'Artists Will Be Able To Bring In Bigger Shows': Behind The Opera House's Biggest Ever Renovations

The iconic Sydney Opera House is undergoing its biggest ever renovations. 

As part of $150 million upgrades, which were funded by the New South Wales Government, the Concert Hall will be massively upgraded with works starting in February. 

Sydney Opera House's Head Of Contemporary Music Ben Marshall told The Music that it's been "a great last year" of the hall ahead of the two-year-long renovations to the space. 

"I mean ending on Solange, having Lizzo just through and then Nick Cave and Warren Ellis in December, and The Cure doing Disintegration in Vivid last year, it's been a really fun kind of final six months to it all."

The upgrades are promising for contemporary music lovers, with the aim being better acoustics, better stage set-ups and faster changeover times, which ultimately could result in more shows each year.

"Contemporary music, when I started here in 2010, was about 30,000 tickets a year. And that's now 120,000 tickets a year. It's an amazing opportunity for us to make the venue fit for the purpose that it's now used so much for," explained Marshall. 

"Because it's not always been easy to deliver these amazing performances and while they've all gone, you know, terrifically well, it takes a lot of manpower. If you've been in during the amplified shows, there is a lot of acoustic draping above the stage. All of these things are highly, highly manual and the renewal will really make the place state of the art. 

A render of the impending renovations.

"There's an automated draping system so we can switch from an acoustic, classical setting to amplified music quite easily. We're lowering the stage by about 400 millimetres, which will just improve sightlines and create more intimacy between performers and audiences right across different genres.

"The purpose-built winch room will make a big difference above the stage, because it'll allow us to really fly more lighting and scenery, which will let us do bigger, more ambitious performances. 

• Read More: Solange Saw This Iconic Venue Off In Style

"If you've ever seen Underworld or any of those, the giant dance music shows, those LED screens have to be put on the stage - there's a limit to what we can put on the roof - so that will really help. The state of the art sound system will help all amplified performances so the upgrade's really important for contemporary music because it really just allows it to be fit for purpose."

Improving accessibility at the venue is also a priority.

"It's a really big part of the renovations as well," said Marshall. "The Opera House was opened in 1973. And it has, you know, 10 million, nearly 11 million visitors a year and in all that time there hasn't been a significant upgrade, so making the space fit for 2020s accessibility code is really, really important and audience members will notice that."

Lizzo performing to a sold-out Concert Hall earlier this year. Pic by Daniel Boud.

The refurbishment is part of the venue's 'Decade Of Renewal' project, which has already seen a number of other upgrades around the Opera House precinct, including the Joan Sutherland Theatre and a redesigned event space. 

It's not just patrons that will benefit from the renovations; artists will also see a huge improvement in the space.  

"I think they'll be able to take advantage of the improved acoustics," continued Marshall. "They'll be able to bring in bigger shows. It will be more efficient for the sound checks to get in. A lot of time is currently spent putting up the acoustic draping sometimes, particularly for late access shows... They already love, absolutely love coming and performing at the Opera House, but everything will just be even more kind of seamless and straightforward."

So should music lovers be concerned about missing out during the works? Marshall assured that there is no need to panic. 

"The renovations will be going for up to two years. The Opera House has six other internal venues which are unaffected by the Concert Hall's renewal, and two external venues, being the Forecourt, the famous steps, and then the Northern Boardwalk on the other side, where we've done The Avalanches and Richie Hawtin and things. 

"The site is absolutely still humming between the eight venues that'll still be going. We've got Vivid obviously still going in the middle of the year, where contemporary music takes over every space in the building. 

"We're still doing contemporary music shows. After Solange, we've got The Necks in February, Laura Marling and Robert Hood down in the studio. And it's hugely important to all the other venues in the broader precinct [that it] stays really vibrant and welcoming, and delivers a lot of experiences and performance for audiences. The Opera House has opened up to such a wider audience now and it's important to us that that's kept."

Find out more about the renewals here.

Iggy Pop. Pic by Prudence Upton.