Sydney’s cultural life is uniquely diverse, from high classical at the
Sydney Opera House to the most cutting-edge contemporary and experimental performance art. The Opera House is the major focus of attention for classical music, opera, theater and dance.
Cultural productions and events are listed in ’Metro’, the Friday edition entertainment section of the
Sydney Morning Herald (website:
www.smh.com.au). Further listings and information are provided online (website:
www.sydney.citysearch.com.au).
Tickets are available
for purchase from
Ticketek (tel: (02) 9266 4800; website:
www.ticketek.com) and
Ticketmaster7 (tel: 136 100, Australia only; website:
www.ticketmaster7.com). The
Halftix booth, 91 York Street (tel: (02) 9261 2990; website:
www.halftix.com.au), offers reduced price tickets on the day of the show.
Music: The
Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point (tel: (02) 9250 7111; website:
www.sydneyoperahouse.com), is the premier performance venue for classical music. The
Sydney Symphony (tel: (02) 9334 4600; website:
www.sydneysymphony.com), the
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs (tel: (02) 9251 2024; website:
www.sydneyphilharmonia.com.au),
Opera Australia (tel: (02) 9319 1088; website:
www.opera-australia.org.au) and the
Australian Chamber Orchestra (tel: (02) 8274 3800; website:
www.aco.com.au) hold most of their performances at the Opera House.
The
Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo Center, Harris Street (tel: (02) 8333 1500), tends to be used for smaller performances, as does
Sydney Town Hall, 483 George Street (tel: (02) 9265 9189; website:
www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au), and
City Recital Hall, Angel Place (tel: (02) 8256 2222; website:
www.cityrecitalhall.com). The
Conservatorium of Music, Macquarie Street (tel: (02) 9351 1222; website:
www.usyd.edu.au/su/conmusic), hosts symphony, wind and chamber concerts as well as jazz big bands.
Theater: The
Sydney Theater Company (tel: (02) 9250 1777; website:
www.sydneytheater.com.au) is the city’s stylish flagship theater company. Performances take place at the
Wharf Theaters, Pier 4, Hickson Road (tel: (02) 9250 1700), the brand new
Sydney Theater, 22 Hickson Road (tel: (02) 9250 1999; website:
www.sydneytheater.org.au) and the
Opera House, Bennelong Point (tel: (02) 9250 7111; website:
www.sydneyoperahouse.com). Acting luminaries, such as Geoffrey Rush and Cate Blanchett, have performed at the highly respected
Belvoir Street Theater, 25 Belvoir Street (tel: (02) 9699 3444; website:
www.belvoir.com.au).
The Performance Space, 199 Cleveland Street (tel: (02) 9698 7235; website:
www.performancespace.com.au), and the
Seymour Theater Center, Cleveland Street and City Road (tel: (02) 9351 7940; website:
www.seymour.citysearch.com.au), are the main venues for more left-field contemporary performance.
Musicals are staged at the
Capitol Theater, 13 Campbell Street (tel: (02) 9320 5000; website:
www.capitoltheater.com.au), the
State Theater, 49 Market Street (tel: (02) 9373 6852; website:
www.statetheater.com.au), and the
Lyric Theater, Star City, Pirrama Road, Pyrmont (tel: (02) 9657 8500; website:
www.lyrictheater.com.au). Newer Australian playwrights stage their work at the
Stables Theater, 10 Nimrod Street (tel: (02) 9250 7799; website:
www.griffintheater.com.au). Sydney’s longest established theater is the
Ensemble, 78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli (tel: (02) 9929 0644; website:
www.ensemble.com.au).
Dance: The
Australian Ballet (tel: 1300 369 741; website:
www.australianballet.com.au) performs mainly traditional pieces during its summer and winter season at the
Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point (tel: (02) 9250 7111; website:
www.sydneyoperahouse.com). Similarly, the
Sydney Dance Company (tel: (02) 9221 4811; website:
www.sydneydance.com.au), the city’s leading contemporary dance group, performs at the Opera House for two seasons per year. The
Bangarra Dance Theater, Pier 4/5 Hickson Road (tel: (02) 9251 5333; website:
www.bangarra.com.au), performs a fusion of contemporary and traditional dance at various venues throughout the city. The company also tours extensively, both nationally and internationally.
Film: The city’s central cinemas, situated near Town Hall, have all merged into the 17-screen
Village Greater Union Hoyts George Street, 505 George Street (tel: (02) 9273 7431; website:
www.hoyts.com.au).
Fox Studios Australia, Lang Road, Moore Park (tel: (02) 9383 4333; website:
www.foxstudios.com.au), is home to two cinema complexes -
Hoyts (tel: (02) 9332 1300), which includes the luxury
La Premiere cinema (tel: (02) 9332 1663), and the arthouse,
Cinema Paris (tel: (02) 9332 1633). Other arthouse cinemas include the
Academy Twin, 3a Oxford Street (tel: (02) 9361 4453; website:
www.palace.net.au), home to the
Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Film Festival (tel: (02) 9332 4938), the
Chauvel, Paddington Town Hall (tel: (02) 9361 5398; website:
www.chauvelcinema.com.au), and the Art Deco
Hayden Orpheum, 380 Military Road (tel: (02) 9908 4344; website:
www.orpheum.com.au). First-run movies open on Thursday and discount night is on Tuesday.
The
Sydney Film Festival (tel: (02) 9280 0511; website:
www.sydneyfilmfestival.org) takes place every year in June, with most screenings in the magnificent marble auditorium of the
State Theater, 49 Market Street (tel: (02) 9373 6852; website:
www.statetheater.com.au). Makers of short films enter
Tropfest (tel: (02) 9368 0434; website:
www.tropfest.com) every February/March, with finalists shown on open-air screens set up in the Domain - a large park on the fringe of the city center.
Notable films set or partially set in Sydney include Peter Weir’s
The Last Wave (1977), P J Hogan’s
Muriel’s Wedding (1993), Stephan Elliot’s
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1993), Ray Lawrence’s
Lantana (2001) and Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich’s animated feature
Finding Nemo (2003).
Cultural Events: Sydney Festival, held in January, features open-air concerts and theater from around the world, alongside Sydney’s best. The
Biennale of Sydney, held from May to July of even-numbered years, is an international contemporary art festival held in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is a month-long festival in February/March, which is famous for its colorful parade along Oxford Street, attracting over half a million spectators every year.
Royal Easter Show is a traditional 12-day show that brings farm life to the city during April. The
Festival of the Winds is Australia’s largest kite-flying competition, held annually in September at Bondi Beach.
Manly Jazz Festival, held on the Labor Day long weekend in October, is Australia’s largest, longest and best-known jazz festival, featuring traditional, big band, fusion, pop and contemporary jazz.
Sleaze Ball, a fundraiser for the Mardi Gras Festival, is also held on the Labor Day long weekend in October. Up to 16,000 gay and lesbian revelers dress to a theme and party all night at Fox Studios.
Literary Notes: ’One of the finest, most beautiful, vast and safe bays the sun had ever shone upon,’ wrote inveterate traveller Joseph Conrad in 1906. Sydney Harbour continues to inspire eulogies from writers, including Miles Franklin who, in 1946, wrote: ’A month would not be long enough to imbibe such beauty.’ More recently, Clive James, the writer, satirist, broadcaster and critic, was rather more blunt: ’Sydney is like Venice without the architecture but with more sea.’
Sydney’s literary luminaries include Peter Carey, who lived in the city before moving to New York, and set his Booker Prize-winning
Oscar and Lucinda (1988) in 19th-century Sydney, where country girl Lucinda dreams of self-reliance and an industrial utopia. David Williamson, Australia’s most successful playwright, calls Sydney home. His
Emerald City (1987) is a comedic hymn to the city’s temptations.
Patrick White, Australia’s Nobel laureate, lived in Sydney for most of his life, and passionately evoked the city’s artistic life in
The Vivisector (1970). An idiosyncratic streak led Sydney-born Thomas Keneally from the priesthood to the life of a full-time novelist. He published his first novel in 1964 and was awarded the Booker Prize for
Schindler’s Ark (1982).
Teenagers Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette wrote
Puberty Blues (1979) as an exposé of the sexual rites of passage of teens at the beach suburb of Cronulla. Robin Dalton’s
Aunts Up the Cross (1965) is an affectionate memoir of Kings Cross in the 1930s, while John Birmingham’s
Leviathan (2000) takes a more cynical look at the city’s history of criminals, ’razor gangs’ and corruption.
Modern Sydney receives a sanction of sorts from one of its favorite sons, world famous art critic Robert Hughes, who wrote: ’The provinciality that seemed to characterize Australian society, and could be plainly seen in Sydney 25 years ago, is all but gone. To a striking degree, the city’s habits have softened ... Sydney is no longer quite so keen on the ’ocker’ (Pacific redneck) image of the Australian: beer gut, thongs, nasal foghorn voice and a truculent certainty that, short of Paradise itself, Australia is the only ticket and that the rest of the world only displays its inferiority by not necessarily wanting to come here.’
Sport:Sydney’s acres of coastline and parkland make it a dream destination for sports enthusiasts and lovers of the great outdoors. During the summer,
Bondi shows off the bodies beautiful of surfers, rollerbladers and sunbathers. The region boasts some of the world’s top surfing conditions and the best beaches for beginners are
Manly, Curl Curl, Freshwater or
North Bondi. Surf aficionados in search of bigger waves should head for the beaches of
North Narrabeen, South Maroubra, Newport, South Bondi and
Queenscliff.
Waves aside, the ocean pools offer swimmers a spectacular alternative to chlorinated lanes. Scuba divers are also well served, with a number of local marine parks. For the international yachting set, Sydney Harbour is the starting point for one of the biggest fixtures of the year, the 2,000km (1,240-mile) Sydney to Hobart race.
Australians adore cricket and Sydney is no exception. The cricket season (October to March) includes Test and World Series Cup matches at the
Sydney Cricket Ground, Driver Avenue (tel: (02) 9360 6601; website:
www.sydneycricketground.com.au). During the rugby and football season (March to September) soccer games, rugby league and rugby union matches are held at the
Aussie Stadium, Moore Park (tel: (02) 9360 6601; website:
www.aussiestadium.com.au). Sydney’s Aussie Rules football team, the
Sydney Swans (website:
www.sydneyswans.com.au), plays at the Sydney Cricket Ground and enjoys considerable support.
Tickets to sporting events are available from Ticketek (tel: (02) 9266 4800; website:
www.ticketek.com).
Bush-walking: The national parks in and around Sydney offer some spectacular bush-walks. Routes and information can be obtained from
Sydney Harbour Parks (tel: (02) 9247 8861) or the
National Parks and Wildlife Service (tel: (02) 9585 6444; website:
www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au).
Fitness Centers: Body-conscious Sydney has a proliferation of gyms, including
City Gym, 107 Crown Street (tel: (02) 9360 6247),
Gold’s Gym, 23 Pelican Street (tel: (02) 9264 4496), and
Bayswater Fitness, 33 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross (tel: (02) 9356 2555). Single entry at these centers cost A$15, A$20 and A$15 respectively.
Golf: The Lakes Golf Club, corner of King Street and Vernon Avenue, Mascot (tel: (02) 9669 1311), is among Sydney’s most exclusive golf courses. Non-members are welcome on Monday and Thursday. Other clubs include
Marrickville Golf Club, Wharf Street (tel: (02) 9558 1876), and
St Michael’s Golf Course, Jennifer Street, Little Bay (tel: (02) 9311 0621). Both these clubs are open to the public on selected days and times, including daily afternoon public play. Green fees for 18 holes start at approximately A$20 and can rise to over A$100 at private clubs.
Rollerblading: Rollerbladers are part of the scenery in Sydney, especially at
Manly Beach and
Centennial Park. Blades and protective clothing can be hired at
Manly Blades, 2/49 North Steyne, Manly (tel: (02) 9976 3833; website:
www.manlyblades.com.au), and
Centennial Park Cycles, 50 Clovelly Road (tel: (02) 9398 5027; website:
www.cyclehire.com.au).
Scuba Diving: Sydney has good visibility and some colorful local marine parks, which are ideal for snorkeling and scuba diving. Operators include
Pro Dive Travel, 478 George Street (tel: (02) 9281 5066; website:
www.prodive.com.au), and
Sydney Dive Academy, 462 Bunnerong Road, Matraville (tel: (02) 9311 0708; website:
www.sydneydive.com.au).
Squash: The
Surry Hills Squash Center, 525 Crown Street (tel: (02) 9699 9222; website:
www.hiscoes.com.au), is centrally located.
Surfing: Outfits such as
Let’s Go Surfing, 128 Ramsgate Avenue, North Bondi (tel: (02) 9365 1800; website: www.letsgosurfing.com.au), and
Sydney Safe Surf, The Pavilion, Marine Parade, Maroubra (tel: (02) 9311 2834; website:
www.safesurfschools.com.au), provide courses for beginners.
Swimming: The beaches at Coogee, Avalon, Clovelly and Austinmer have ocean pools. The site of many dramatic Olympic moments, the
Sydney International Aquatic Center, Homebush Bay (tel: (02) 9752 3666; website:
www.sydneyaquaticcenter.com.au) is open for public bathing. The underground
Cook & Phillip Park Aquatic Center, 4 College Street (tel: (02) 9326 0444; website:
www.cookandphillip.com.au), features Olympic pool, wave pool and hydrotherapy bath, right in the city center.
Tennis: There are plenty of tennis courts all over Sydney. Central ones include
North Sydney Tennis Center, 1a Little Alfred Street (tel: (02) 9371 9952),
Rushcutters Bay Tennis Center, 7 Waratah Street (tel: (02) 9357 1675), and
Jensen’s Tennis Center, Prince Alfred Park, Surry Hills (tel: (02) 9698 9451).
Windsurfing: Balmoral Windsurfing, Sailing and Kayaking School is located at 2 The Esplanade (tel: (02) 9960 5344; website:
www.sailboard.net.au).
Yachting: Every weekend, Sydney Harbour is dotted with the sails of hundreds of yachts.
Sydney Harbour Escapes (tel: (02) 9328 4748; website:
www.sydneyharborescapes.com.au) provides further information for those wishing to join in.
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