Sydney Opera House - Performance Firsts

Performance Firsts

During the construction of the Opera House, lunchtime performances were often arranged for the workers, with Paul Robeson the first artist to perform at the (unfinished) Opera House in 1960.

Various performances were presented in the finished building prior to the official opening:

• The first solo piano recital was in the Concert Hall on 10 April 1973, played by Romola Costantino to an invited audience.
• The first opera performed was Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace, in what was then known as the Opera Theatre on 28 September 1973, conducted by the Australian Opera's Music Director, Edward Downes. (It had been intended that Peter Sculthorpe's work Rites of Passage would have this honour, but it was not ready on time. Rites of Passage was premiered almost exactly a year later, on 27 September 1974)
  • The first evening performance of an opera was Larry Sitsky's The Fall of the House of Usher, conducted by Rex Hobcroft.
• The first public concert in the Concert Hall took place on 29 September 1973. It was an all-Wagner orchestral concert performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Mackerras and with Birgit Nilsson as the soprano soloist. The first music played was the Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The concert closed with the Immolation Scene.
• The first lieder recital was given by Birgit Nilsson on 6 October 1973, accompanied by Geoffrey Parsons.

After the opening:

• The first violin and piano recital was given by Wanda Wiłkomirska, also with Geoffrey Parsons.
• The first vocalist to perform at the Opera House was American singer Dick Roman.