A Night at the Sydney Opera House

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Check! We've probably spent at least a week of our lives in Sydney but had not experienced a performance at the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. Now we have. It was well worth the wait. I'm very happy it worked out this time. If we ever come back, SOH has a new free short outdoor show called Badu Gili. I'd like to see that but it didn't work out this time and it wasn't offered on our previous visits.

We left Serenity on the 2nd tender. Tenders were chartered Captain Cook Ferry HOHO ferries. They ran once every 20 minutes except between 2 and 6 am. They were fast and convenient. Carnival Spirit which had been docked by us day 1 in Auckland was dock at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Clearly that is the optimal visit location but the tender pier at Ives Steps on Dawes Point only added about 15 minutes walk maximum for us. So it wasn't terrible. A Ponant ship was at anchorage beyond our Athol Buoy location and they were tendering in their own lifeboats even further. Our actual tender ride only lasted about 7 minutes. We were very lucky in our timing as there were terrible thunderstorms last night that we managed to completely avoid! We arrived at the SOH about 5 to 5:30pm. There were a lot of tour groups still there and all the no-reservations places were crowded, noisy and hot. Clay came unhinged and just wanted to go back out in the blazing sun, heat, humidity and crowds and eat offsite. We walked back outside since he wouldn't hear otherwise but I convinced him to return and the clouds menaced the storm to come. The day crowds had already started to thin. Instead of the Lounge we had picked from online menus (since they didn't put a menu out until sometime well after their 5pm opening time) we went inside Bennelong Restaurant and Bar. I explained that we did not have a reservation but wondered if they could seat us. They first said in the bar and I said OK, then offered a restaurant table but it looked like more food and money that we wanted to spend so we took seats in the bar. There we overpaid and under-ate but enjoyed spectacular views. I suggested we share a $28 AUD slice of chocolate cake to keep our nice, cool and somewhat quiet stools in the bar, but Clay once again insisted on going back outside. This time due to the hour, we wound up exiting venue security. This time on a quest for a $15 AUD chocolate pudding. We found it at Opera Kitchen with a line at the counter to order, ear shattering noise both piped in and from the crowds and outdoor only seating that minutes later would be drenched in the storm. I balked and we went back upstairs and inside by the Lounge and shared a box of Malteasers and a bottle of water. Eventually I realized all the people going past us were going further that we'd been able to go when we first arrived. We got our tickets scanned and headed for our entry door 7. We arrived shortly after a pre-show talk explaining the program tonight had begun. It helped us put the performance in context. Our seats were great. The performance was amazing and the pieces performed were diverse. Below is pasted a description.
Sydney Symphony 2019 Season Opening Gala
Diana Doherty plays Westlake
Humanity’s place in nature is the transcendent theme of Richard Strauss's overpowering Thus Spake Zarathustra. A blazing sunrise begins a hero’s odyssey for ‘joy deeper than a heart’s pain’ in an opulent symphonic poem that takes inspiration from the philosopher Nietzsche and grapples with nothing less than the meaning of life and the nature of the universe.

The amazing Diana Doherty reprises her breathtaking performance of Nigel Westlake’s oboe concerto inspired by the Tasmanian wilderness. An evocative tour de force, Spirit of the Wild was composed especially for the ‘dynamic virtuosity’ of our Principal Oboe.

Percy Grainger’s warriors storm the hall with unstoppable energy, as bold men and women gather to dance and celebrate. Calling for an immense orchestra, The Warriors is a fierce and exultant Australian classic, brimming with life and colour.

PROGRAM 
R Strauss Thus Spake Zarathustra
Westlake Spirit of the Wild – Oboe Concerto
Grainger The Warriors


ARTIST INFORMATION
David Robertson Conductor
Diana Doherty Oboe

Presented by Sydney Symphony Orchestra

By the time we left, it had stopped raining though there were still puddles. We arrived to witness a tender departing which meant we had a maximum wait. It was fine. We were dry and it had cooled off some after 10pm. A fairly large group arrived shortly after us that had all been to La Boheme at SOH. Evidently they enjoyed their performance as well.

It was after 11pm before we got back aboard Serenity and to bed. Amazingly we saw a bunch of restaurant waitstaff leave the tender ashore as we waited. They had a really late night and an early start this morning.

Photos