The Essen Opera House-Behind the Scenes

We were given the chance to go on a behind the scenes tour of the Essen Opera House with our Tante Gisela, Uncle Soto and our cousin Sophia.  It is a beautiful building designed by Alvar Aalto.

The Lobby

In the lobby we learned that Alvar Aalto designed the building to represent waves and nature.  It is all done with white Italian marble.  There is no art on the walls because Aalto wanted the people to be the artwork.  What I like is that there is only one entrance for all people so the rich and the poor would be forced to mingle.

The Auditorium

In the auditorium, we learned that in total, there are 1125 seats and you can not have a bad seat.  Aalto designed the inside so if a tall person sits in front of a child, the child can still see.  What I thought was interesting was the material on the seats.  The material absorbs the sound the same way as a human would so the sound is the same if the actors are performing onstage.

The Stage

The stage is the 6th biggest in Europe.  What I thought was unique was the different parts of the stage spun, rose and lowered to make the scene look real.

The Orchestra

The orchestra pit is in the shape of a mouth.  It represents the mouth of the orchestra and their version of singing.  For safety, there is a fire wall that will shoot up from the orchestra pit behind the conductor and protect the people in the audience if there is a fire on the stage.

Costumes

The costumes are beautiful.  They are all covered in sparkles, have small details and beautiful designs.  They are reused as much as possible because the costumes are expensive to make.  They are kept for ten years before they are sold.  The Essen Opera house also shares costumes with other opera houses.

Make Up

In the makeup room the artists use the cosmetics to turn the actors into their characters.  They also have to make it really thick so it can last for three hours.  In dance we have to wear a lot of thick makeup but not as much as these actors have to wear.

Wigs

The wigs are probably one of the most time consuming props.  They are made with real hair.  The hair is threaded through a hair net one at a time by hand which takes about forty hours per wig. I think it was really interesting to learn how much work goes into threading each hair through the hair net.

The Props and Sets

The props and sets are all stored underground and are almost stacked to the ceiling.  As a dancer what I thought was interesting was that there are different floors for different ballets.  The stage team can stick on the ballet floors onto the stage to keep the dancers from slipping.

Here are the different floors for ballet.

My Overall Opinion

My opinion is the Essen Opera House is beautiful with a well thought out design.  The theater has many important things that I would not have noticed if I was not on a behind the scenes tour.

Special Thanks

Thanks to my aunt and uncle for taking us on this wonderful opera experience.  Now we have a better understanding of how much talent, expertise and hard work goes on behind the scenes of these amazing operas.