AT THE THEATRE

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AT THE THEATRE
Opera house
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The 20th century brought great changes into the
theatre. Television, radio, cinema, video altered
the course of the major performing arts and
created the new ones. But still there are
hundreds of musical comedy theatres, drama
theatres, opera houses, puppet theatres,
philharmonics and conservatoires where the
audience is excited at the prospect of seeing a
play and the actors are most encouraged by the
warm reception.
Kemerovo Drama Theatre
Puppet theatre
Philharmonic
The Conservatoire de Musique
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An opera house is a theater building used for
opera performances that consists of a stage, an
orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage
facilities for costumes and set building. While
some venues are constructed specifically for
operas, other opera houses are part of larger
performing arts centers.
a stage
an orchestra pit
audience seating
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History
The first public opera house was the Teatro San
Cassiano in Venice, Italy, which opened in 1637.
Italy, where opera has been popular through the
centuries among ordinary people as well as
wealthy patrons, still has a large number of
opera houses.
When Henry Purcell was composing, there was no
opera house in London.
The first opera house in Germany was built in
Hamburg 1678. Early U.S. opera houses served a
variety of functions in towns and cities, hosting
community dances, fairs, plays, and vaudeville
shows as well as operas and other musical events.
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Features
Since many operas are large-scale productions,
opera houses are usually large generally more
than 1,000 seats and often several thousand
seats. Traditionally, Europe's major opera houses
built in the 19th century contained between about
1,500 to 3,000 seats, examples being Brussels' La
Monnaie (after renovations, with 1,700 seats),
Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater (with)1,636,
Paris' Opéra Garnier (with 2,200) and the Royal
Opera House in London (with 2268). Modern opera
houses of the twentieth century such as New
York's Metropolitan Opera (with 3,800) and the
San Francisco Opera (with 3,146) are larger. Many
operas do not require large-scale productions and
may be presented in smaller theaters, such as
Venice's La Fenice with about 1,000 seats.
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Brussels' La Monnaie
Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater
Paris' Opéra Garnier
Royal Opera House
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San Francisco Opera
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ARAX MANSOURIAN
ARAX MANSOURIAN is a graduate of voice from the
Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan, Armenia.
She was one of the leading sopranos of the
Armenian National Opera before migrating to
Australia in 1994.
Endowed with an exquisite timbre, broad vocal
range and fine acting ability, Ms Mansourian has
performed in the great operas of outstanding
Armenian, Russian and European composers.
She has appeared in the title role of Verdis
Aida, Leonora (II Trovatore), Elisabetta de
Valois (Don Carlos), Nedda (Pagliacci), Mimí (La
Boheme), Tatiana (Eugene Onegin), Lisa (Pikovaya
Dama), Maddalena (Andrea Chenier), Shoushan
(Davit Bek) and the title role in Tigranians
Anoush.
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Tim Pitman
Tim Pitman began his musical journey in the mid
1980s when he began composing music and
performing in front of live audiences.
In 1992, Tim entered one of the largest singing
competitions ever held in the South West of
England. Out of 3,500 singers, Tim came third,
then came out No 1 the following year, after
winning the same competition.
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Later in 1993, Tim Pitman became the first
singer/songwriter to be awarded a grant from The
Princes Trust. This helped him to turn
professional. Since then, he has performed in
over 2,500 shows and concerts.
Later in 2005, Tim Pitman performed at The
National Indoor Arena as part of the Royal
Birmingham Tattoo with the NATO Regimental Big
Band. He put in a sensational performance to
around 20,000 people which has lead to Tim being
invited to tour with Norman Rogerson a leading
promoter of military concerts in Europe.
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Luciano Pavarotti
He was born on October 12, 1935, in Modena,
Emilia-Romagna, in Northern Italy. He was the
first child and only son of two children in the
family of a baker.
In 1954, at the age of 19, Pavarotti decided to
make a career as a professional opera singer. He
took serious study with professional tenor Arrio
Pola, who discovered that Pavarotti had perfect
pitch, and offered to teach him for free. After
six years of studies, he had only a few
performances in small towns without pay.
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Pavarotti made his operatic debut on April 29,
1961, as Rodolfo in La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini,
at the opera house in Reggio Emilia. In the
following years he relied on the professional
advise from tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano, who
prevented Pavarotti from appearances when his
voice was not ready yet. Eventually Pavarotti
stepped in for Di Stefano in 1963, at the Royal
Opera House in London as 'Rodolfo' in La Boheme
by Giacomo Puccini, making his international
debut. That same year he met soprano Joan
Sutherland and the two began one of the most
legendary partnerships in vocal history
Pavarotti made his American debut opposite
Sutherland in February of 1965, in Miami Opera.
He died of kidney failure on September 6, 2007,
at home in Modena, Italy, where he was surrounded
by his family.