It's Show Time! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Milan

Originally called "Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala" (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala) when it opened in 1778, since it replaced an earlier theater (Teatro Regio Ducale) which was destroyed by fire two years previous. Located in Milan, La Scala's annual season traditionally begins on December 7, the feast day of St Ambrose, Milan's patron saint.

Answer: Moscow, Russia

Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi Ballet Company originally had to play second fiddle to the Imperial Russian Ballet, which had been founded a quarter of a century earlier. The Imperial company became what is now the Mariinsky Ballet based in Saint Petersburg whilst the Bolshoi remained in Moscow and has become one of the world's most respected ballet companies. The Bolshoi Theater in Moscow opened in 1825 as the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow.

The world Bolshoi is Russian for 'large' or 'grand', and was historically used to differentiate theaters used for ballet and opera from those smaller ('maly') theaters used for drama.

Answer: Denmark

Located on the island of Holmen in the center of the capital, the Copenhagen Opera House (aka the Operaen) is one of the most expensive theaters ever built, with construction costs exceeding $500 million.
The opera house has one of the world's largest orchestra pits, with room for 110 musicians when it is fully extended. The auditorium seats between 1400 and 1700 patrons (depending on the size of the orchestra). The balcony closest to the stage on the left side of the auditorium is reserved specifically for the Queen.

Answer: Beijing, China

The National Centre for the Performing Arts, which is also known simply as the National Grand Theater, is an opera house located in Beijing, China. It is located near the Forbidden City, to the west of Tiananmen Square.
Designed by French architect Paul Andreu, it took six years to build. The complex consists of a 130-foot high titanium and glass ellipsoid dome surrounded on all sides by a man-made lake. The impression of an egg floating on water makes the design immediately recognizable and provides the nickname of "The Giant Egg".
The three halls within the complex provide seating for 5,452 people, with 2,140 able to watch performances in the Opera Hall,.

Answer: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Built in eclectic style between 1905 and 1909, the Teatro Municipal in the district of Cinelândia, a major public square in the center of Rio de Janeiro is one of the most important theaters in Brazil. Expansion in the mid-20th Century expanded seating capacity from 1,700 to 2,361. Although it began life primarily as an opera house, most productions today are either ballet or classical music recitals. It is home to the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra.

Answer: Paris, France

Built between 1861 and 1875, the 1,979-seat opera house was originally called Salle des Capucines due to its location on Boulevard des Capucines in central Paris. It has since been renamed in honor of its architect, Parisian Charles Garnier, who also designed the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Soon after it opened, Palais Garnier (also known as L'Opéra Paris) became world famous as the setting for Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel "The Phantom of the Opera" and, later, for Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage show of the same name. Also known simply as L'Opéra, Palais Garnier was the principal home to the Paris Opera Company until their new home at the Bastille was opened in 1989. Palais Garnier is now mostly used for ballet and is also the home of the Paris Opera Music Library.

Answer: Covent Garden

Located on Bow Street in the Covent Garden district of central London, adjacent to the old fruit market of the same name, it is now usually known as simply "Covent Garden" rather than its official title, the Royal Opera House. The current building opened in 1858, after two previous incarnations had both been destroyed by fire.
During WWI, the building was used to store furniture, and during World War II it became a dance hall. It returned to its intended use in 1946. Extensively renovated in the 1990s, the main theater now seats 2,256 across four tiers of boxes and balconies.

Answer: Dresden

Home to the 'Sächsische Staatsoper' (the Saxon State Opera), the Sächsische Staatskapelle (the Saxon State Orchestra) and the Semperoper Ballet, this magnificent building stands on the banks of the River Elbe in the Old Town district of Dresden. Built in Neo-Renaissance style, the Semperoper is considered to a classic example of "Dresden Baroque" architecture.

The building was again virtually destroyed by bombing in the final weeks of WWII and it lay empty for decades. It re-opened virtually 40 years later, in 1986, having been reconstructed as an almost exact replica of Manfred Semper's original design (except for some technical improvements inside).

Answer: Norway

Opened in 2007, the "Operahuset" or the Oslo Opera House is situated in the Bjørvika neighborhood of the Norwegian capital at the head of 'Oslofjorden'. It is the home of both the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet and the National Opera Theatre of Norway.

The complex has more than 1,000 rooms, with seating for 1,364 in the main horseshoe-shaped auditorium. All seats are fitted with personal monitors that provide translations of operatic libretti into either Norwegian and English. Two other performance areas house 200 and 400. In a nod to 'modern life', the angles and the paving materials used around the outside of the building are designed to be 'skateboard friendly'. Special glass that requires minimal framing was used to allow maximum panoramas of the city and the fjord from inside the building.

Answer: 1973

It barely seems possible that the Sydney Opera House, one of the 20th-century's most recognizable and avant garde buildings, has already been open for more than 40 years -- it opened on October 20, 1973. Taking into account that construction began more than 14 years earlier, on March 2, 1959, and you realize that what appears to be a very modern design is, in fact, older than most people reading this quiz and, even, just, than the author!
Located on Bennelong Point, near the Sydney Harbour Bridge and next to the downtown business district, the Sydney Opera House was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. The numerous performance venues within the building host more than 1,500 performances annually, with more than 1.2 million people attending. A further 300,000 people each year take the guided tour of the complex.
Although the roof panels look something like sails, they are actually precast concrete. What's even more remarkable, is that although they appear to be white they are, in fact, made up of 1,056,006 small tiles arranged in a chevron pattern of alternating glossy white and matt cream.