What is the seating capacity of the Joan Sutherland Theatre? Its seating capacity is 1,507.
The Joan Sutherland Theatre is the Sydney Opera House’s principal venue for opera and ballet. It is named after Dame Joan Sutherland, the celebrated Australian soprano, and was known as the Opera Theatre until 2012.
The auditorium was designed for staged productions, with a proscenium stage, orchestra pit and facilities suited to large-scale opera and dance. Its capacity is smaller than that of the Opera House Concert Hall, which seats 2,679, because the two venues serve different performance needs.
The theatre’s name honours Sutherland’s major contribution to opera and her long association with Opera Australia. It is often confused with the Concert Hall when people quote a Sydney Opera House capacity. The Opera House contains several other performance spaces, so figures for the whole complex are much higher than the 1,507 seats in this theatre alone.