The Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest was the frst place I shot. Built in the late 19th century, the circular auditorium was inspired by the design of ancient amphitheatres, and every seat has an uninterrupted view of the stage. Its murals depict the history of Romania in 25 scenes.
A night at the opera
I’ve been photographing opera houses since 2007, in homage to my grandfather. During WWII he was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in the USSR, where a famous Danish tenor heard him sing an aria and took him under his wing. Back in Romania, the prime of his career went by; I grew up listening to him sing in our living room. When I visited Romania to explore my family history, I shot the Athenaeum concert hall in Bucharest, and it was the trigger for the project; I decided to photograph the opera houses around the world that my grandfather was good enough to sing in, but never got the chance to. I began with important, historic places like Covent Garden, La Scala and the Met, and it snowballed from there. I’ve now visited more than 40, in 19 countries: from grand Italian opera houses to intimate venues and new buildings by star architects. Though some are more famous than others, they all have interesting architecture or stories – many were cities’ cultural centres, where people went to see and be seen and defning performances took place. I shot mostly from the centre of the stage, where my grandfather might have stood – a slow, deliberate process that felt like a performance too. To be there, in the most sacred spot, was an incredible, awe-inspiring feeling. I had a view that neither the audience nor the performers, with the lights down, really get to see. It was a unique privilege.