Vienna State Opera
The opera house was the first major building on the Vienna Ringstrasse commissioned by the Viennese "city expansion fund". Work commenced on the house in 1861 and was completed in 1869, following plans drawn up by architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll. It was built in the Neo-Renaissance style by the renowned Czech architect and contractor Josef Hlávka.
Timothy O'Brien (theatre designer)
He designed his first opera, Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman", in 1958 for Sadler's Wells and has since designed operas for Covent Garden, ENO, the Vienna State Opera, the Kirov in Leningrad, La Scala, Milan, and opera houses in Berlin, Adelaide, Sydney, Cologne, Oslo, Amsterdam, Geneva and Lisbon. The best known of these have been Michael Tippett’s "The Knot Garden", directed by Peter Hall; "The Bassarids", directed by Hans Werner Henze; "Peter Grimes" and "Wozzeck", directed by Elijah Moshinsky; "Lulu", directed by Gotz Friedrich and Luciano Berio’s "Outis" and Wagner’s Ring Cycle, directed by Graham Vick.