The Perth opera is back on television this weekend, after the city’s Opera House was evacuated following an explosion.
Key points:The Opera House has been evacuated after an explosion at the opera houseThis weekend, the city will host the opera, a live performance by Australian Opera composer Richard O’Neill and other artistsThe Opera house has been closed since the blastThe fire brigade has extinguished the fire and is on sceneThe opera house is a key element of the city and is home to Australian opera composer Richard E O’Neil.
“The Opera building, as you know, has been a vital part of Perth’s history for hundreds of years,” Perth Fire Brigade spokeswoman Rebecca Hill said.
“It is also a key venue for opera in the city, so there is a lot to celebrate for the city this weekend.”
We are fortunate that it is still open.
“Firefighters had been called to the opera hall on the city centre about 3:30pm on Thursday after a “major incident”.”
At this stage there is no threat to the lives of the fire service, nor is there any threat to patrons or staff,” Ms Hill said on Friday.”
There are no major injuries, so we’re not going to rush into it.
“This is just a matter of emergency services and the fire brigade getting to work to restore safety and security to the premises.”
The Opera has been in lockdown since the explosion, which caused extensive damage to the building.
Firefighters are also searching for the perpetrators of the explosion.
Mr O’Neill’s father, the late Richard E. O’neills, has confirmed that his son, who has been at the Opera since 1996, was in the building at the time.
“I know that he’s safe and well,” Mr O’NEILL said on Thursday.
“His life is safe and his family is safe, and we’re hoping that all our people who are in the neighbourhood will be safe.”
Mr O-Neill said the explosion had been a major blow to the city.
“In our day and age, we’re talking about thousands of explosions a day,” he said.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this.”
A statement from the Opera House said: “The Opera Theatre will be closed this weekend due to a serious incident involving the building.”ABC Perth’s Peter Gammill said he had been to the Opera before and had not witnessed any suspicious activity.
“If I’ve seen a suspicious thing in the past I’ve always seen it as a little bit of a joke,” he told ABC Perth’s Nightline program.
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It’s very much an entertainment venue, a place for music and theatre.”
Topics:arts-and-entertainment,perth-6000,perst-6000-7215,wa,wannery-6010,bristol-6011,wa-7000,wagga-waggaflin-6102More stories from Western Australia