david leventi records the architectural intricacies of world-famous opera houses

david leventi records the architectural intricacies of world-famous opera houses
(above) teatro di san carlo, naples, italy, 2009
image © david leventi / courtesy rick wester fine art

photographer david leventi documents the architectural intricacies of some of the world’s most famous landmarks, stepping inside more than 40 opera houses spanning four centuries and four continents. shot over the course of eight years with an arca-swiss camera to maximize detail, the series ‘OPERA‘ serves as a visual catalog of these cultural institutions, which stand as symbols of wealth, social standing, and dedication to the promotion of the arts. while these halls have hosted the voices of some of the greatest performers in history, leventi celebrates their eminence through the absence of human figures, accentuating the structural complexities and architectural personalities that can otherwise be easily overlooked. ‘while the halls and photographs are silent the mind fills with music,’ leventi says.

opera de monte carlo, monte carlo, monaco, 2009
image © david leventi / courtesy rick wester fine art

each of the images have been shot from a carefully chosen spot at center stage — where a singer would stand — and are lit solely by the existing luminaries. the first rows of seats form a base at the bottom of the frame, while the chandelier marks the top. the upper balcony is anchored to the top corners of the frame, while the ends of the rows of orchestra seats anchor the bottom corners. from the front to the back of the house, all of the interior elements in between — like plush velvet seats, ornately decorated structural supports, and hand-painted compositions on the ceiling — remain acutely in focus.

‘though the proportion of the spaces varies, the goal is to attain both lateral and vertical symmetry in each image, thus flattening out the space in perfect equilibrium,’ leventi says. ‘the resulting view is an impossible one for the naked eye, but the camera allows both line-of-sight and periphery to come together in a single frame. this gives the effect – when one stands in front of the mural-sized prints – of being surrounded by the space.’

teatro alla scala, milan, italy, 2008
image © david leventi / courtesy rick wester fine art

‘the project is in remembrance of my grandfather anton gutman a cantor trained right after world war II by helge rosvaenge, a famous danish operatic tenor who sang regularly with the state operas in berlin and vienna,’ leventi says. ‘while gutman was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in the soviet union, he performed for prisoners and officers. nearly a half-century later, I grew up listening to him sing while he walked around our living room. the spaces included in this project are houses in which my grandfather never got the chance to perform. as the son of two architects, I experience an almost religious feeling walking into a grand space such as an opera house.’

mariinsky theater, st. petersburg, russia, 2009
image © david leventi / courtesy rick wester fine art

the series has recently been released as a 120 page book titled ‘OPERA’, which serves to historically document these national and cultural landmarks. find out more about the publication here. 

magyar allami operhaz, budapest, hungary, 2008
image © david leventi / courtesy rick wester fine art

teatro colon, buenos aires, argentina, 2010
image © david leventi / courtesy rick wester fine art

romanian athenaeum, bucharest, romania, 2007
image © david leventi / courtesy rick wester fine art