- Winspear Opera House
The Winspear Opera House will be an Opera House in the Arts District of downtown Dallas,
Texas (USA). It will be part of the newDallas Center for the Performing Arts which is due to open in2009 . It is designed in the classic Italian horseshoe configuration and seats 2,300. It will be the new home ofDallas Opera .Designed by
Foster and Partners , led by Lord Norman Foster (the 1999Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate - the architecture equivalent of theNobel Prize ), the Opera's new venue at the Dallas Center was made possible by a $42-million gift from Margot and Bill Winspear, for whom the opera house will be named. Performances are planned to begin during the 2009/2010 season.It is planned that the Center will become the location for main stage productions of the
Dallas Opera ,Dallas Theater Center ,Dallas Black Dance Theatre ,Texas Ballet Theater ,Anita M. Martinez Ballet Folklorico , and many other performing arts organizations. The London firmSound Space will develop the acoustical design of the opera house and the acoustics will be engineered specifically for performances of opera and musical theater. However, the stages will be equipped with appropriate flooring for performances of ballet and other forms of dance.External links
* [http://www.dallasperformingarts.org Dallas Center for the Performing Arts website]
* [http://www.arcspace.com/architects/foster/winspear/winspear.html Renderings and architectural details of the planned opera house on arcspace.com]
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