From western opera theatres’ opulent palace-like halls to the magnificent modern architecture of theatres in the east, these are the must-see grand opera houses in the world.
Teatro di San Carlo 
Opera is an anglicised Italian word that is used to call on an artistic composition that includes poetry, dance, and music. The first opera score to have survived to the present day dates back to the 17th Century. However, the honour of being the first opera that is still performed up to this day goes to Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, composed in 1607.
Naples, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, houses Italy’s oldest existing opera theatre. Founded in 1737—a time when opera compositions started to be appreciated by the public audience and not just in royal courts—the Teatro di San Carlo was the centre for the arts and culture in the city. It was burned in 1816 and restored by the Tuscan architect Antonio Niccolini.
Its enormous stage is known to have been the witness of the greatest operas in the world as several renowned productions and notable performers have graced it, even horses, camels, and elephants. Its grand ceiling meanwhile depicts the mythical sun god Apollo introducing the greatest poets in the world to Minerva, goddess of poetry and wisdom.
Naples, Italy
Teatro Alla Scala
Teatro Alla Scala is perhaps one of the most important opera house in the world as it is known to be the stage of most of Italy’s greatest operatic artists and conductors like Arturo Toscanini, Renata Tibaldi, Maria Callas, and more. The theatre has more than 3,000 seats organised into 678 pit-stalls, arranged in six tiers of boxes above which is the two galleries called loggione. These galleries are typically crowded with the most critical audiences (known to be either ecstatic or merciless towards performers.) Now, Teatro Alla Scala is considered as baptism of fire in the opera world.
Milan, Italy
Teatro La Fenice
Considered to be one of the most renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre, Teatro La Fenice has been the site of many famous operatic premieres, particularly those composed by Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Giuseppe Verdi—the four major bel canto era composers. It also lives up to its name which translates to “phoenix” as it has been burned down and risen from the ashes three times. The most recent one was in 1996 and it re-opened in November 2004 with a new production of La Traviata.
Venice, Italy
Teatro Massimo 
Remember the last scene in The Godfather III movie where Michael Corleone’s daughter Mary (played by Sofia Coppola) was gunned down on a theatre’s steps? That is actually the monumental steps of the largest opera house in Italy, Teatro Massimo. Built in the 1890s, the theatre was one of Palermo’s highlights as the city was back then a cultural capital of Europe before it suffered from the Second World War.
Designed by the Italian architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, Teatro Massimo was inspired by ancient and classical Sicilian architecture with the exterior designed in the high neoclassical style of Greek temples. It has 1,350 seats with seven tiers of boxes rising up around an inclined stage shaped in the typical horseshoe style.
Palermo, Italy
Palais Garnier
Originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its proximity to the Boulevard des Capucines, the Paris Opera was later known as the Palais Garnier after its architect Charles Garnier. It is the primary home of Parisian operas since it opened in 1875 and of the Paris Opera Ballet until the company transferred to the new Opéra Bastille. Because of its magnificent architectural design and reputation for staging most of the important opera pieces, Palais Garnier became a symbol of Paris, inspiring other architects to design in Second Empire and Beaux-Arts style. Inside, a grand staircase of opulent design leads to the stunning 1,979-seat auditorium.
Paris, France
Opera Royal de Versailles
Prior to the French Revolution, the Opera Royal de Versailles was a witness to the royal grandeur of France’s Ancien Régime. In fact, its architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel and interior décor director Augustin Pajou were able to finish the opera’s 5-year construction just in time for the marriage of then dauphin Louis XVI to archduchess Marie-Antoinette of Austria. Up until now, the Opera Royal is used not only for theatrical and musical performances but for state functions as well. It is constructed almost entirely of wood, painted to resemble marble in a technique known as faux marble—thus giving excellent acoustics.
Versailles, France
Vienna Staatsoper 
The Vienna State Opera was built in neo-renaissance style in the late 19th Century using mainly dimension stone from Sóskút, Hungary. Its prominence during the Hapsburg Monarchy reign has made the Vienna State Opera one of the busiest opera houses in the world, producing 50 to 60 operas per year and ten ballet productions in approximately 300 performances. Moreover, it has been the venue of the famous Vienna Opera Ball attended by prominent personalities in fields of business and politics from around the world.
Vienna, Austria
Bolshoi Theatre
Home to two of the oldest and most revered ballet and opera companies in the world, Bolshoi Theatre holds Russia’s grand history from the imperial era to the Soviet regime. Bolshoi Theatre, which translates to “grand theatre” was built for Prince Pyotr Urusov in 1825 and contradictingly has bore Fyodor Fyodorovsky’s gold Soviet curtain for 50 years and was the site of the Vladimir Lenin’s last speech in recent history. In 2011, it was restored to its original glory, bringing back its acoustics believed to have existed in pre-Soviet times.
Moscow, Russia
Teatro Colón 
Considered to be one of the five best concert venues in the world, Teatro Colón boasts magnificent acoustics that make audiences hear even the singer’s mistakes. The auditorium is horseshoe shaped with 2,487 seating capacity and 1,000 audience capacity in the standing room. Its original theatre opened in 1857 until it reopened in 1908 with Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida after a 20-year-long reconstruction.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Margravial Opera House
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012, this Baroque opera house is one of the few surviving theatres of early 18th Century that has preserved how operas sounded like during that period. Designed by Giuseppe Galli Bilbiena, it still retains its original wood and canvas amd splendid décor. It opened in 1748 on the occasion of the marriage of the daughter of the margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth with Duke Charles Eugene of Wüttemberg. Now, the opera house is closed for renovations but still open to visitors.
Bayreuth, Germany
Hungarian State Opera House 
Highlighting the best of 19th Century Hungarian architecture, the neo-renaissance style Hungarian State Opera House was designed by renowned architect Miklós Ybl. The decoration of the symmetrical façade follows a musical theme with niches on either side of the main entrance having limestone sculptures of the country’s two most prominent composers, and the ceiling painted with the nine Muses by Bertalan Székely and Mór Than.
Budapest, Hungary
Royal Opera House
Originally called the Theatre Royal, this opera house served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its existence, staging performances by Covent Garden and Dury Lane companies until it was renovated to stage Gioachino Rossini’s Semiramide. Its has been graced by some of the world’s most famous singers like Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti and is considered to be the most modern theatre facility in Europe after being renovated in 1999.
London, United Kingdom
Metropolitan Opera 
Situated in the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts complex, “The Met” as it is popularly called is famous for its continuous contributions to the arts to keep up with the times. Its seats have screens that show subtitles for each of its shows. Also, it has made an effort in letting opera performances to cross over to the silver screen with its campaign, The Met in HD.
New York, USA
Sydney Opera House
The land down under’s most iconic landark, the Sydney Opera House was built in 1973 and designed by the Danish architect Jørn Utzon, who eventually resigned from the project due to differences with the government who was supervising the construction. Designed in modern expressionist style, the Sydney Opera House is one of the most distinctive buildings of the 20th Century with its unique shell-like roof structure and glass curtain walls. Its concert hall has a seating capacity of 2,679 and houses the largest mechanical tracker action organ in the world which has 10,000 pipes. The opera house was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.
Sydney, Australia
Guangzhou Opera House
Opened in 2010, this newest addition to the opera world was designed by the premier Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid. The theatre has become the biggest performing centre in southern China and is one of the three biggest theatres in the country. Its concrete auditorium set is within an exposed granite and glass-clad steel frame that took five years to build. Dramatic, elegant, and innovative, the Guangzhou Opera House boasts state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems that twinkle like a starry night sky.
Guangzhou, China