Oslo's new opera house shuns pomp and splendour
OSLO (AFP) — Despite its futuristic structure and oblique angles, the design of a new opera house set to open in Oslo next month is far from pretentious: visitors can picnic on the roof and royals will mingle with the crowd.
"You can walk on the roof and stomp on the art. It's the only opera where you can do that," said Bjoern Simensen, the managing director of the opera house, which cost four billion kroner (767 million dollars, 505 million euros) to erect.
The building, which sits on the waterfront in central Oslo, was designed by Snoehetta, the Norwegian firm that created the Alexandria Library in 2002, and will open with an inaugural bash on April 12.
Openness and accessibility were key concepts in the elaboration of Norway's newest art institution, which will house the Norwegian Opera and National Ballet companies.
Outside, passers-by can walk to the top of the 32-metre (105-foot) high building thanks to vast ramps connecting the ground to the opera's roof. No barriers will stop them from having a picnic at the top, skate down the ramps or jump in the waters of the Oslo fjord.
"We wanted to reflect the values of our society," Tarald Lundevall, the architect heading the project, told AFP.
"In Scandinavia, monuments are laid-back, more discreet and more low-key. The idea of easy, free access to public places is very important," he said.
"So with this building, we wanted to express a vast horizontality, and allow people to use the building, walk on it like on a magic carpet, and see the fjord unroll in front of them," he added.
Inside the opera, the 1,359-seat main hall is equally egalitarian. Boxes, a common feature of opera houses, have not been included in the gilding-free, dark oak theatre.
So when Norway's King Harald and Queen Sonja attend a performance, they will sit with the other spectators with only a small space -- less than five metres (16 feet) -- separating them from the rest of the audience.
The back of each seat is fitted with a small screen that will provide text and translation for opera performances.
-- 'In the old house, we'd get allergies from the mould' --
A wide variety of shows have already been scheduled, with planned concerts by Norwegian goth band Seigmen, British rocker PJ Harvey and US jazzman Nicholas Payton, alongside the Berlin Philharmonic and a ballet production by choreographer Jiri Kylian.
Although the new opera building met its deadline and stayed within the allocated budget, the construction encountered several setbacks and was not uncontentious.
Last August, when the building was opened for a day to give the public an early glimpse of the project, three visitors suffered injuries when they tripped on the uneven roof. One of them, a 63-year-old man, broke his arm.
Builders say they will clearly mark where the surface is unlevel and will close the roof in winter due to ice and snow.
The opera's planned opening performance, an adaptation of the Jules Verne novel Around the World in 80 Days, was postponed until New Year's Eve 2009 due to the late delivery of a complex stage control system.
In addition, some critics argued that Norwegian granite should have been used instead of Italian marble to cover the opera's 20,000 square-metre (23,920 square-yard) exterior since the building aims to be a showcase of Norwegian architecture.
And then some of the marble stones in the foyer began turning yellow due to a chemical reaction to water. Constructors however insist the yellowing will disappear as soon as the stones dry out.
The building is in any case a great improvement for the opera's 550 artists and other employees.
They previously worked in a converted cinema built in the 1930s that was so unsuitable dancers had to rehearse in a building in an Oslo suburb and only ventured to their official workplace for performances.
"In the old house, we would get allergies because of the mould in the ceiling," dancer Eugenie Skilnand, 28, told AFP after a rehearsal in a bright studio with panoramic views of the city.
"Here we get so much energy from being in such a light place ... I come to work with happy emotions," she added.
"In the old house, the acoustics did not give anything back," soprano Birgitte Christensen, 35, told AFP after rehearsing an aria from Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio.
"Here I am hoping to float on air," she said.
