Read
Community

How the Sydney Olympics amplified First Nations voices on and off the track
Cathy Freeman’s win was a historic triumph, but it wasn't the only watershed moment at the Sydney Olympics. Hear from Rhoda Roberts, who played a critical role behind the scenes of the 2000 games.

Remembering Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
The world has lost a towering symbol of humanity, stoicism and grace with the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

At home with Bennelong’s Head Pastry Chef
Reenter the picnic game with these "perfect croissants", courtesy of Bennelong Head Pastry Chef Rhiann Mead's lockdown baking project.

Meet Winifred Atwell, the first woman to play the Opera House
Legendary pianist Winifred Atwell was the (incomplete) stage's premiere act

Opera House posters: Hidden gems
The Sydney Opera House has a lasting legacy of working with Australian artists to colourfully express the variety of performances under the sails.

Bennelong’s cherry jam lamington recipe
Peter Gilmore's lamington recipe is the cherry on the cake of the Bennelong menu and now you can make it at home.

Can mutant food save our planet?
Glow-in-the-dark popcorn, Instaworthy tuna and other ideas to make your everyday eating more enjoyable.

Leche Flan Donut recipe
A moreish at home creation by Portside Sydney's Exec Chef Elton Inglis for his wife during lockdown.

Easy Snowy Rabbit-shaped Mooncake recipe
Celebrate Mooncake Festival, one of the most important celebrations in China, with this iconic rabbit-shaped mooncake recipe and handy how-to guide.

An expert’s guide to eating this Lunar New Year
The 12-year cycle of the lunar calendar means that depending on the year you were born, you are represented by one of the 12 animals of the zodiac, and share affiliation with its character traits and fortunes. In 2021, it’s the Year of the Ox and to mark the occasion we’ve pulled together a summary of what lies ahead for you in terms of career, relationships or love.

5 superb Sydney Opera House hats
Hold onto your hats, we're crowning the best buckets and bonnets that pay tribute to the Opera House. Here are our top five spectacular (impractical) Opera House hats.

6 architectural beauties worth the detour on your next NSW road trip
6 architectural beauties worth the detour on your next NSW road trip

Spare a thought for the birds of Circular Quay
What happens to the native birds of urban Sydney when the entire city goes into hiding? We ask aviary experts how the ibises and seagulls of Circular Quay hold up when the humans disappear.

Local artists illustrate your Opera House memories
We asked five local artists to bring your most cherished Opera House memories to life.

Global Goals - Good for the World & Good for Business
We all have an obligation to be part of the solution when it comes to climate change. We talk to an engineer about how he's helping the Opera House achieve its sustainability goals.

The story of the missing Attenborough Opera House film
Made, lost, then uncovered half a century later. This is the story of controversial film 'Autopsy on a Dream'.

#Isobread: the trend we didn’t know we kneaded
From sourdough starters to focaccia art, we’re taking a look at #isobread trends in an ode to the humble carb.

Five seasonal recipes from Bill Granger
As spring draws near, move the slow cooker aside and make room for Bill Granger's deliciously fresh and light everyday recipes with an added twist.

Five things you may not know about Yotam Ottolenghi
Ahead of his return to the Sydney Opera House in January, we dig into the surprising life of chef superstar and occasional MasterChef guest judge Yotam Ottolenghi.

Six cocktails to try with an Opera House night in
Recipes for the thinkers, the theatrical, and the purists

Opera House posters: best of the decade, 1960s to now
Four decades of Australian art and ideas in graphic design.

5 post-apocalypse movies to watch after Mad Max: Fury Road
Has 'George Miller: In Conversation' whet your appetite for gas-guzzling pandemonium? Here's our binge-list for road warriors and wasteland wanderers, courtesy of Stan.

Sydney's seal of approval
The much-loved resident of the Opera House steps has been given a voice.

Leading Man: Michael Falzon remembered by his co-stars, friends
Michael Falzon, a star of the Australian stage, passed away on June 23 this year. Now, on the cusp of the digital debut of Falzon's passion project Swing on This, his co-stars pen a tribute to their departed friend.

An octopus’ garden underneath the Opera House
Discover the sea creatures that dwell beneath the harbour in our modular artificial reef along the Sydney Opera House sea wall.

How an artificial reef under the Opera House has helped transform Sydney Harbour
This World Oceans Day, meet the diving force behind the Opera House’s underwater revolution. Not many people can claim to have dived beneath the Sydney Opera House, but these two marine ecologists from the University of Technology Sydney sure can.

Choosing a career with purpose
We all have an obligation to be part of the solution when it comes to climate change. We talk to an engineer about how he's helping the Opera House achieve its sustainability goals.

Agents of change
Powerful performances and candid conversations taking centre stage at the Sydney Opera House.

Three moves in the right direction
Thinking about how we eat can help fix our food system.

Go native: Delicious Indigenous recipes for your next iso-dinner party
Fancy yourself a freshly minted iso chef extraordinaire? Take your skills to the next level with these mouth watering gourmet recipes from Australia’s top First Nations chefs.

The 5 best Nigella desserts for your new baking skills
In need of a therapeutic bake or dessert to impress? Now is a better time than ever to fill your kitchen with copious amounts of chocolate.

A career in sails: Leonie Bell
Leonie Bell started her career at the Sydney Opera House as a chef-apprentice for Bennelong Restaurant when she was 15 years old. Three years later she was in prime position to experience Sydney's first-ever, world-famous New Year’s Eve fireworks show. Now part of the Front of House team 45 years later, Leonie shares a kitchen secret or two what it was like working in the lead up to that faithful night in 1976.

A career in sails: Peter Tucker
Peter Tucker has been working at the Sydney Opera House since before it was even complete. Now a part of the Building Operations team, he's worked in an assortment of roles and teams over the years. Along the way has met the Queen, the President and Jackie Chan – just to name a few. This year Peter celebrates 50 years on the job.

5 Sydney Opera House near misses (in the movies)
From killer sea creatures to crashing UFOs, the Sydney Opera House has been threatened in the most imaginative and unexpected ways. Here are just a few of our close calls.

Uncovered: Yinarr Maramali
Amy Hammond and Lorrelle Munro are the co-founders of Yinarr Maramali, a Gomeroi women’s business based on Country in Tamworth NSW. Meaning “made by Gomeroi women’s hands”, Yinarr Maramali use natural materials collected by hand from Country to make a range of hand-woven baskets, coolamons and dilly bags.

Uncovered: Mwerre Soap & Skin
Liz Liddle is the founder of Mwerre - Soap and Skin, a First Nations female-owned small business that manufactures artisan soaps based in Creswick, Victoria. Meaning ‘good’ or ‘beautiful’ in Arrernte, a First Nations language group in Central Australia, Mwerre (pronounced Mwah-rah) uses native ingredients to produce handmade soaps with Indigenous clay minerals and botanicals that protect and care for the skin.

Uncovered: Elph Ceramics
Founded by sisters Eloise and Sophie Rankine, Elph Ceramics is a ceramic homewares business that combines artistic sensibility with minimalist design. Locally handcrafted and sustainably made in the Southern Highlands in New South Wales, Elph Ceramics pieces are designed for everyday use - to be cherished and kept forever.

Uncovered: Richard Greenacre
With his range of porcelain ceramics, Richard Greenacre is the latest Uncovered alumni in the Homewares and Gifts category. An industrial designer by day and ceramicist by night, Richard experiments with different materials and software to see how he can bring a new take to ceramic craft.

Uncovered: fromBIGthings
fromBIGthings is a Sydney-based model maker studio run by Adrian Veale. Adrian is dedicated to the recreation of architecture and buildings from across Sydney and Australia in plaster as an expression of their design for all to enjoy. Every model is made by hand with a combination of digital 3D printing and eco-friendly resin/plaster casts. Hand finished details are added to each model using traditional handmade techniques.

Uncovered: Milly Dent
Sydney-based ceramicist Milly Dent has been selected for Uncovered retail program. We spoke to Milly about her work, where she finds inspiration and her Sydney Opera House Shop collection.

Uncovered: Eggpicnic
We spoke with Sydney-based designers Camila De Gregorio and Christopher Macaluso of Eggpicnic who have been selected for Uncovered’s Prints, Photography & Art category.

Uncovered: popaboutdesign
With her range of original prints, Jane from popaboutdesign submitted her work to the Prints, Photography and Art category. A Sydney local who’s trained as an architect, Jane exhibits a remarkable level of detail in her prints, with each of the pools and the Opera House sails all drawn to scale and designed to complement each other.

Uncovered: SoulSilk
Queensland-based artist Simin Contractor of SoulSilk has been selected for Uncovered’s Clothing and Accessories category. We spoke to Simin about her Sydney Opera House Shop collection which features three hand-painted silk scarves inspired by Australian botanicals.

Under the Sails: Christopher and Rajini’s wedding
From an observatory meet cute to a gorgeous multicultural ceremony, we look back on the love story and harbourside wedding of Christopher and Rajini, celebrated in our Yallamundi Rooms.

Under the Sails: Andy and Don’s Wedding
Arriving by water taxi and married at sunset 25 years after they met, we look back on the love story and wedding of Andy and Don.

Under the Sails: Sydney Community Foundation event: Saluting Sydney Women
On September 8 2022, Sydney Community Foundation’s Sydney Women’s Fund hosted its flagship event - Saluting Sydney Women - in the Opera House’s Yallamundi Rooms. The Opera House was an iconic and special place for this celebration.

Under the Sails: Krishan’s birthday celebrations
Under the Sails shares the stories of those celebrate milestones at the Opera House. Krishan Anand celebrated his 70th birthday in the sweeping surrounds of the Opera House’s Yallamundi Rooms, with sixty of his nearest and dearest.

Under the Sails: Australian Indigenous Education Foundation 2022 Graduation
AIEF students flew into Sydney from various communities across Australia to celebrate their graduation at the Opera House, with many visiting Sydney for the first time.

The 5 best Ottolenghi recipes for isolation as picked by Sydney Opera House staff
Running out of ideas for what to cook? We dish our favourite Otto recipes to guide you through your quarantine meal time journeys.

Sydney Opera House Review - 6 Star Green Star Rating (GBCA)
★★★★★★
Home to 5-star performances, the Sydney Opera House is now a 6 Star Green Star rated building.

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.

Tubowgule
Ever since it was a place for ceremony, gathering and celebration in Aboriginal Australia, Tubowgule has always reflected the society tucked in around Sydney Cove.

Jørn Utzon
His mastery in fusing craft traditions and ancient architecture with modernist thinking infused his designs for the Sydney Opera House.

Construction begins
On 2 March 1959, a crowd gathered under umbrellas, in the rain, to watch the ceremony that marked the start of construction of the Sydney Opera House.

The spherical solution
Jørn Utzon's realisation that the form of the Sydney Opera House could be derived from the surface of a sphere marked a milestone in 20th century architecture.

Utzon departs the House
As the sails took shape, Bennelong Point became a battle ground of politics, pragmatism and the quest for perfection.

50 years of extraordinary moments
From Ella Fitzgerald to Bon Iver, Dance Rites Festival to Nelson Mandela’s address from the steps, the Opera House and the extraordinary experiences on our stages reflect our contemporary culture.

Conserving and celebrating our heritage
We are transforming the building for future generations while respecting and preserving the very features that make it unique.

Decade of Renewal
As we open up the Opera House to more of the community, the Decade of Renewal has helped us live up to the promise of the building itself.

Keeping the ghost lights shining
“It’s about saying: we haven’t gone forever, we’re coming back and we’re going to leave the lights on to show you that.”

Preserving the Grand Organ
Each of the 10,244 pipes will be cleaned by hand – it's a tricky job.

Meet Winifred Atwell, the first woman to play the Opera House
Legendary pianist Winifred Atwell was the (incomplete) stage's premiere act

Zindzi Okenyo tells House Stories
From audience member to performer to podcast host, Zindzi Okenyo has a unique connection with the Sydney Opera House. She shares her relationship with the building, and what it was like to see the Concert Hall emptied out and reinvented up-close for the new season of House Stories.

Interesting facts about Sydney Opera House
Find out 15 interesting facts about the Sydney Opera House that you never knew.

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.

Beijing through the eyes of Jørn Utzon
A film made by the architect of the Opera House en route to Sydney has, until now, never been publicly seen. Lin Utzon recalls the influence and inspiration her father drew from Chinese architecture.

How Mexico, Iran and China shaped Utzon's Opera House
The Horisont exhibition dives into architect Jørn Utzon's travel diaries.

Why I love LEGO
He's the host of LEGO Masters, the only Lego Certified Professional in Australia, and he's constructed the Opera House more than any other building in the world. As we celebrate his latest work – Christmas baubles on the Forecourt – The Brickman reflects on why he loves what he does.

How can we solve the problems of the future?
Sydney Opera House BUILD is a new three-part program with the aim of creating a better world through the built environment. Earlier this month, the pilot Tertiary Built Environment Creative Lab saw students from Western Sydney University tackle a future-facing design challenge by collaborating in interdisciplinary teams. Student Emma Moore writes about what she learnt about herself and the Opera House.

How MADE students are proposing to revitalise the Sydney Opera House
The Australian-Danish exchange program imagines what a future icon might look like.

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.

Playing to an empty House
The halls might be closed, but a newly built virtual stage is broadcasting shows from inside the Sydney Opera House

House of Wonder
Sam Doust, Google Arts & Culture curator, reveals his favourite stories from behind the curtain.

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.

Fine-tuning the acoustics of the Joan Sutherland Theatre
What makes a concert sound good? Here's how our acousticians did it.

Peter Hall and the completion of the Opera House
Peter Hall was one of Australia's brightest young architects at the time he took up the daunting role of design architect to complete Stage Three of Sydney’s new Opera House.

Can 15,000 plastic straws be art?
Francesca Pasquali creates sculptures from things we throw away.

A Guide to UnWrapped October - November 2022
UnWrapped is back with a line-up of shows that are unique, inspiring and eclectic. Curated by Sydney Opera House Director of Programming Fiona Winning, get the lowdown on what to expect in this series with our handy guide to the program.

Rosso’s tapestry obsession
Tim Ross, design enthusiast and presenter, has become fixated with the Opera House's historic tapestries – so much so he's hosting a podcast about them.

Spirit of collaboration inspires ground-breaking Vivid LIVE sails artwork
Emily Nicol speaks to the creators of this year's extraordinary Vivid Lighting of the Sails artwork: the Martumili Artists, musicians Electric Fields, and creative technologists Curiious.

Why I love LEGO
He's the host of LEGO Masters, the only Lego Certified Professional in Australia, and he's constructed the Opera House more than any other building in the world. As we celebrate his latest work – Christmas baubles on the Forecourt – The Brickman reflects on why he loves what he does.

Song Ling rides the New Wave of Chinese art
Between Hangzhou and Melbourne, the Lunar Lantern artist's real work is politically charged with flairs of Magritte.

For Arthur Jafa, Black art is the heart of America
“There’s an inherent, undeniable power of our music. And owning things is a big deal for us because we were owned.”

hannah brontë ‘tellus terra’ (2020)
Hannah Brontë's ‘Tellus Terra’ is an original art commission for Sydney Opera House, presented at All About Women 2020.

Restoring the Coburn Tapestries
The story of how the curtains came to be hung again.

Andrew Thomas Huang decorates the House with floral symbols of Australia
Andrew Thomas Huang's 'Austral Flora Ballet' is an urgent reminder of our natural world

The case for everyday creativity
To celebrate the opening of the Centre for Creativity, meditation teacher and academic Nadine Cameron writes on casting aside the “fear of the quality of output” and finding fulfilment in everyday acts of art and imagination.