers. Joyce Morgan's article, Revealed: Utzon's Finishing Touch, implies that proposed "closely guarded" changes by Utzon Architects and Johnson are still on the drawing board and that other options are still being investigated. After a decade of work on the refurbishment project, according to a spokesman for the NSW Premier Maurice Iemma, "Work is under way to look at how to resolve problems that resulted from the 1967 decision to use the small hall for opera and ballet, rather than the larger venue, now the Concert Hall. This project has the potential to be a massive undertaking, and there must be careful consideration of all the options. Suggestions that a new venue would be the best solution need to consider a number of factors including the viability and sustainability of having two, potentially competitive venues."
	In the same article, Sydney Dance Company head, Noel Staunton, suggests that the proposal has had limited circulation even among the major presenters and he gets to the essential foundation for informed debate. "The reality is none of us have really seen the detailed plans for the Opera House. When the industry sees the detailed plans we'll be able to make a valid judgment about whether — if all this money is going to be spent — it solves the problem. And if it doesn't solve the problem, how do you solve it? If it doesn't solve the problem, another theatre on the same site could be a very good idea. Because people will say they're going to the Opera House and if they're going to building one, two or three doesn't make any difference...At the end of the day, you want to hear and see the same scale of works you can do in Melbourne and Adelaide and Brisbane and be able do do grand opera." The Herald's architecture critic Elizabeth Farrelly says by putting an extra theatre on Bennelong Point we would end up with a "self-effacing building" and proposes East Darling Harbour (Barangaroo) as a preferred location. Joyce Morgan concludes that, while the mounting of operas is already possible at other theatres - The Capitol and Star City — no one wants to use them for opera. "There's no getting away from the magical — and box office — pull of the Sydney Opera House."
Apr 10	Former Sydney Opera House trustee, NSW Supreme Court judge and Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Kim Santow dies. [See obituary Humble Judge with Brain for Business, Sydney Morning Herald 14 April 2008]
Apr 12	Sydney Opera House releases details of internal escalators (linking the box office with the southern foyers of the Concert Hall and Opera Theatre) and a new lift (linking the lower concourse and box office foyer). The designs "have been approved by the building's architect, Jørn Utzon" and the project report is on public exhibition until 2 May. .
Apr 18	The SMH reports that the NSW Government will seek expressions of interest in 2009 for a new 4000-seat performing arts centre as part of the Barangaroo urban development neighbouring Walsh Bay. According to the Herald's sources, the centre would provide provide sufficient stage and backstage space to accommodate large theatrical productions and would act as an alternative space during a future closure of the Opera Theatre during renovations. [SMH]
Apr 22	Estaban Insausti, in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, supports the proposed performing arts centre at Barangaroo. He says something akin to the new opera house in Toronto, Canada, costing $180 million, would be preferable to "wasting $700 million on the [Sydney Opera House] Opera Theatre only to achieve a better looking but still inadequate theatre."
Jun 02	Utzon Centre, designed by Jørn and Kim Utzon, opens in Aalborg with exhibition about the Sydney Opera House, organised by former Powerhouse Museum curator Anne Watson. The centre, costing $A16 million and established in conjunction with the Institute of Architecture and Design, will serve as "a dynamic public venue for the display, development and discussion of architecture, design and art." [SMH]
Jun 14	The Sydney Morning Herald, in Quick Exits at the Opera, reports the firing of the Sydney Opera House Director of Facilities, Paul Akehurst, whose responsibilities included managing the refurbishment and maintenance of the building.
Jun 21	Jan Utzon in in a feature article by Luke Slattery, Work in Progress, reports on the status of plans to refurbish the Opera House. "We have made proposals to the Opera House Trust and are sitting and waiting for a debate on the cost. Once it goes public the politicians will have to give it a yes or a no." Jan Utzon, the 'eyes' for his father, says that he is planning to move to Sydney in September to oversee the realisation of his father's proposals which have been developed despite Jørn Utzon's visual disability, muscular degeneration.


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