Music & cinema

This page is offered by visitvenice.co.uk, owners of beautiful apartment rentals in Venice, Italy, as a general overview guide to film and concerts that you can enjoy while staying in Venice.

La Fenice opera company

Now restored to its historic home, La Fenice presents a packed programme of opera, ballet, symphony and choral concerts (and in winter, marvellous free recitals by world music performers). These take place at the main Fenice theatre, 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 …

Cinema

Handing out the Golden Lion awards is the Mostra del Cinema every August/September, which draws the likes of Madonna, George Clooney and Mike Leigh 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 , a handful of 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 circuito communale.