A singer overwhelmed by his crowd. A dancer on ice above sea. A teenage girl, later to become a virtuoso conductor, jolted by the sound of a symphony.

Two filmmakers exchange vows on their opera set. A photographer hears a Cistercian echo in the sails. And one night, after a Verdi curtain call, an audience member who looks a lot like Bob Dylan receives a private singing lesson in a theatre named after Australia’s greatest opera star.

For fifty years, the Sydney Opera House has elevated the spirits of all who enter its orbit.

Here, fifty artists – from Simone Young to Nick Cave, Sylvie Guillem to Briggs, Baz Luhrmann to Carlotta – share their most indelible memories from a building that embodies the Australian contemporary experience.