The Sydney Opera House and YouTube have announced a live, two-year streaming partnership. Beginning in 2013, 20 performances will be made available for streaming on a new YouTube channel, Live at Sydney Opera House. The first performance will be announced by the Opera House early in 2013.

‘I am hugely excited that this partnership will allow the Opera House to deliver some of our finest performances live across Australia and the world,’ said Sydney Opera House CEO Louise Herron. ‘Online video is a major part of our strategy to ensure Opera House experiences are available to anyone, anywhere at any time. The past financial year saw our online video views experience 300 per cent growth. Over the coming years we expect that the numbers watching on YouTube will match or exceed the 8.2 million who visit our precinct annually.’

Over the last financial year, almost 1.4 million people bought tickets to 1,800 performances at the Opera House. In 2012 the venue streamed a live concert by Australian band The Temper Trap, which achieved an online audience 100 times greater than those able to attend the performance in the Concert Hall.