CLASSICAL MUSIC AND CINEMA
Venice ought to be better known for her music.
Not only Vivaldi, but Wagner, Stravinsky and Britten composed and performed
here. The Fenice opera company is well-known, but the city is also a centre
for magical chamber music. Cinema is another
matter. In Europe, Venice's international festival is rivalled only by Cannes
for drawing the stars, so the world's press literally follows in their wake.
La Fenice opera company
In
1995 its opera house burnt down, but this hasn't prevented the Fenice company
from continuing to present its packed programme of opera, ballet, symphony
and choral concerts (and in winter, marvellous free recitals by world music
performers). These take place at the PalaFenice (a temporary "big top"
home on the Tronchetto), the Teatro Malibran (a wonderful 18th century theatre)
and the Fondazione Cini on San Giorgio Maggiore. Check out the
full
programme and online booking facilities, or go to the independent Operabase
site for an
English-language
calendar.
Chamber music in Venice
Rule
1 of chamber music in Venice is to avoid buying tickets from people dressed
up in silly Vivaldi costumes - after the concert, neither your eyes nor your
ears will forgive you ... That said, you can confidently sample
La
Societa Veneziana di Concerti, which organises seasons of chamber
music by world-class visiting performers and vocalists, often at the restored
Teatro Malibran, and always in sensible clothes. (Don't let the amateur appearance
of their web site mislead you ...) Or go to the
festival
of baroque music at the extraordinary Scuola Grande di San Rocco, where
you can be transported by the music among acres of Tintoretto's paintings
...
You'll find this and other novels celebrating Venice in each
of our two vacation rental homes; if you're planning to stay elsewhere, you
might want to
buy
it from amazon.co.uk or
amazon.com.
If
you've landed on this page directly from
a web search, why not check out our two
selfcatering rental properties in Venice?
Cinema
Handing out the
Golden Lion awards is the
Mostra
del Cinema every August/September, which draws the likes of Liz Taylor,
Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis to the city (as if any arm-twisting were needed
...) However, we mere mortals the rest of the year round can look to the
Circuito
cinema, five municipally supported cinemas in Venice and Mestre. The jewel
in the crown, the plush
Giorgione Movie d'Essai, is in Cannaregio.
It shows films in English on Tuesdays, as well as a great selection of Italian
and foreign language films. To see the listings, click on "
Locandina
di
---" where "---" is the name of the month that interests you,
and then on "
Giorgione".
Theatre
Cinema
For the first time in 2007, Theatre Workout will be presenting an
English Theatre in Venice at the Fondamenta Nuove theatre. The first production is
Much Ado About Nothing, 24 July-26 August.
