Renovated Opera House Unveiled
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
The Seoul Arts Center will reopen the Opera House, which was damaged by fire last year, with ``The Nutcracker'' by the Korea National Ballet on Dec. 25 after a 10-month repair and renovation work.
The center has finished its renovation on the theater's fire-damaged stage, seats, and backstage area, one year after a fire broke out in the middle of "La Boheme" at the Opera House on Dec. 12, forcing 2,300 spectators to evacuate.
The Opera House will put ``The Nutcracker'' on stage Dec. 25-31 as a preliminary performance. The center will undergo an audio engineering process for technicians to fine tune the sound facilities based on the test run of the preliminary performance. After the two-month process, the center will hold a grand opening event with Mozart's opera ``Le Nozze di Figaro'' next March.
According to the center, it has spent about 27 billion won in the renovation project.
The center removed the side seats where it was hard to see the stage and widened the aisles and the orchestra pit was enlarged from the previous 85 square meters to 127 square meters.
The upper part of the previous angled proscenium arch was renovated to the wider round-shaped structure to better reflect the sound. Also, the previous velvet fabric on the walls and the ceiling were replaced with wooden material. A sound-reflecting wall was newly installed to improve the sound quality.
As part of the safety measures in case of fire and other emergencies, the theater is equipped with additional sprinklers on the walls and fire hydrants inside the stage, along with additional disaster prevention staff.
``We've tried to repair the fire-destroyed facilities and improve the emergency system. Also, along with the repair works, we've renovated the old facilities to enhance the overall quality of the theater although it took longer than we planned,'' Shin Hong-soon, president of SAC, told reporters.
In addition to the renovation, the center has also remodeled the front gate and created the ``Vitamin Station,'' equipped with a ticket box, snack bar and lounge for customers' convenience.
The center's fire ignited questions about security and left a deep scar in its reputation as one of Korea's major cultural spaces, as it cancelled this year's planned performances at the Opera House. The exact cause of the fire has not been determined.