1.
Royal National Theatre
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The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdoms three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. Internationally, it is known as the National Theatre of Great Britain, from its foundation in 1963 until 1976, the company was based at the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo. The current building is located next to the Thames in the South Bank area of central London, in addition to performances at the National Theatre building, the National Theatre company tours productions at theatres across the United Kingdom. Since 1988, the theatre has been permitted to call itself the Royal National Theatre, the theatre presents a varied programme, including Shakespeare and other international classic drama, and new plays by contemporary playwrights. Each auditorium in the theatre can run up to three shows in repertoire, thus widening the number of plays which can be put on during any one season. In June 2009, the theatre began National Theatre Live, a programme of simulcasts of live productions to cinemas, first in the United Kingdom, the programme began with a production of Phèdre, starring Helen Mirren, which was screened live in 70 cinemas across the UK. NT Live productions have since been broadcast to over 1,000 venues in 35 countries around the world, the NT had an annual turnover of approximately £87 million in 2012–13, of which earned income made up 80%. Support from Arts Council England provided 20% of income, and the remaining 7% came from a mixture of companies, individuals, trusts, in 1847, a critic using the pseudonym Dramaticus published a pamphlet describing the parlous state of British theatre. Production of serious plays was restricted to the patent theatres, at the same time, there was a burgeoning theatre sector featuring a diet of low melodrama and musical burlesque, but critics described British theatre as driven by commercialism and a star system. There was a demand to commemorate serious theatre, with the Shakespeare Committee purchasing the playwrights birthplace for the nation demonstrating a recognition of the importance of serious drama, the following year saw more pamphlets on a demand for a National Theatre from London publisher Effingham William Wilson. The situation continued, with a renewed call every decade for a National Theatre, attention was aroused in 1879 when the Comédie-Française took a residency at the Gaiety Theatre, described in The Times as representing the highest aristocracy of the theatre. This still left the capital without a national theatre and this work was interrupted by World War I. The play was part of the campaign to build a National Theatre. Still, the Government tried to apply unacceptable conditions to save money, attempting to force the amalgamation of the publicly supported companies. In July 1962, with agreements reached, a board was set up to supervise construction. The National Theatre Company opened on 22 October 1963 with Hamlet, the current building was designed by architects Sir Denys Lasdun and Peter Softley and structural engineers Flint & Neill and contains three stages, which opened individually between 1976 and 1977. The construction work was carried out by Sir Robert McAlpine, the Company was to remain at the Old Vic until 1977, when construction of the Olivier was complete. The National Theatre building houses three separate auditoria, additionally, a temporary structure was added in April 2013 and closed in May 2016
2.
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
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The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school in London, England. It is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, RADA is an affiliate school of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. Its higher education awards are validated by Kings College London and its students graduate alongside members of the departments which form the Kings Faculty of Arts & Humanities and it is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senate House complex of the University of London. Undergraduate students are eligible for government student loan through the Conservatoire for Dance, RADA also has a significant scholarships and bursaries scheme, offering financial assistance to many students at the Academy. The current director of the academy is Edward Kemp, the president is Sir Kenneth Branagh, the chairman is Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen and its vice-chairman was Alan Rickman until his death in 2016. RADA was founded in 1904 by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, an actor manager, in 1905, RADA moved to 52 Gower Street, and a managing council was set up to oversee the school. Its members included George Bernard Shaw, who donated his royalties from his play Pygmalion to RADA. In 1920, RADA was granted a Royal Charter, and in 1921, the Prince of Wales opened the theatre. The Gower Street buildings were torn down in 1927, and replaced with a new building, financed by George Bernard Shaw, in 1923, John Gielgud studied at RADA for a year. He later became President of the academy, and its first honorary fellow, a number of famous actors took on leading roles at RADA, such as Richard Attenborough, Oliver Neville, Nicholas Barter, and Alan Rickman. Other 1924 saw RADAs first government subsidy, a grant of £500, in 2001, RADA joined forces with the London Contemporary dance School to create the UKs first Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. The Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance joined this Conservatoire in 2005, in 2000 the Academy founded RADA Enterprises Ltd, which includes RADA in Business, providing training in communications and teambuilding that uses drama training techniques in a business context. The profits are fed back into the Academy to fund students training, RADA is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London. The main RADA building is on Gower Street, with a second premises nearby in Chenies Street, the Goodge Street and Euston Square underground stations are both within walking distance. RADA has five theatres and a cinema, there is also a 150-seat cinema. In January 2012, RADA acquired the lease to the adjacent Drill Hall venue in Chenies Street, the Drill Hall is a Grade II listed building with a long performing arts history, and was where Nijinsky rehearsed with Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes in 1911. This venue has a 200-seat space, the Studio Theatre, and a 50-seat space, the RADA library contains around 30,000 items. The collection was started in 1904 with donations from actors and writers of the such as Sir Squire Bancroft, William Archer, Arthur Wing Pinero
3.
Barbican Centre
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The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The Centre hosts classical and contemporary concerts, theatre performances, film screenings. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory, the Barbican Centre is member of the Global Cultural Districts Network. The London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra are based in the Centres Concert Hall, in 2013, it once again became the London-based venue of the Royal Shakespeare Company following the companys departure in 2001. The Barbican Centre is owned, funded, and managed by the City of London Corporation and it was built as The Citys gift to the nation at a cost of £161 million and was officially opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II on 3 March 1982. The Barbican Centre is also known for its brutalist architecture, Barbican Hall, capacity 1,943, home of the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. It is one of the largest public libraries in London and has an arts library, a large music library. The Barbican Library houses the London Collection of historical books and resources, some of which date back 300 years, the library presents regular literary events and has an art exhibition space for hire. The music library has two free practice pianos for public use, the Barbican Centre had a long development period, only opening long after the surrounding Barbican Estate housing complex had been built. It is situated in an area which was bombed during World War II. The Barbican Centre, designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon in the Brutalist style, has a complex layout with numerous entrances. Lines painted on the ground help would-be audience members avoid getting lost on the walkways of the Barbican Housing Estate on the way to the centre, the Barbican Centres design – a concrete ziggurat – has always been controversial and divides opinion. It was voted Londons ugliest building in a Grey London poll in September 2003, in September 2001, arts minister Tessa Blackstone announced that the Barbican Centre complex was to be a Grade II listed building. It has been designated a site of architectural interest for its scale, its cohesion. The same architectural practice also designed the Barbican Housing Estate and the nearby Golden Lane Estate, project architect John Honer later worked on the British Library at St Pancras – a red brick ziggurat. In the mid-1990s, an improvement scheme by Theo Crosby, of the Pentagram design studio, added statues. That improvement scheme added a bridge linking the Silk Street foyer area with the lakeside foyer area. The centres Silk Street entrance, previously dominated by an access for vehicles, was modified to give pedestrian access
4.
West End theatre
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West End theatre is a common term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of Theatreland in and near the West End of London. Along with New York Citys Broadway theatre, West End theatre is considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London, in 2013, ticket sales reached a record 14.4 million, making West End the largest English speaking audience in the world. Famous screen actors frequently appear on the London stage, helen Mirren received an award for her performance as the Queen on the West End stage, and then stated, theatre is such an important part of British history and British culture. Theatre in London flourished after the English Reformation, the first permanent public playhouse, known simply as The Theatre, was constructed in 1576 in Shoreditch by James Burbage. It was soon joined by The Curtain, both are known to have been used by William Shakespeares company. In 1599, the timber from The Theatre was moved to Southwark and these theatres were closed in 1642 due to the Puritans who would later influence the interregnum of 1649. After the Restoration, two companies were licensed to perform, the Dukes Company and the Kings Company, performances were held in converted buildings, such as Lisles Tennis Court. The first West End theatre, known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, was designed by Thomas Killigrew and built on the site of the present Theatre Royal and it opened on 7 May 1663 and was destroyed by a fire nine years later. It was replaced by a new designed by Christopher Wren and renamed the Theatre Royal. Outside the West End, Sadlers Wells Theatre opened in Islington on 3 June 1683. Taking its name from founder Richard Sadler and monastic springs that were discovered on the property, it operated as a Musick House, with performances of opera, as it was not licensed for plays. In the West End, the Theatre Royal Haymarket opened on 29 December 1720 on a site north of its current location. The Patent theatre companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, by the early 19th century, however, music hall entertainments became popular, and presenters found a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of melodrama. Melodrama did not break the Patent Acts, as it was accompanied by music, initially, these entertainments were presented in large halls, attached to public houses, but purpose-built theatres began to appear in the East End at Shoreditch and Whitechapel. The West End theatre district became established with the opening of small theatres and halls. South of the River Thames, the Old Vic, Waterloo Road, the next few decades saw the opening of many new theatres in the West End. It abbreviated its name three years later, the theatre building boom continued until about World War I
5.
Savoy Theatre
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The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity, for many years, the Savoy Theatre was the home of the DOyly Carte Opera Company, which continued to be run by the Carte family for over a century. Richards son Rupert DOyly Carte rebuilt and modernised the theatre in 1929 and it is a Grade II* listed building. In recent years it has presented opera, Shakespeare and other non-musical plays, the House of Savoy was the ruling family of Savoy descended from Humbert I, Count of Sabaudia, who became count in 1032. The name Sabaudia evolved into Savoy, Count Peter of Savoy was the maternal uncle of Eleanor of Provence, queen-consort of Henry III of England, and came with her to London. King Henry made Peter Earl of Richmond and, in 1246, on Peters death, the Savoy was given to Edmund, 1st Earl of Lancaster, by his mother, Queen Eleanor. Edmunds great-granddaughter, Blanche, inherited the site and her husband, John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, built a magnificent palace that was burned down by Wat Tylers followers in the Peasants Revolt of 1381. King Richard II was still a child, and his uncle John of Gaunt was the power behind the throne, in about 1505 Henry VII planned a great hospital for pouer, nedie people, leaving money and instructions for it in his will. The hospital was built in the ruins and was licensed in 1512. Drawings show that it was a magnificent building, with a dormitory, dining hall, Henry VIIs hospital lasted for two centuries but suffered from poor management. The sixteenth-century historian John Stow noted that the hospital was being misused by loiterers, vagabonds, in 1702 the hospital was dissolved, and the hospital buildings were used for other purposes. Part of the old palace was used for a prison in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the old buildings were demolished. Carte bought the freehold of the site, then known as Beaufort Buildings, early in 1880 for £11,000, in 1877 he engaged Walter Emden, an architect whose work includes the Garrick and the Duke of Yorks theatres. Before completing the purchase, city officials had assured Carte that they would open a new street on the south side of the plot. He paid his half in March 1880, but the officials caused lengthy delays, Carte told The Times, I am struggling in the meshes of red tape. He finally received the agreement in June. At the same time he ran into another obstacle, Emden suddenly revised his estimate of building costs upward from £12,000 to £18,000, Carte dismissed Emden, who successfully sued for £1,790 for services to date and £3,000 for wrongful dismissal
6.
BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
7.
Manchester International Festival
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The Manchester International Festival is a biennial international arts festival, with a specific focus on original new work, held in the English city of Manchester. The festival is an event, first taking place in June–July 2007. MIF17 is due to take place 29 June to 16 July 2017, the organisation is based in Blackfriars House, adjacent to Blackfriars Bridge but is due to move to a new £110 million new home, The Factory, by the beginning of 2020. The Festival was promoted and initiated with three pre-festival commissions, the first of these took place in November 2005, when Gorillaz performed live at the Manchester Opera House. Recordings of these performances were released as the Demon Days Live DVD. The second was The Schools Festival Song, a new piece by Ennio Morricone and Nicholas Royle sung by an 8, 000-strong schools choir, organised by Young Voices and it was exhibited in the Great Hall of Manchester Central Library from 28 February to 15 July 2007. The first edition of the Festival ran from 28 June -15 July 2007, Albarn wrote the score while Hewlett designed the set and costumes. The production was designed and created by Théâtre du Châtelet in co-operation with the Manchester International Festival and the Berlin State Opera, as well as Monkey, the Festival showcased two other events. Finance for MIF07 The 2007 festival made a £0. 2m loss, the economic impact to the region was £28. 8m. The 2009 Manchester International Festival took place between 2–19 July 2009, in October 2008, a press release announced the first three commissions for 2009, the entire festival programme featuring more than 20 commissions was announced in March 2009. Manchester alternative rock band Epiphany are also appearing as part of the procession, the festival also featured It Felt Like A Kiss, a multimedia production created by documentary-maker Adam Curtis, Damon Albarn and Punchdrunk theatre company. Finance for MIF09 The 2009 festival made a £0. 2m profit, the economic impact to the region was £35. 9m. Manchester International Festivals director Alex Poots stated that the most important thing for us to do is make an artistically and culturally important festival that is of the highest quality. The abolition of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, which contributed £900,000 to the 2009 festival, Damon Albarn debuted his opera Doctor Dee, based on the life of Elizabethan scientist and philosopher John Dee, at the Palace Theatre. Finance for MIF11 The 2011 festival made a £0. 1m profit, the economic impact to the region was £37. 6m. The festival returned in 2013 and ran from 4 to 21 July attracting a quarter of a million attendees. Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh directed a new adaptation of Macbeth at the Church of St Peter in Ancoats, the production was co-commissioned with New Yorks Park Avenue Armory where it played to rave reviews in May and June 2014. During the shows run at MIF13, Macbeth was broadcast to cinemas around the world by National Theatre Live, robert Wilson directed Mikhail Baryshnikov and William Dafoe in a surrealist adaptation of Daniil Kharms short story The Old Woman at the Palace Theatre
8.
Damon Albarn
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Damon Albarn, OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is best known as the singer of the British rock band Blur as well as co-founder, vocalist, instrumentalist. After spending long periods of time touring the US, Albarns songwriting became influenced by British bands from the 1960s. The result of these came in the form of Modern Life Is Rubbish, Parklife. All three albums received critical acclaim while Blur gained mass popularity in the UK, aided by a Britpop rivalry with Oasis, subsequent albums such as Blur,13, Think Tank and The Magic Whip contained influences from lo-fi, electronic and hip hop music. Along with Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett, Albarn formed the virtual band Gorillaz in 1998, drawing influences from alternative rock, trip hop, hip hop, electronica, dub, reggae and pop music, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2001 to worldwide success. Although Albarn is the only permanent musical contributor, the albums feature collaborations from a range of artists. Gorillaz are cited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band and he has also ventured into the world of opera with Dr Dee and Monkey, Journey to the West. In 2008 The Daily Telegraph ranked Albarn number 18 in their list of the 100 most powerful people in British culture, in a 2010 UK poll for Q magazine Albarn was voted the fourth-greatest frontman of all time. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music, Albarn was born on 23 March 1968, is the eldest child of artist Keith Albarn and his wife Hazel, née Dring. Their daughter Jessica, born in 1971, also went on to become an artist, Keith Albarn, originally from Nottinghamshire, was briefly the manager of Soft Machine and once a guest on BBCs Late Night Line-Up. He was head of The School of Art and Design at Colchester Institute, damons paternal grandfather Edward, an architect, had been a conscientious objector during the Second World War and was involved in a farming community in Lincolnshire, becoming a peace activist. In 2002 Edward Albarn died, Damon stated in an interview that Edward did not want to any longer. The Apollo Cumfycraft and The Tailendcharlie produced by his fathers company Keith Albarn & Partners Ltd under the trade-name of Playlearn, when Damon and Jessica were growing up, their family moved to Leytonstone, East London. The household was described as bohemian and their upbringing as liberal, Albarn agreed with his parents views, later claiming, I always thought my parents were absolutely dead right. I went against the grain in a weird way – by continually following them and his parents primarily listened to blues, Indian ragas and African music. The population of the area was predominantly white as opposed to the ethnically mixed part of London which he had used to. He described himself as not really fitting in with the politics of the place, Albarn was interested in music from an early age, attending an Osmonds concert at the age of six
9.
English National Opera
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English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martins Lane. It is one of the two opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. ENOs productions are sung in English, Baylis subsequently built up both the opera and the theatre companies, and later added a ballet company, these evolved into ENO, the Royal National Theatre and The Royal Ballet, respectively. Baylis acquired and rebuilt the Sadlers Wells theatre in north London, the opera company grew there into a permanent ensemble in the 1930s. During the Second World War, the theatre was closed and the company toured British towns, after the war, the company returned to its home, but it continued to expand and improve. By the 1960s, a theatre was needed. In 1968, the moved to the London Coliseum and adopted its present name in 1974. Among the conductors associated with the company have been Colin Davis, Reginald Goodall, Charles Mackerras, Mark Elder, the current music director of ENO is Martyn Brabbins. Noted directors who have staged productions at ENO have included David Pountney, Jonathan Miller, Nicholas Hytner, Phyllida Lloyd, ENOs current artistic director is Daniel Kramer. In addition to the operatic repertoire, the company has presented a wide range of works, from early operas by Monteverdi to new commissions, operetta. In 1889, Emma Cons, a Victorian philanthropist who ran the Old Vic theatre in a area of London. Although the theatre licensing laws of the day prevented full costumed performances, Cons presented condensed versions of well-known operas, among the performers were noted singers such as Charles Santley. These operatic evenings quickly became more popular than the dramas that Cons had been staging separately, in 1898, she recruited her niece Lilian Baylis to help run the theatre. At the same time she appointed Charles Corri as the Old Vics musical director, Baylis and Corri, despite many disagreements, shared a passionate belief in popularising opera, hitherto generally the preserve of the rich and fashionable. They worked on a budget, with an amateur chorus. By the early years of the 20th century, the Old Vic was able to present semi-staged versions of Wagner operas, Emma Cons died in 1912, leaving her estate, including the Old Vic, to Baylis, who dreamed of transforming the theatre into a peoples opera house. In the same year, Baylis obtained a licence to allow the Old Vic to stage performances of operas. In the 1914–1915 season, Baylis staged 16 operas and 16 plays, the opera, however, remained her first priority
10.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Born in Salzburg, he showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, while visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame, during his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons and he composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote, posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl and this was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in what is now Austria, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy and his elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl. Mozart was baptized the day after his birth, at St. Ruperts Cathedral in Salzburg, the baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself Wolfgang Amadè Mozart as an adult, Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, Germany, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as fourth violinist in the establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg, Leopold became the orchestras deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his sons birth, Leopold published a textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. When Nannerl was 7, she began lessons with her father. Years later, after her brothers death, she reminisced, He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and he could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five, he was composing little pieces
11.
Don Giovanni
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Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It is based on the legends of Don Juan, a fictional libertine and it was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theater, now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. Da Pontes libretto was billed as a dramma giocoso, a designation of its time that denotes a mixing of serious. Mozart entered the work into his catalogue as an opera buffa, although sometimes classified as comic, it blends comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements. A staple of the operatic repertoire, Don Giovanni for the five seasons 2011/12 through 2015/16 was ninth on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide. It has also proved a fruitful subject for writers and philosophers, the opera was commissioned as a result of the overwhelming success of Mozarts trip to Prague in January and February 1787. The subject matter may have chosen in consideration of the long history of Don Juan operas in Prague. For Bertati, the setting was Villena, Spain, whereas Da Pontes libretto only specifies a city in Spain, the score was completed on 28 or 29 October 1787 after Da Ponte was recalled to Vienna to work on another opera. Reports about the completion of the overture conflict, some say it was completed the day before the premiere. More likely it was completed the day before, in light of the fact that Mozart recorded the completion of the opera on 28 October. The score calls for double woodwinds, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, basso continuo for the recitatives, and the string section. The composer also specified occasional special musical effects, in act 2, Giovanni is seen to play the mandolin, accompanied by pizzicato strings. In the same act, two of the Commendatores interventions are accompanied by a chorale of oboes, clarinets, bassoons. The instrumentation and vocal writing are very reminiscent of Mozarts treatment of the voice of Neptune in Idomeneo, the opera was first performed on 29 October 1787 in Prague under its full title of Il Dissoluto Punito ossia il Don Giovanni – Dramma giocoso in due atti. The work was received, as was often true of Mozarts work in Prague. The Prager Oberpostamtzeitung reported, Connoisseurs and musicians say that Prague has never heard the like, the Provincialnachrichten of Vienna reported, Herr Mozart conducted in person and was welcomed joyously and jubilantly by the numerous gathering. Mozart also supervised the Vienna premiere of the work, which place on 7 May 1788. These cuts are very seldom performed in theatres or recordings, the operas final ensemble was generally omitted until the early 20th century, a tradition that apparently began very early on
12.
Cannes Film Festival
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Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. On 1 July 2014, co-founder and former head of French pay-TV operator Canal+ Pierre Lescure took over as President of the festival, the Board of Directors also appointed Gilles Jacob as Honorary President of the festival. The 2016 Cannes Film Festival took place between 11 and 22 May 2016, australian film director George Miller was the President of the Jury. I, Daniel Blake, directed by British director Ken Loach, in 2017, The Festival de Cannes will celebrate its 70th anniversary edition from May 17 to 28. In 1947, the festival was held as the Festival du film de Cannes, at that time the principle of equality was introduced, with a jury made up of only one representative per country. The festival is now held at the Palais des Festivals, expressly constructed for the occasion, although for its 1949 inaugural the roof was unfinished, the festival was not held in 1948 and 1950 on account of budgetary problems. Although its origins may be attributed in part to the French desire to compete with Autumns Venice Film Festival, in 1955, the Palme dOr was created, replacing the Grand Prix du Festival which had been given until that year. In 1957, Dolores del Rio was the first female member of the jury as a Sélection officielle – Member, in 1959, the Marché du Film was founded, giving the festival a commercial character and facilitating exchanges between sellers and buyers in the film industry. Today it has become the first international platform for film commerce, in 1962, the International Critics Week was born, created by the French Union of Film Critics as the first parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival. Its goal was to showcase first and second works by directors all over the world. In 1965, an hommage was paid to Jean Cocteau after his death, the next year, Olivia de Havilland was named the first female president of the festival. The 1968 festival was halted on 19 May, some directors, such as Carlos Saura and Miloš Forman, had withdrawn their films from the competition. The filmmakers achieved the reinstatement of the President, and they founded the Film Directors Society that same year, during the 1970s, important changes occurred in the Festival. In 1972, Robert Favre Le Bret was named the new President and he immediately introduced an important change in the selection of the participating films. Until that date, the different countries chose which films would represent them in the festival, Bessy created one committee to select French films, and another for foreign films. In 1978, Gilles Jacob assumed the President position, introducing the Caméra dOr award, in 1983, a new, much bigger Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was built to host the Festival. It was nicknamed The Bunker and provoked many reactions against it, in 1984, Pierre Viot replaced Robert Favre Le Bret as President of the Festival. It was not until 1995 that Gilles Jacob created the last section of the Official Selection and its aim was to support the creation of works of cinema in the world and to contribute to the entry of the new scenario writers in the circle of the celebrities
