Did you know that the Sydney Opera House (in Australia)  is a UNESCO World Heritage site? It is located on Bennelong Point overlooking Sydney Harbour and is known, among other things, for its “unparalleled design and construction.” UNESCO, in case you don’t know what all those initials stand for, is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural  Organization. The idea is that sites included as World Heritage Sites are meant to be protected by participating countries, in hopes of preserving their unique and wondrous qualities.

Some other UNESCO World Heritage sites are the pyramids, the Acropolis, temples in the Angkor area in Cambodia, Pisa, the Colosseum, and there are many others.

Danish designer, Jorn Utzon, won the international competition for the design of the Sydney Opera House in 1957, but the construction of the building had many problems, not necessarily his fault.

Those sail-like structures, when seen from a different angle, are a bit like scoops or ears. Made of concrete, they, alone, would be a challenge to build. The building is supported by 588 concrete piers,  sunk as much as 82 feet below sea level. The specs are amazing and if you’re interested in finding out more, check out Sydney Opera House on Wikipedia.

The Sydney Opera House was not completed until 1973. On October 20th of that year, it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth ll.

My friend who provided this photo, taken from one of the ferries in Sydney Harbour, attended a recent performance of Antonin Dvorak’s opera Rusalka. I immediately thought of one of my favourite arias of that opera, The Song to the Moon, but my version had a singer from many days gone by performing it.  In this recent presentation, the soprano who sang that aria was Nicole Car. If you would like to hear her sing, please check out this youtube link. I hope you enjoy it. I did.