Sidney Myer Music Bowl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sidney Myer Music Bowl
Location Kings Domain, Melbourne
Broke ground 1958
Opened 1959
Owner Victorian Government
Operator City of Melbourne
Surface Concrete, Grass
Architect Barry Patten
Tenants Carols by Candlelight
Capacity
30,030 (2,030 tiered seats, 28,000 on sloping grass)

The Sidney Myer Music Bowl is an outdoor performance venue in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located in the gentle undulating lawns and gardens of Kings Domain, quite close to the Victorian Arts Centre and the Southbank entertainment precinct. It was officially opened by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on February 12, 1959 with an audience of some 30,000 people.

The Sidney Myer Music Bowl is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

Contents

[edit] Major Events

The bowl hold major events including Carols by Candlelight, held every year on Christmas Eve. Over the years, millions of dollars have been raised during this event for the benefit of Australian vision impaired charities and organisations. The concert is televised each year by the Nine Network.

Many contemporary music groups have held notable performances at the venue over the years. (See History for further detail)

[edit] Design and construction

The Bowl's canopy consists of a thin membrane made out of half an inch weather-proofed plywood sheeted on both sides with aluminium attached to a cobwebbed frame of steel cables and supported by 21.3 metre masts pivoted to the earth. The total area of the canopy is 4055 square metres. The main cable at the edge of the canopy comprises 7 ropes, each about 9 cm in diameter and 173 metres long, anchored deep into the ground in concrete blocks. Longitudinal cables hold up the roof and transverse cables hold it down.

Project design was by Yuncken Freeman Architects and Griffiths and Simpson during 1956. The project architect was Barry Patten. Construction commenced in 1958 with an innovative system of cables laced together and covered with aluminium faced plywood sandwich panels. To ensure the structure would be watertight yet aerodynamically stable and flexible, new construction techniques were developed[citation needed]. Ground anchors were required to be corrosion resistant. The shell also needed to be acoustically correct. Construction entailed input from a number of engineering and scientific organisations including the Aeronautical Research Laboratories and CSIRO Forest Products Division.

Unlike the Hollywood Bowl concrete shell structure in Los Angeles which inspired it, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl combined a tensile structural system with a free-form roof. The structural design predates by nearly ten years noted German architect/engineer, Frei Otto, and his experiments in using lightweight tensile and membrane structures. Frei Otto's design of Munich's acclaimed Olympic Park for the 1972 Olympics, and the temporary West German pavillion at the 1967 World's Fair in Montreal, Canada, were heavily influenced by Patten's design of Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl.

[edit] Capacity

There is a fixed seating area which can hold 2030 people in 26 tiered rows. Behind this area are sloping lawns which can accommodate up to 28,000 people giving a total capacity of about 30,000. The Stage area is 27.4 metres wide by 19.5 metres deep.

[edit] History

The businessman and philanthropist, Sidney Myer, inspired the construction of the building, after attending the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. A violinist who enjoyed music, Sidney Myer established free, open-air concerts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1929, which were always well attended by Melburnians. These free concerts continue to this day, now being held at the bowl itself. There are usually four or five concerts a year.

Upon his death in 1934, the Sidney Myer Charitable Trust was established, now known as the Myer Foundation, to continue the tradition of philanthropy begun by its founder. The design and construction of a music bowl for the people of Melbourne was decided upon and funded by the Myer Foundation.

The bowl was officially opened by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on February 12, 1959 with an audience of 30,000. Later that month over 70,000 people attended to hear the American evangelist, Billy Graham. In 1966 and 1967, The Seekers performed with an audience of 150,000 and 200,000 respectively. Since then, international performers have included: ABBA, AC/DC, Metallica, Wings, Blondie, The Beach Boys, Crowded House, Dire Straits, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Merle Haggard, Pearl Jam, The Seekers, R.E.M., Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and most recently Bon Jovi.

During the mid 1970s performances by Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs drew crowds extending into the trees of Kings Domain of over 200,000 and 250,000 people. While most were unable to see the stage, the unique design of "The Bowl" allowed the sound to be heard several kilometres back.

In 1980 administration of the bowl was handed over to the Victorian Arts Centre from the Myer Foundation by Kenneth Myer, Sidney Myer's son. In 1984 a temporary ice-skating rink was created on the Bowl’s stage for use during winter months. The venue was closed for a major renovation in 2000 to bring the facilities up to an appropriate standard, and was reopened by the Premier of Victoria, Steve Bracks, at Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve, 2002. Recent works on the lawns extending from the seating and stage, and the construction of a fence and gates has reduced the total capacity to a little over 30,000, however, has also improved the visibility and standard of facilities out of sight.

The Sidney Myer Music Bowl is registered on the Victorian Heritage list for its cultural importance to Victoria; its architectural importance as the largest, purpose built, permanent outdoor performance venue in Australia; and its engineering experimentation in new forms of construction involving use of membranes and a tensile structural system.

[edit] Notable Performances/Events

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
Jet
Evermore
Eskimo Joe
Paul Kelly
Pearl Jam
Bono and The Edge
John Butler Trio
Hilltop Hoods
Sarah Blasko

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Melbourne landmarks
Buildings
Precincts
Nature and Parks
Cultural Institutions
Sports
Transportation
Entertainment