The Importance Of Opera House Architecture

“Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, which opened in August, is one of the best-sounding opera houses in the country. With sonics vivid and full-bodied, the building seems to work well on both sides of the proscenium. It’s just too bad the building, inaugurated with a new Seattle Opera production of Wagner’s Parsifal, isn’t a better piece of architecture.” So says Dallas critic Scott Cantrell, scouting other cities for ideas to inspire Dallas’s own soon-to-be-built opera house. “Seattle’s approach certainly plays up clichés about the two cities. Dallas is supposed to be about dazzle and prestige, Seattle about living comfortably and not making a fuss.”