Copenhagen Opera House - photos

Copenhagen's new opera house, Operaen, is right on the harbour's edge, with a view of the city across the water. It was only opened a couple of years ago, and any local controversy over its inelegant oil filter looks was outweighed by the outrage over the massive tax break given to the private donor who funded the project.

It's not to be confused with the old opera house (Gamle Scene) in the heart of town, an exquisitely traditional house complete with candle holders and painted ceilings, sadly rarely used for opera these days.

Here's a view from the opera house of the landing stage for the ferry boat (the easiest way to arrive from town centre), and beyond it, the city. It was already pitch dark at 6.30 (well, it was November):

Huge windows wrap around the building. The giant pumpkin looming behind is the outer shell of the auditorium:

Here's what it looks like from inside. The whole structure's been opened up, so that corridors and passageways become balconies and gangways that feed the pumpkin with operagoers. Not for vertigo sufferers -- the clear glass sides give the impression of traversing a diving board. The sparkly crystal footballs look a little less magical close up -- they seem to be made of twisted plastic:

The auditorium itself is dark, and as cosy as a 2000 seater can be. Spectacular lighting creates tiny shimmering pools that transform the utilitarian stained pine and blue tweed into something more magical. This is a view looking up and across from the back of the stalls:

This is the view from the very back row of the uppermost tier, where I sat for the performance of Don Carlos. Probably the worst view in the house, but I could still see everything clearly, partly because the seats are vertiginously tiered (even more than Covent Garden amphitheatre I think). The sound was also excellent from up here. The only problem was the coughing, chatting, sweet-munching, getting-up-and-coming-back-in-again audience, who made the family circle of the Met seem like Trappist nuns in comparison:

An exciting shop in the town centre:

Comments

[Extatic]

Thanks for the tour!

[Lisa Hirsch]

Are you using a phonecam or a digital P&S? I have been thinking about taking some clandestine photos but the phonecam is not good enough (I tried :). I am a little nervous about my P&S because of its size.

[inter mezzo]

I use a digital with 10x zoom - a lot of my shots are taken from the middle or back of a large hall. It's quite bulky but I try to be discreet (no flash, no fiddling). I tried with a smaller camera but it was useless with the distance and the poor light.

I generally ask permission in places I haven't visited before or where photography isn't customary. That's why there are no Wigmore Hall pics here (blanket ban)- otoh Copenhagen Opera, like most venues, were fine with it as long as I didn't photograph the actual performance.

[JSU]

Actually, the corresponding area at the Met (rear orchestra) tends to be worse-behaved than Family Circle...

[Lisa Hirsch]

Thanks very much. The interior I most want to photograph - Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA - has a blanket ban on interior photos, alas. But I have a zillion exterior photos, which somewhat makes up for it.