My Opera House is Your Opera House Quiz

Answer: Sydney

Ah yes-- the Sydney Opera House is one of the most distinctive opera houses in the world and, certainly, one of the most iconic buildings in Sydney. Found on Bennelong Point, this structure houses over 2,500 patrons in its grand theatre and over 1,500 just in its proscenium.

It's home to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Ballet and, at any given time, multiple events have been hosted there year-round, from concerts to operas to live theatre and recordings. It is, of course, known for its design; the distinctive concrete shells evoke the image of boat sails.

Answer: Teatro alla Scala

Certainly a city of theatres, Milan has a number of different opera venues, most of which were built during the heyday of the opera greats. Teatro alla Scala is probably one of the most famous of these, being built in Italy's central square, just off from La Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and within a short distance from Milan's Duomo.

The building's grand opening featured an opera from Antoni Salieri though it was also the site where Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" and Verdi's "Otello" premiered. Since its opening, it's been considered one of the leading opera establishments in the world.

Answer: Sicily

Found in the city of Palermo, Teatro Massimo is found in Piazza Verdi and is considered one of the best constructed opera theatres in the world for its acoustics alone. Upon its completion in 1887, the building became the largest opera house in all of Italy and, at the time of its opening, the third-largest on the continent.

It now seats just under one thousand four hundred patrons of the arts, less than half of the number it was originally meant to contain.

Answer: The Bolshoi

This opera house is so well-known as a Moscow landmark that, for many years, it has appeared on Russian banknotes. The Bolshoi is one of the foremost ballet establishments in the world, and that's coming from a nation known for its exceptional dancers. Notably, the building has also been home to operas by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich.

The Bolshoi originally opened in 1825 after nearly five decades of construction and has since undergone hundreds of billions of Russian rubles-worth of renovations and maintenance.

Answer: Palais Garnier

Found in Place de l'Opéra, Palais Garnier, built in the 19th century, was originally made for the opera but become the main location in the city for ballet performances a century later when the more modern Opéra Bastille opened. Besides being a massive building capable of holding nearly two thousand opera-goers, the structure also has one of the largest main stages in all of Europe.

It was also made famous by "The Phantom of the Opera" both in Leroux's 1910 novel and Andrew Lloyd Webber's beloved musical.

Answer: Royal Opera House

One of London's most prestigious theatres, the Royal Opera House is home to the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet, both of which were established in the twentieth century, even though the first building on this site was constructed in the eighteenth century. Since then, the theatre has been rebuilt several times, having been gutted by fire twice. Since the 1730s, this building has hosted many debuts including original theatrical shows and the works of Baroque opera composer George Frideric Handel, whose "Messiah" was performed (but not premiered) there. One may, however, be surprised to know that even with over two thousand seats, it's not the largest building of its kind in London.

Answer: Lincoln Center

While the Old Met was demolished in the 1960s, the 'New Met', home to the Metropolitan Opera Company and American Ballet, is in the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts up in the Upper West Side, near Central Park. 'The Old Met', on 39th St., housed approximately 3,600 people; 'The New Met' houses over 3,800 and is up on 66th. One of the newer opera houses compared to its European counterparts, The Met is also one of the more technologically advanced; its stage contains many moving parts and has hosted opera performances, stage plays, and concerts for some of the biggest international stars.

Answer: Spain

Madrid's "Royal Theatre", or "Teatro Real", has been closed several times since its construction in the nineteenth century, including as a result of damage caused during the construction of the Madrid Metro, but it's been one of the city's crown jewels nonetheless. Now considered one of the finest opera establishments in Europe, the Teatro is situated across from the Palacio Real de Madrid and has featured some of the continent's finest renditions of works by famous Italian composer Verdi.

Answer: Teatro di San Carlo

Another royal theatre, Teatro di San Carlo is one of the oldest out there having been built in the 1730s. It's unsurprising that the theatre, built so early in opera's wave of popularity, ended up having a massive influence on others in the coming centuries.

The model for its construction and architecture ended up becoming somewhat of a standard for countless others in Italy and beyond. It's hosted opera greats like Rossini, Pacini, Bellini, Puccini and conductors such as Toscanini and Richard Strauss. Though it's been damaged by fire in the nineteenth century and WWII bombing in the twentieth, it's been a notable landmark in Naples ever since it was built.

Answer: True

Teatro Amazonas is in the city of Manaus, smack-dab in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, and while that may lead one to believe that its use is somewhat limited, several million people live in Manaus and share their home with patrons of the arts at least on an annual basis for the Festival Amazonas de Ópera, which commenced in the 1990s. Constructed at the end of the ninteenth century, Amazon Theatre was built by Portuguese architects in its clean Renaissance Revival style.

It shares Brazil's operatic stage with Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and with Alberto Maranhão Theatre in Rio Grande do Norte.