Esplanade

Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay is a waterside building located on six hectares of waterfront land alongside Marina Bay near the mouth of the Singapore River, purpose-built to be the centre for performing arts for the island nation of Singapore. Taking its name from the nearby Esplanade, it contains a Concert Hall which seats about 1,600 and a Theatre with a capacity of about 2,000 for the performing arts.

Upstairs view of the Esplanade Concert Hall.

Construction

Planning for the construction of the centre started in 1992, headed by the Singapore Arts Centre Co. Construction officially started on 11 August 1996, with a groundbreaking ceremony officiated by then Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Tony Tan. The Esplanade occupies the site of the former "Satay Club", a popular food haunt for Singaporeans which had been discontinued prior to the Esplanade's construction. The "Satay Club" had been relocated next to Sembawang Shopping Centre, before closing down.

The Esplanade was developed at a cost of about $600 million.

Facilities

The library@esplanade is located on the third floor of the building. There are outdoor performing centres, and retail and food space at the Esplanade Mall. There is an outdoor open space on the fourth floor of the building, which is the highest point open to the public.

As one of the world’s busiest arts centres, Esplanade offers a staggering range of programmes which caters to all audiences. In addition to Esplanade Presents performances, other offerings by diverse presenters complement the programmes at the centre, ensuring that there is something for everyone.

Esplanade’s programmes are broadly organised around key areas – the community and access programmes form the foundation of activities at the centre, collaborations with mainly local arts groups help develop the industry, while leading international productions offer innovative programmes in the major arts genres. These programmes are presented in different festivals and series designed to appeal to the broadest range of audiences.

Esplanade's in-house programming team presents over 14 festivals and 20 on-going series throughout the year. As a centre for everyone, the programmes range from PLAYtime! for 2 to 4 year olds, Bitesize - a monthly talk and workshop taster series for a range of Arts topics, to At The Concourse - a non-ticketed music series that runs everyday of the year, as well as Coffee Morning Afternoon Tea - concerts featuring nostalgic English and Chinese golden hits by veteran local artists.