Lights On: The Story of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

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Published: 2 Dec 2022

Updated: 5 Sep 2025

Time taken: >15mins

Lights On: The Story of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

Insider accounts of how the arts centre came to be

Dance

Music

Theatre

Visual Arts

2 Dec 2022

5 Sep 2025

>15mins

Find out what it takes to create and sustain Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay in the Lights On exhibition at the Esplanade Concourse. Through the accompanying Lights On self-guided audio trail, available at various locations around the centre, listen to prominent Singapore artists and cultural workers share their perspectives on well-loved spaces. Here are a sampling of their voices and stories.

On the arts centre's location

The Singapore government decided to build a national performing arts centre to address the lack of purpose-built theatres for a growing arts scene, with the intention of making the country more culturally vibrant. Arts administrator Juliana Lim, who headed the planning team for Esplanade from the mid-1980s to early 1990s, shares early milestones such as how Marina Bay beat other locations like Orchard Road to become the site of the proposed national arts centre.

The Singapore Arts Centre team

Juliana Lim was General Manager of the Singapore Arts Centre Co Ltd (precursor to The Esplanade Co Ltd) from 1993 to 1997.

All about architecture

Though affectionately nicknamed the Durian by Singaporeans today, Esplanade’s cladding of aluminium sunshades was actually supposed to resemble a veil of leaves, and the centre was initially marketed as a lantern in the park. Juliana Lim, who played a key role in the planning and management of what would become Esplanade, and architect Koh Seow Chuan share more about how the design for the centre took shape

From planning to construction

Part of the proceeds from Singapore Sweep went towards building the national performing arts centre.

The early challenges

The government’s decision to build the two large venues first and defer indefinitely the construction of mid-sized venues in the original design brief upset the arts community. Many Singapore artists felt they could not create works of a scale to fill what would become the Esplanade Theatre and Concert Hall. The arts centre’s first CEO Benson Puah looks back on his early challenges on the job, which included a mid-1990s clash with Singapore’s drama doyen Kuo Pao Kun over the government’s decision.

Former Esplanade CEO, Benson Puah

Spaces for free performances

The initial Esplanade team led by Benson Puah decided to carve out other small spaces in and around the centre where performances could be staged, so that Esplanade could stage different types of performances, including free performances for the general public. One of these spaces was the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre. He shares why he held firm against government sceptics in the late 1990s in going ahead to build this theatre.

The Outdoor Theatre: Before and after

The Outdoor Theatre when it first opened in 2002.

Performing in the Esplanade Theatre

New horizons for different art forms

With the premiere of Marco Polo and Princess Blue – A Symphonic Epic at Esplanade Concert Hall during Esplanade’s Opening Festival, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) expanded the creative possibilities of Chinese orchestral music. SCO Music Director Tsung Yeh shares more about this milestone moment, his affinity for the Concert Hall, and how Esplanade changed the game for Singapore performing arts.

The turning of public opinion

How a visual arts space came to be

Unconventional spots for performances

Esplanade Through the Years

View from the lighting booth in the Concert Hall.

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Lights On: The Story of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

The Singapore Arts Centre team

From planning to construction

The Outdoor Theatre: Before and after

Esplanade Through the Years

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Lights On: The Story of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay

The Singapore Arts Centre team

From planning to construction

The Outdoor Theatre: Before and after

Esplanade Through the Years

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