Graz Opera Graz Opera Graz Opera (German: Oper Graz) is an Austria opera house and opera company based in Graz. The orchestra of the opera house also performs concerts as the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra ("Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester"). Opera had been performed in Graz since the 17th century, originally in a converted coach house on the Habsburg royal estates. The National Theatre (Schauspielhaus Graz), constructed in 1776, saw many early performances of Mozart's operas, although today (after many reconstructions) it is devoted to the performances of plays. The city's first dedicated opera house and the immediate predecessor of the Graz Opera was the
Second city of the United Kingdom remained steady around the one million mark; its central population fell like Glasgow's, but the city boundaries were extended several times in the early 20th century. Occasional claims were made for Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester. Since World War I, and up to the beginning of the 21st century, Birmingham had been considered by many to be the second city. Based on population within actual city boundaries the City of Birmingham, the most populous local government district in Europe, is substantially larger than the City of Manchester, which is the fifth largest in the UK (2006 estimates, see List of English