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Sydney Opera House Digital
Building
The people who've shaped the Sydney Opera House
Stories from beneath the sails
This icon has been shaped by many. Here are seven people who have had a lasting impact.
Building
Zindzi Okenyo tells House Stories
From audience member to performer to House Stories podcast host, Zindzi Okenyo has a unique connection with the Sydney Opera House.
Theatre
“My sun in dark places”
Amidst a challenging childhood across three countries, Hasiba Ebrahimi found her calling in theatre and the life-affirming power of storytelling.
Building
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.
Art
Spirit of collaboration inspires ground-breaking sails artwork
This year, an intricate painting by eight Martu women has been animated, soundtracked, digitally mapped, and will be projected on the sails and seen by millions around the world as part of Vivid Sydney.
Art
Relics of Sound
“These relics of sound were once loved, played or worn.” This new online artwork by Sydney artist NELL is for all those who have never let go of the posters, the t-shirts, the guitar picks and drumsticks.
Magic
The stylish Scotsman who's reinventing mentalism
Scott Silven isn't your typical magician. He sees his craft as storytelling – "a metaphor for something greater". Ahead of Wonders, we talk to Silven about the art of magic.
Musical theatre
The French songwriting duo who dared to dream a dream
Many twists of fate led to this mesmerising concert celebrating the enduring music of Les Misérables, Miss Saigon and more.
Kids
How do you explain the world?
Creation Creation is a comedy for young and old about life’s most burning questions based on real-life interviews with people aged 8 – 102. We've pulled together some of those interviews to show the myriad ways in which we all interpret the mysteries of life.
Talks & Ideas
All About Women of Colour
Four emerging writers worked on short fiction pieces inspired by the themes of this year’s All About Women festival, under the guidance of Sweatshop mentors Winnie Dunn and Randa Abdel-Fattah.
Online puzzle
The Disappearing Act: A virtual escape room
When a friend is kidnapped during an Opera House magic show, it's up to you to work out what's going on. In this free virtual escape room by the Sydney Opera House, you're challenged to solve puzzles, discover passwords, and #EscapeTheHouse.
Music
“Rebirth and resurrection” - William Barton is welcoming us back to the Concert Hall
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.
Community
The streets take to the stage
The Street University is a pioneering youth movement that encourages young people to be the best, most creative versions of themselves. Ahead of their Sydney Opera House debut, we find out more about this incredible program.
Contemporary Art
Giant Bonsai – A photographic project by Garry Trinh
Artist Garry Trinh’s Giant Bonsai (2011 -) is an ongoing photographic project, digitally presented for Antidote, that celebrates the incidental charms of creative urban vegetation pruning in Sydney.
Art
The case for everyday creativity
Meditation teacher and academic Dr Nadine Cameron writes on casting aside the “fear of the quality of output” and finding fulfilment in everyday acts of art and imagination.
Talks & Ideas
Celebrating 10 years of All About Women
Forage through this multimedia time capsule of our beloved feminist talks festival All About Women, as we celebrate its 10th year.
Education
Digital education – The revolution has just begun
As we begin the 2022 schooling year looking as close to ‘normal’ as we have seen for some time, there is a feeling of relief in the air about leaving online learning behind. But should we let a crucial turning point in education slip by?
Musical theatre
Fanning the flame: The history and stigma of fangirls
Ahead of the hit Aussie musical FANGIRLS, we've dug into the unfair stigma associated with fangirls, all the way from Liszt to Bieber to BTS.
Musical Theatre
The viral musical you’ve probably never heard of
When it opened in 2017, SIX The Musical enchanted a new generation of musical theatre fans with its homages to pop music and progressive take on Tudor history. Now, having just debuted on Broadway, the viral musical has its sights set on a wider audience.
Diverse Emerging Writers Mentorship
Talks & Ideas
There’s a bomb in my closet – On being queer, Arab and Muslim 20 years after 9/11
Highly Commended in the Antidote and Sweatshop Mentorship Program for Diverse Emerging Writers, Adrian Mouhajer reflects on growing up queer and Muslim in a post-9/11 world.
Talks & Ideas
Now you see us – On the shortcomings of #StopAsianHate
Recipient of the Antidote and Sweatshop Mentorship for Diverse Emerging Writers Patricia Arcilla writes about the “tidiness” of #StopAsianHate in the face of deeper systemic problems.
Talks & Ideas
Mother tongues and minor feelings
Recipient of the Antidote and Sweatshop Mentorship for Diverse Emerging Writers Joyce Chew on family, migration, language and the “glittering visage of the Australian ‘fair go’”.
Talks & Ideas
Soul-searching with Pepe the Frog
Highly Commended in the Antidote and Sweatshop Mentorship for Diverse Emerging Writers, Tiffany Fong looks at the dangerous, cult-like appeal of the alt-right to a generation seeking community and meaning.
Talks & Ideas
The education conversation Australia has to have
Finnish educator and author Pasi Sahlberg writes on the chasm of inequality that exists in our school system and the systemic issues holding Australian schools back.
Online puzzle
Trials of Wisdom: A Virtual Escape Room
In this one-of-a-kind online escape room, you need four passwords to earn your freedom. Adventure through the House, solve a series of cryptic puzzles and attempt to #EscapeTheHouse.
Building
How can we solve the problems of the future?
BUILD is our new Creative Learning program aiming to create a better world through the buiilt environment. Western Sydney University student Emma Moore took part in a pilot BUILD program and reflects on how it has "forever changed" her.
Community
A career in sails - 50 years at the Opera House
Peter Tucker started working at the Sydney Opera House 50 years ago, before the building was even complete. Since then, he's worked all across the House, and even met the President and the Queen on the job.
Community
A career in sails – My first NYE
Leonie Bell started her career as a chef-apprentice for Bennelong Restaurant when she was 15, working on Sydney's first-ever world-famous NYE fireworks show in 1976. Still at the Opera House, Leonie discusses what it was like leading up to that fateful night.
Building
Sydney Opera House at rest
This visual story from photographer Daniel Boud offers an eerie but hopeful look inside the sails of Opera House, where it's quiet for the first time in nearly 50 years.
Renewal
Preserving the Grand Organ
Each of the 10,244 pipes will be cleaned by hand – it’s a tricky job.
Community
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.
First Nations
Learning from Country: An Indigenous design perspective
After speaking as part of Antidote panel Resetting the World, Jefa Greenaway writes on why it's more critical than ever than we infuse Indigenous perspectives into our everyday design thinking.
Kids & Families
Stage Direction: Grug & Magic Beach
How does a treasured childhood classic become a living, breathing three-dimensional theatre tale? Lenny Ann Low looks at the art of adapting two iconic picture books for the Opera House stage.
Musical theatre
Stage Direction: The Phantom of the Opera
Now a pop culture staple, Gaston Leroux's tale of the Phantom has taken countless forms over the years. Melanie Tait looks at the origins of the musical that took over the world.
Theatre
Stage Direction: The Little Prince
In the first of our new series on page-to-stage adaptations, Neha Kale looks at how Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s poignant tale of a young prince lives on in the 21st century.
Musical theatre
Stage Direction: Cry-Baby
A camp musical set in the 1950s from cinema’s ‘Pope of Trash’, John Waters’ Cry-Baby has endured as a cult classic. Elfy Scott follows the film's complicated journey from screen to stage.
Dance
Stage Direction: Anna Karenina
In this latest edition of Stage Direction, Stephen A Russell traces the tracks of Anna Karenina, Tolstoy’s tempestuous ode to love, loss and family, ahead of its latest ballet adaptation at the Sydney Opera House.
Music
Stage Direction: In the Mood for Love
For the latest Stage Direction, we look at how three Sydney artists have converted Wong Kar wai’s achingly beautiful love story into a luscious, audio-visual stage production.
Recipes
Food
Recipe: Peter Gilmore's cherry jam lamington
Peter Gilmore's lamington recipe is the cherry on the cake of the Bennelong menu and now you can make it at home.
Food
Recipe: Bennelong pastry chef Rhiann Mead’s “perfect croissant”
Reenter the picnic game with these "perfect croissants", courtesy of the best in the business, Bennelong Head Pastry Chef Rhiann Mead.
Food
Recipe: Leche flan donuts by Portside Sydney's Exec Chef Elton Inglis
Try your hand at these Filipino-inspired, moreish donuts that Elton Inglis created for his wife during lockdown.
Cheat Sheets
Talks & Ideas
Cheat Sheet: Tishani Doshi
When Tishani Doshi speaks, it's hard not to listen. From poetry to journalism, to dance and cricket, Doshi is an artistic powerhouse. Here's everything you need to know about the multi-talented All About Women headliner.
Talks & Ideas
Cheat Sheet: Wendy McCarthy AO
Our cheat sheet for award-winning businesswoman and activist Wendy McCarthy AO, one of the lesser-known Australian pioneer feminists.
Talks & Ideas
Cheat Sheet: Roxane Gay
Meet the fearless Roxane Gay, whose bestselling books have been responsible for “the most persuasive feminist recruitment drive in recent memory” and who returns to the Opera House for All About Women 2022.
Antidote
Cheat Sheet: Elizabeth Kolbert
Our picks of essential writing from environmentalist, author and Antidote headliner Elizabeth Kolbert.
Antidote
Cheat Sheet: Yanis Varoufakis
Everything you need to know about the influential economist, politician and author Yanis Varoufakis.
Antidote
Cheat Sheet: Afua Hirsch
Meet Afua Hirsch, the journalist, lawyer and friend-of-Rihanna who’s spearheading complex discussions about British identity.
Talks & Ideas - All About Women
Cheat Sheet: Laura Bates
Why you should know Laura Bates – a global authority on the burgeoning radicalist movements that are indoctrinating boys and men.
Talks & Ideas - All About Women
Cheat Sheet: Koa Beck
Why you should know Koa Beck – the former Editor in Chief of Jezebel who's trying to upend feminism's status quo.
Talks & Ideas - All About Women
Cheat Sheet: Isabel Allende
Why you should know Isabel Allende – the “literary legend” whose books have defined a genre and a generation.
Music
Cheat Sheet: Paul Kelly
His upcoming, once-in-a-lifetime Vivid LIVE show is a career-defining journey through four decades of song – so, for our latest Cheat Sheet, we dug through the epic, intergenerational influence of Australia's greatest songwriter.
When I Was Little
Kids
When I Was Little: Graham Hosking
By day, he investigates insurance claims; by night, he is the genius creator of Sidney Opera Mouse – the little mouse with big dreams. We spoke to English author Graham Hosking about what his big dreams were when he was little.
Kids
When I Was Little: Teeny Tiny Stevies
They may be Teeny Tiny but they’ve made a great big mark on the children’s entertainment world. We spoke to the talented sisters about what it’s like to live your childhood dreams.
Kids
When I Was Little: The Listies
Australia's favourite kidult comedy duo The Listies are introducing Shakespeare to kids with turbo-charged story-telling and silliness!
Kids
When I Was Little: Tim McGarry
There's a Sea in My Bedroom director Tim McGarry shares his childhood dreams in our new series chatting with theatre-makers and creatives who bring magic to our stages, and wonder to our little ones.
Kids & Families
When I Was Little: Lucky Lartey
In this edition of When I Was Little, we speak to dance artist Lucky Lartey, star of Infusion, No Movement, No Sound, whose work draws from a rich Ghanan upbringing full of rhythm and dance.
Kids & Families
A decade of creativity: Giving children a voice
Talks - All About Women
Music as medicine
Talks & Ideas - All About Women
Beyond ‘exploitation’ and ‘empowerment’ in sex work
Environment
Restore and rejuvenate
Theatre
Eternal history
Talks & Ideas
