Peter Weiss gives $1m to get Opera House backstage in order

Peter Weiss is appalled at the cramped and unsightly conditions faced by musicians at the Sydney Opera House.

Peter Weiss with Buzo the labradoodle at home yesterday. Picture: Hollie Adams

Not many music-lovers pay attention to the backstage areas of a concert hall, but fashion industry legend Peter Weiss is appalled at the cramped and unsightly con­ditions faced by musicians at the Sydney Opera House.

Mr Weiss, a supporter of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, has given $1 million to construct new rehearsal rooms for the Opera House concert hall. It is the biggest cash donation the Opera House has received.

Mr Weiss’s gift will provide for up to five rehearsal rooms where musicians can practise privately or in small groups. The current backstage area, he said, was “just frightful”.

“Where do these people work? They practise in the corridor,” Mr Weiss said at his home on Sydney’s northern beaches in Pittwater. “The idea is that this mess gets cleaned up.”

The concert hall will close from 2020 for a $202m upgrade funded by the state government.

Architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall have devised a scheme to provide better facilities for visitors and improve the hall’s interior. Recently, a trial acoustic panel with a contoured design has been installed as part of efforts to enhance the sound quality.

Mr Weiss’s donation, announced at a private dinner last week by Sydney Opera House Trust chairman Nicholas Moore, will provide for two rehearsal ­spaces and two or three smaller rooms. Some rooms will take space now used as a storage area.

Mr Weiss has been a long-time supporter of the Opera House. In 2015, he led a group of donors to purchase a tapestry by Le Corbusier that hangs in the western foyer.

While other organisations, ­including the Art Gallery of NSW, recently have secured multi-­million-dollar donations, the Opera House has not previously attracted that level of private ­philanthropy.

“I’m very happy that there’s going to be rehearsal rooms, and it smartens everybody up,” Mr Weiss said.

“And maybe it means the Opera House can join the club of (attracting) major donors. It may be a good start.”