2026 Tour Day 7: Performance at Verbrugghen Hall

Hi everyone, it’s Allison from the violin section!

We woke up to a cool, cloudy day of 51°F in Sydney and started off with a spectacular breakfast in the hotel, which had a wide selection of delicious foods and even offered crepes.

After that, we headed to tour the Sydney Opera House in our bus groups.

Fun fact: There are actually 6 distinct venues within the Opera House! A highlight of our tour was visiting the biggest of the venues, which can hold up to 2,500 people and is where we will be performing in just a few days.

In this hall, there are only natural acoustics for classical performances, achieved with two types of special wood that are very effective at reflecting sound. We also learned all about the amazing architecture and historical significance of the Opera House, which won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2003 and was, most notably, named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007.

As the tour concluded, the sun unexpectedly came out, and we had some free time to shop along the harbor. There were many food and souvenir stores to explore, and my group had lots of fun eating and shopping, and best of all, eating froyo together.

We also had quite a few conversations with store employees about GTCYS and life in the States.

After lots of fro(yo)licking, we returned to the hotel to recharge for about an hour before heading over to Verbrugghen Hall in the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

We did a quick sound check and then had the opportunity to listen to other orchestras’ rehearsals before dinner, during which we made some new Aussie friends! Following the other orchestras’ performances, we finished off the concert by performing our repertoire and played Jupiter for an encore. Everyone was pretty exhausted afterwards, so we all went back to the hotel to get a good night’s rest. See you tomorrow, Australia!

New student blogs are posted every day! See what we’ve shared so far.

Follow along on Instagram and Facebook for live updates from our student social media team. We’ll also send several emails with special highlights during tour, so make sure you’re part of our mailing list!

Learn more about GTCYS’ 2026 tour to New Zealand and Australia.