Activities in Sydney

Sydney’s cultural life is uniquely diverse, from high classical at the Sydney Opera House to the most cutting-edge contemporary and experimental performance art. The Opera House is the major focus of attention for classical music, opera, theater and dance.

Cultural productions and events are listed in ‘Metro’, the Friday edition entertainment section of the Sydney Morning Herald (website: www.smh.com.au). Further listings and information are provided online (website: www.sydney.citysearch.com.au).

Music: The Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point , is the premier performance venue for classical music. The Sydney Symphony , the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs , Opera Australia and the Australian Chamber Orchestra hold most of their performances at the Opera House.

The Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo Center, Harris Street , tends to be used for smaller performances, as does Sydney Town Hall, 483 George Street , and City Recital Hall, Angel Place . The Conservatorium of Music, Macquarie Street , hosts symphony, wind and chamber concerts as well as jazz big bands.

Theater: The Sydney Theater Company is the city’s stylish flagship theater company. Performances take place at the Wharf Theaters, Pier 4, Hickson Road , the brand new Sydney Theater, 22 Hickson Road ( and the Opera House, Bennelong Point. Acting luminaries, such as Geoffrey Rush and Cate Blanchett, have performed at the highly respected Belvoir Street Theater, 25 Belvoir Street . The Performance Space, 199 Cleveland Street , and the Seymour Theater Center, Cleveland Street and City Road , are the main venues for more left-field contemporary performance.

Musicals are staged at the Capitol Theater, 13 Campbell Street , the State Theater, 49 Market Street , and the Lyric Theater, Star City, Pirrama Road, Pyrmont . Newer Australian playwrights stage their work at the Stables Theater, 10 Nimrod Street . Sydney’s longest established theater is the Ensemble, 78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli .

Dance: The Australian Ballet performs mainly traditional pieces during its summer and winter season at the Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point . Similarly, the Sydney Dance Company , the city’s leading contemporary dance group, performs at the Opera House for two seasons per year. The Bangarra Dance Theater, Pier 4/5 Hickson Road , performs a fusion of contemporary and traditional dance at various venues throughout the city. The company also tours extensively, both nationally and internationally.

Film: The city’s central cinemas, situated near Town Hall, have all merged into the 17-screen Village Greater Union Hoyts George Street, 505 George Street . Fox Studios Australia, Lang Road, Moore Park , is home to two cinema complexes - Hoyts, which includes the luxury La Premiere cinema , and the arthouse, Cinema Paris . Other arthouse cinemas include the Academy Twin, 3a Oxford Street , home to the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Film Festival , the Chauvel, Paddington Town Hall , and the Art Deco Hayden Orpheum, 380 Military Road . First-run movies open on Thursday and discount night is on Tuesday.

The Sydney Film Festival takes place every year in June, with most screenings in the magnificent marble auditorium of the State Theater, 49 Market Street . Makers of short films enter Tropfest every February/March, with finalists shown on open-air screens set up in the Domain - a large park on the fringe of the city center.

Notable films set or partially set in Sydney include Peter Weir’s The Last Wave (1977), P J Hogan’s Muriel’s Wedding (1993), Stephan Elliot’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1993), Ray Lawrence’s Lantana (2001) and Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich’s animated feature Finding Nemo (2003).

Cultural Events: Sydney Festival, held in January, features open-air concerts and theater from around the world, alongside Sydney’s best. The Biennale of Sydney, held from May to July of even-numbered years, is an international contemporary art festival held in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is a month-long festival in February/March, which is famous for its colorful parade along Oxford Street, attracting over half a million spectators every year.

Royal Easter Show is a traditional 12-day show that brings farm life to the city during April. The Festival of the Winds is Australia’s largest kite-flying competition, held annually in September at Bondi Beach. Manly Jazz Festival, held on the Labor Day long weekend in October, is Australia’s largest, longest and best-known jazz festival, featuring traditional, big band, fusion, pop and contemporary jazz. Sleaze Ball, a fundraiser for the Mardi Gras Festival, is also held on the Labor Day long weekend in October. Up to 16,000 gay and lesbian revelers dress to a theme and party all night at Fox Studios.

Literary Notes: ‘One of the finest, most beautiful, vast and safe bays the sun had ever shone upon,’ wrote inveterate traveller Joseph Conrad in 1906. Sydney Harbour continues to inspire eulogies from writers, including Miles Franklin who, in 1946, wrote: ‘A month would not be long enough to imbibe such beauty.’ More recently, Clive James, the writer, satirist, broadcaster and critic, was rather more blunt: ‘Sydney is like Venice without the architecture but with more sea.’

Sydney’s literary luminaries include Peter Carey, who lived in the city before moving to New York, and set his Booker Prize-winning Oscar and Lucinda (1988) in 19th-century Sydney, where country girl Lucinda dreams of self-reliance and an industrial utopia. David Williamson, Australia’s most successful playwright, calls Sydney home. His Emerald City (1987) is a comedic hymn to the city’s temptations.

Patrick White, Australia’s Nobel laureate, lived in Sydney for most of his life, and passionately evoked the city’s artistic life in The Vivisector (1970). An idiosyncratic streak led Sydney-born Thomas Keneally from the priesthood to the life of a full-time novelist. He published his first novel in 1964 and was awarded the Booker Prize for Schindler’s Ark (1982).

Teenagers Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette wrote Puberty Blues (1979) as an expose of the sexual rites of passage of teens at the beach suburb of Cronulla. Robin Dalton’s Aunts Up the Cross (1965) is an affectionate memoir of Kings Cross in the 1930s, while John Birmingham’s Leviathan (2000) takes a more cynical look at the city’s history of criminals, ‘razor gangs’ and corruption.

Modern Sydney receives a sanction of sorts from one of its favorite sons, world famous art critic Robert Hughes, who wrote: ‘The provinciality that seemed to characterize Australian society, and could be plainly seen in Sydney 25 years ago, is all but gone. To a striking degree, the city’s habits have softened … Sydney is no longer quite so keen on the ‘ocker’ (Pacific redneck) image of the Australian: beer gut, thongs, nasal foghorn voice and a truculent certainty that, short of Paradise itself, Australia is the only ticket and that the rest of the world only displays its inferiority by not necessarily wanting to come here.’

Sport:

Sydney’s acres of coastline and parkland make it a dream destination for sports enthusiasts and lovers of the great outdoors. During the summer, Bondi shows off the bodies beautiful of surfers, rollerbladers and sunbathers. The region boasts some of the world’s top surfing conditions and the best beaches for beginners are Manly, Curl Curl, Freshwater or North Bondi. Surf aficionados in search of bigger waves should head for the beaches of North Narrabeen, South Maroubra, Newport, South Bondi and Queenscliff.

Waves aside, the ocean pools offer swimmers a spectacular alternative to chlorinated lanes. Scuba divers are also well served, with a number of local marine parks. For the international yachting set, Sydney Harbour is the starting point for one of the biggest fixtures of the year, the 2,000km (1,240-mile) Sydney to Hobart race.

Australians adore cricket and Sydney is no exception. The cricket season (October to March) includes Test and World Series Cup matches at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Driver Avenue . During the rugby and football season (March to September) soccer games, rugby league and rugby union matches are held at the Aussie Stadium, Moore Park . Sydney’s Aussie Rules football team, the Sydney Swans , plays at the Sydney Cricket Ground and enjoys considerable support.

Bush-walking: The national parks in and around Sydney offer some spectacular bush-walks. Routes and information can be obtained from Sydney Harbour Parks or the National Parks and Wildlife Service .

Fitness Centers: Body-conscious Sydney has a proliferation of gyms, including City Gym, 107 Crown Street , Gold’s Gym, 23 Pelican Street , and Bayswater Fitness, 33 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross . Single entry at these centers cost A$15, A$20 and A$15 respectively.

Golf: The Lakes Golf Club, corner of King Street and Vernon Avenue, Mascot , is among Sydney’s most exclusive golf courses. Non-members are welcome on Monday and Thursday. Other clubs include Marrickville Golf Club, Wharf Street , and St Michael’s Golf Course, Jennifer Street, Little Bay. Both these clubs are open to the public on selected days and times, including daily afternoon public play. Green fees for 18 holes start at approximately A$20 and can rise to over A$100 at private clubs.

Rollerblading: Rollerbladers are part of the scenery in Sydney, especially at Manly Beach and Centennial Park. Blades and protective clothing can be hired at Manly Blades, 2/49 North Steyne, Manly , and Centennial Park Cycles, 50 Clovelly Road .

Scuba Diving: Sydney has good visibility and some colorful local marine parks, which are ideal for snorkeling and scuba diving. Operators include Pro Dive Travel, 478 George Street , and Sydney Dive Academy, 462 Bunnerong Road, Matraville .

Squash: The Surry Hills Squash Center, 525 Crown Street, is centrally located.

Surfing: Outfits such as Let’s Go Surfing, 128 Ramsgate Avenue, North Bondi , and Sydney Safe Surf, The Pavilion, Marine Parade, Maroubra , provide courses for beginners.

Swimming: The beaches at Coogee, Avalon, Clovelly and Austinmer have ocean pools. The site of many dramatic Olympic moments, the Sydney International Aquatic Center, Homebush Bay is open for public bathing. The underground Cook and Phillip Park Aquatic Center, 4 College Street , features Olympic pool, wave pool and hydrotherapy bath, right in the city center.

Tennis: There are plenty of tennis courts all over Sydney. Central ones include North Sydney Tennis Center, 1a Little Alfred Street , Rushcutters Bay Tennis Center, 7 Waratah Street , and Jensen’s Tennis Center, Prince Alfred Park, Surry Hills .

Windsurfing: Balmoral Windsurfing, Sailing and Kayaking School is located at 2 The Esplanade .

Yachting: Every weekend, Sydney Harbour is dotted with the sails of hundreds of yachts. Sydney Harbour Escapes) provides further information for those wishing to join in.