AT THE THEATRE Opera house

The 20th century brought great changes into the theatre 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. Puppet theatre The Conservatoire de Musique Philharmonic Kemerovo Drama Theatre

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

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.

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.

Brussels' La Monnaie Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater Paris' Opéra Garnier Royal Opera House

San Francisco Opera

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 Verdi’s “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 Tigranian’s “Anoush”.

Tim Pitman Tim Pitman began his musical journey in the mid 1980’s 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.

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.

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.

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.