Winspear Opera House
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| Address |
Dallas Arts District Dallas |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 32°47′27″N 96°47′53″W / 32.790822°N 96.797921°W |
| Type | Opera house |
| Capacity | 2,300 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 2009 |
| Architect | Foster + Partners and Kendall/Heaton Associates, Inc. |
| Website | |
| www.attpac.org | |
The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House is an opera house (one of four venues in the AT&T Performing Arts Center) located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA).
Designed as a 21st-century reinterpretation of the traditional opera house, the Winspear seats 2,200 (with a capacity of 2,300) in a traditional horseshoe configuration.
The facility is the home of The Dallas Opera (which until the 2008/2009 season performed at the Music Hall at Fair Park) and the Texas Ballet Theater. The AT&T Performing Arts Center also produces original programming and partners with local and national organizations to present a wide range of other cultural performances at the venue. These offerings include music, dance, Broadway shows, concerts and lectures.
The Winspear Opera House includes the Nancy Hamon Education and Recital Hall, a space that can be used for smaller performances seating audiences up to 200, as well as classes, rehearsals, meetings and events.
Groundbreaking for the AT&T Performing Arts Center and Winspear Opera House was held in October 2006. The venue was designed by Foster and Partners (principal architect: Spencer de Grey) and made possible in part by a $42-million gift from Margot and Bill Winspear, for whom the facility is named. The London firm Sound Space Design (principal acoustician: Robert Essert) developed the acoustical design of the opera house and the acoustics were engineered specifically for performances of opera and musical theater. Theatre planning and theatre equipment design were by Theatre Projects Consultants. The stages were also equipped with appropriate flooring for performances of ballet and other forms of dance.
The opera house was presented to the public with tours and performances during the Center’s opening week, October 12 – 18, 2009. The first opera performance took place on October 23, 2009 with Verdi's Otello, conducted by Graeme Jenkins.
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