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76-709: The Queen Sonja Singing Competition was founded in 1988. Among the initiators was Mariss Jansons , former music director and principal conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra . At the time, the Norwegian classical music scene was experiencing a period of increased internationalization. The aim of the competition was to create an international arena for music in Norway, which could present young musicians, give Norwegian soloists an opportunity to be assessed at an international level, and attract greater international focus on

152-707: A 1984 concert, conducting the Hallé Orchestra . ) Jansons stated that he suffered from jet lag , and this was one reason that he left his American position. At the start of the 2003-2004 season, Jansons began his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO), for an initial contract of three years. His commitment with the BRSO was for ten weeks per season. In September 2006, Jansons extended his initial BRSO contract to August 2009. In July 2007, he further extended his contract with

228-566: A Grade I listed building . The Royal Opera House was rebranded as the Royal Ballet and Opera in 2024. The foundation of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden lies in the letters patent awarded by Charles II to Sir William Davenant in 1662, allowing Davenant to operate one of only two patent theatre companies ( The Duke's Company ) in London. The letters patent remained in the possession of

304-700: A bar and cloakroom. The Linbury is most notable for hosting performances of experimental and independent dance and music, by independent companies and as part of the ROH2, the contemporary producing arm of the Royal Opera House. The Linbury Studio Theatre regularly stages performances by the Royal Ballet School and also hosts the Young British Dancer of the Year competition. The venue was constructed as part of

380-484: A benefit concert for him after Covent Garden refused. In 1817, bare flame gaslight had replaced the former candles and oil lamps that lighted the Covent Garden stage. This was an improvement, but in 1837 Macready employed limelight in the theatre for the first time, during a performance of a pantomime, Peeping Tom of Coventry . Limelight used a block of quicklime heated by an oxygen and hydrogen flame. This allowed

456-484: A costume-making facility for the Royal Opera House and a training centre for students of costume-making from South Essex College . The building also houses the Royal Opera House's collection of historically important costumes. Other elements at High House, Purfleet, include The Backstage Centre, a new technical theatre and music training centre which is currently run by the National College for Creative Industries and

532-480: A loan to the Culture Recovery Fund . In 2023 members of the orchestra were selected to play at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla . In 2024, the public branding of the venue and its associated online and media presence was changed from the Royal Opera House to Royal Ballet and Opera to reflect the combined companies that call the physical building their home. The physical building itself remains

608-477: A main public area for performances in the main auditorium, the Paul Hamlyn Hall is also used for hosting a number of events, including private functions, dances, exhibitions, concerts, and workshops. The Linbury Studio Theatre is a flexible, secondary performance space, constructed below ground level within the Royal Opera House. It has retractable raked seating and a floor which can be raised or lowered to form

684-624: A major overhaul. In 1975 the Labour government gave land adjacent to the Royal Opera House for a long-overdue modernisation, refurbishment, and extension. In the early 1980s the first part of a major renovation included an extension to the rear of the theatre on the James Street corner. The development added two new ballet studios, offices, a Chorus Rehearsal Room and the Opera Rehearsal room. Dressing rooms were also added. By 1995, sufficient funds from

760-547: A new concert hall for the orchestra. On 8 November 2019, he conducted his final orchestral concert, at Carnegie Hall with the BRSO and Diana Damrau . In October 2002, Jansons was named the sixth Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) of Amsterdam, effective 1 September 2004, succeeding Riccardo Chailly . His initial Amsterdam contract was for three years, and his commitment in Amsterdam

836-645: A new studio theatre, the Linbury, as well as more public space was created. The inclusion of the adjacent old Floral Hall, which had fallen into disrepair and was used as a scenery store before redevelopment, created a new and extensive public gathering place. The venue is now claimed by the ROH to be the most modern theatre facility in Europe. Surtitles , projected onto a screen above the proscenium, have been used for all opera performances since they were introduced for school matinees in

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912-499: A playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, the first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel , began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. The current building is the third theatre on the site, following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1856 to previous buildings. The façade , foyer , and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of

988-558: A scenery-making facility for their operas and ballets at High House, Purfleet , Essex, on 6 December 2010. The building was designed by Nicholas Hare Architects. The East of England Development Agency, which partly funded developments on the park, notes that "the first phase includes the Royal Opera House's Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop and Community areas". The Bob and Tamar Manoukian Costume Centre, also designed by Nicholas Hare Associates, opened in September 2015, and provides

1064-437: A studio floor, a raised stage, or a stage with orchestra pit. The theatre can accommodate up to 400 patrons and host a variety of different events. It has been used for private functions, traditional theatre shows, and concerts, as well as community and educational events, product launches, dinners and exhibitions, etc., and is one of the most technologically advanced performance venues in London with its own public areas, including

1140-424: Is consistent with the maintenance of the best possible standards ..." The Royal Opera House reopened on 20 February 1946 with a performance of The Sleeping Beauty in an extravagant new production designed by Oliver Messel . Webster, with his music director Karl Rankl , immediately began to build a resident company. In December 1946, they shared their first production, Purcell 's The Fairy-Queen , with

1216-647: Is organised as a non-profit foundation headed by the Board of Directors. A Council consisting of representatives from the founding institutions acts as a consultative body for the board. Current Board members are Bernt Bauge (Chair), Birger Magnus, Mary Miller, Randi Stene and Marie Louise Sunde. The Council currently consists of Astrid Kvalbein (Dean, the Norwegian Academy of Music), Joachim Kwetzinsky (National Federation of Norwegian Musical Soloists), Arild Erikstad (NRK), Anna Einarsson (Dean, Oslo National Academy of

1292-558: Is separately Grade II heritage listed. The redevelopment had gone ahead on the strength of a pledge of £10m from the philanthropist Alberto Vilar and for a number of years, it was known as the Vilar Floral Hall; however Vilar failed to make good his pledge. As a result, the name was changed in September 2005 to the Paul Hamlyn Hall, after the opera house received a donation of £10m from the estate of Paul Hamlyn , towards its education and development programmes. As well as acting as

1368-640: The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus won the Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance at the 2006 Grammy Awards . In January 2006 he was awarded a Midem , a Cannes Classical Award as Artist of the Year. In 2007 he was honoured by the German Phono Academy with the Echo Klassik as Conductor of the Year. In 2011, he was awarded the same title by the German journal Opernwelt . Jansons won

1444-766: The Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2013. On 31 March 2013 Jansons was awarded a medal of honour "For the Merits before St. Petersburg". On 4 October 2013, Jansons received the Grand Merit Cross with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany . On 1 November 2013, Jansons was awarded Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion and received it from Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker . In November 2017,

1520-600: The First World War , the theatre was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works for use as a furniture repository. From 1934 to 1936, Geoffrey Toye was managing director, working alongside the artistic director Sir Thomas Beecham . Despite early successes, Toye and Beecham eventually fell out, and Toye resigned. During the Second World War the ROH became a dance hall. There was a possibility that it would remain so after

1596-975: The Leningrad Philharmonic . Jansons joined his father in Leningrad, where he began to study conducting, and soon entered the Leningrad Conservatory . In 1968, Herbert von Karajan visited the Soviet Union, and he singled out Jansons and Dmitri Kitayenko from a group of young conductors. Karajan offered Jansons the opportunity to study with him in Berlin, but the Soviet authorities blocked the offer. In 1969, Jansons continued his training with Hans Swarowsky in Vienna , and then in Salzburg with Karajan. In 1971, Jansons won

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1672-593: The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and the City of Oslo . The competition also receives private funding from Canica AS, Formue, Lucy Høegh Foundation, Sat Sapienti, Anders Sveaas’ Almennyttige Fond and Lindemans Legat. The Queen Sonja Singing Competition collaborates with opera academies in Europe and the US. The collaborating academies nominate up to two of their best singers to the competition. These singers are admitted directly to

1748-682: The Oslo Philharmonic , where he served as music director from 1979 to 2000. Besides the BRSO and RCO, he also directed the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 1997 to 2004; he was a frequent guest conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra . Jansons recorded prolifically , and was the recipient of numerous awards . Jansons was born in Riga , Latvia—then under German occupation during

1824-577: The Royal Opera House ( ROH ), is a historic opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden , central London . The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden , after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Opera , The Royal Ballet , and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal (1732), served primarily as

1900-814: The Royal Philharmonic Society awarded Jansons the RPS Gold Medal, with Mitsuko Uchida presenting the medal to Jansons during a concert with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks) on 24 November 2017 at the Barbican Hall . Jansons was the 104th recipient of the RPS Gold Medal. In 2018, Jansons was awarded Honorary Membership of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and in June 2018 of

1976-580: The Second World War —to Iraida Jansons, the diva of the Riga Opera , and Arvīds Jansons , conductor of the opera orchestra. Iraida, who was Jewish, gave birth to her son in hiding after being smuggled out of the Riga Ghetto , where her father and brother were murdered by the Nazis. As a child, Jansons first studied violin with his father. In 1956, Arvīds was appointed assistant conductor to Yevgeny Mravinsky at

2052-711: The Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert for the first time. Also in January 2006, he was awarded MIDEM 's Artist of the Year Award in Cannes. In October 2007, Jansons (who was Lutheran ) conducted Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for Pope Benedict XVI and 7,000 other listeners in the papal audience hall ( Auditorio Paul VI ). Jansons conducted the Vienna New Year's Concert for

2128-662: The Vienna Philharmonic . On 14 April 2019, Jansons received the Herbert von Karajan Prize at the Salzburg Easter Festival. In 2019, he received the Opus Klassik award in the category "Lifetime Achievement”. In 2020, the BRSO posthumously awarded its Karl Amadeus Hartmann Medal to Jansons. Jansons is credited on over 190 orchestral recordings. Royal Opera House The Royal Ballet and Opera , formerly

2204-711: The pantomime clown Joseph Grimaldi ( The Garrick of Clowns ) had performed his greatest success in Harlequin and Mother Goose; or the Golden Egg at Covent Garden, and this was subsequently revived, at the new theatre. Grimaldi was an innovator: his performance as Joey introduced the clown to the world, building on the existing role of Harlequin derived from the Commedia dell'arte . His father had been ballet-master at Drury Lane, and his physical comedy, his ability to invent visual tricks and buffoonery , and his ability to poke fun at

2280-527: The 'spectacular', including live horses on the stage and very loud music. Critics considered it a complete failure and Jullien was ruined and fled to America. Costa and his successors presented all operas in Italian, even those originally written in French, German or English, until 1892, when Gustav Mahler presented the debut of Wagner's Ring cycle at Covent Garden. The word "Italian" was then quietly dropped from

2356-407: The 1971 Portrait of Sir David Webster by David Hockney , which had hung in the opera house for several decades, was put up for auction at Christie's . It eventually sold for £12.8 million. The funds raised from the sale were needed to ensure the survival of the institution. "Significant redundancies " and an appeal for public donations were also made. In addition, the opera house applied for

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2432-457: The 1983/4 season. Since the reopening of the theatre in 1999 an electronic libretto system provides translations onto small video screens for some seats, and additional monitors and screens are to be introduced to other parts of the house. In 2014 design work, known as the Open Up Project, began with the aim of opening the theatre's building to the public during the day, as well as improving

2508-601: The 90s redevelopment of the Royal Opera House. It is named in recognition of donations made by the Linbury Trust towards the redevelopment. The Trust is operated by Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover and his wife Anya Linden , a former dancer with the Royal Ballet. The name Linbury is derived from the names Linden and Sainsbury. It was opened in 1999 with a collaboration from three Croydon secondary schools (including Coloma Convent Girls' School and Edenham High School ) in an original performance called About Face . In 2008

2584-470: The Arts Lottery through Arts Council England and private fundraising had been raised to enable the company to embark upon a major £213 million reconstruction of the building by Carillion , which took place between 1997 and 1999, under the chairmanship of Sir Angus Stirling . This involved the demolition of almost the whole site including several adjacent buildings to make room for a major increase in

2660-660: The Arts), Geir Bergkastet (The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet), Ingrid Røynesdal (director, the National Museum), and Frederik Zimmer (The Lindeman Foundation). 1st prize: €50 000 2nd prize: €10 000 3rd prize: €5 000 Finalist prizes: €1 500 Prize for the best performance of Lied: €1 500 The Ingrid Bjoner Scholarship (awarded to the best Norwegian competitor): NOK 100 000 In addition, prize-winners receive engagements with Norwegian orchestras and opera companies. The Queen Sonja Singing Competition’s main contributors are

2736-451: The BRSO to August 2012. In April 2011, he extended his BRSO contract to August 2015 in Munich. In June 2013, the BRSO further extended Jansons's contract through August 2018. In May 2015, the BRSO announced another extension of Jansons's contract through 2021. In July 2018, the orchestra announced a further extension of his contract through 2024. He regularly campaigned for the construction of

2812-829: The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, the Norwegian Academy of Music, the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. The singers participating in the competition are usually newly graduated singers who are ready to embark on their international careers. Held biannually in Oslo, the Competition draws on its global network of opera companies, conservatoires and professionals to bring together 40 young promising singers from around

2888-771: The Norwegian classical music scene. The competition was created as a joint project between several Norwegian music institutions, including the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet , the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra , the Norwegian Academy of Music , the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), the Lindeman Foundation and the Norwegian Society for Soloists. The first two competitions in 1988 and 1992 were organized for pianists. Marking

2964-402: The Queen Sonja Singing Competition consists of leading figures in the opera world. The jury usually has seven members and includes both professional opera singers and opera directors from around the world. After the preliminary rounds each jury member votes for 12 contestants to proceed to the semi-final. After the semi-final the jury members vote for six candidates who proceed to the final. After

3040-445: The Royal Opera House and Manchester City Council began planning stages a new development known as Royal Opera House, Manchester . The proposal would have seen the Palace Theatre in Manchester refurbished, to create a theatre capable of staging productions by both the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera. It was intended that the Royal Opera House would take residence of the theatre for an annual 18-week season, staging 16 performances by

3116-409: The Royal Opera House whilst the branding and business operations change their title to reflect this adjustment. The Paul Hamlyn Hall is a large iron and glass structure adjacent to, and with direct access to, the main opera house building. The hall now acts as the atrium and main public area of the opera house, with a champagne bar, restaurant and other hospitality services, and also providing access to

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3192-474: The Royal Opera, 28 performances by the Royal Ballet and other small-scale productions. A year later The Lowry sent an open letter to the then Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport , Ben Bradshaw , Arts Council England, Manchester City Council and the ROH, calling for the scheme, in its current form, to be scrapped. In 2010 it was announced that the project was being shelved as part of larger arts-funding cuts. The Royal Opera House opened

3268-425: The audience were extraordinary. Early pantomimes were performed as mimes accompanied by music, but as Music hall became popular, Grimaldi introduced the pantomime dame to the theatre and was responsible for the tradition of audience singing. By 1821 dance and clowning had taken such a physical toll on Grimaldi that he could barely walk, and he retired from the theatre. By 1828, he was penniless; Drury Lane held

3344-405: The ballet company. On 14 January 1947, the Covent Garden Opera Company gave its first performance of Bizet 's Carmen . Before the grand opening, the Royal Opera House presented one of the Robert Mayer Children's concerts on Saturday, 9 February 1946. Several renovations had taken place to parts of the house in the 1960s, including improvements to the amphitheatre but the theatre clearly needed

3420-420: The building for its inaugural production of William Congreve 's The Way of the World . During its first century, the theatre was operated primarily as a playhouse, with the Letters Patent granted by Charles II giving the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane exclusive rights to present spoken drama in London. Despite the frequent interchangeability between the two companies, competition

3496-432: The centenary of the birth of Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad in 1995, the competition has since then been arranged for singers. Until 2007, national competitions were arranged prior to the international competition. The competition changed its name to the Queen Sonja Singing Competition in 2022, in conjunction with a new logo and visual profile. The competition is currently arranged every two years in cooperation with

3572-419: The child performer Master Betty ; the great clown Joseph Grimaldi made his name at Covent Garden. Many famous actors of the day appeared at the theatre, including the tragediennes Sarah Siddons and Eliza O'Neill , the Shakespearean actors William Macready , Edmund Kean and his son Charles . On 25 March 1833 Edmund Kean collapsed on stage while playing Othello , and died two months later. In 1806,

3648-400: The city over the acoustics of the Oslo Concert Hall . In 1992, Jansons was named Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra . He worked as a guest conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra and recorded Mahler's Symphony No. 6 with them for the LSO Live label. In 1997, Jansons became the Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra . His initial contract

3724-410: The entrances, lobby areas and the Linbury Theatre. As part of the Open Up Project, IQ Projects were tasked with the renovation of the upper floor bar area and restaurant utilising various elements of bespoke glazing. In October 2020, the BBC reported that the Royal Opera House had lost 60% of its income as a result of restrictions implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic . As a consequence,

3800-419: The existing shell of the building. Rebuilding began in December 1808, and the second Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (designed by Robert Smirke ) opened on 18 September 1809 with a performance of Macbeth followed by a musical entertainment called The Quaker . The actor-manager John Philip Kemble , raised seat prices to help recoup the cost of rebuilding and the cost of an increased ground rent introduced by

3876-813: The final each jury member ranks the finalists from 1 to 6. The finalist with the lowest number is the competition’s 1st prize winner. Each jury member submits his or her votes in writing, without revealing them to the other jury members. The jury’s verdict is final. First Prize: Jasmin White (contralto, USA) Second Prize: Aksel Daveyan (baritone, Armenia) Third Prize: Nils Wanderer (countertenor, Germany) Lied Prize: Felix Gygli (baritone, Switzerland) Ingrid Bjoner Scholarship for best Norwegian participant: Victoria Randem (soprano, Norway) Finalist Prizes: Navasard Hakobyan (baritone, Armenia), Vladyslav Tlushch (baritone, Ukraine) and Rebecka Wallroth (mezzo-soprano, Sweden) Mariss Jansons Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons (14 January 1943 – 1 December 2019 )

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3952-421: The landowner, the Duke of Bedford, but the move was so unpopular that audiences disrupted performances by beating sticks, hissing, booing and dancing. The Old Price Riots lasted over two months, and the management was finally forced to accede to the audience's demands. During this time, entertainments were varied; opera and ballet were presented, but not exclusively. Kemble engaged a variety of acts, including

4028-434: The main auditorium at all levels. The building was formerly known as Floral Hall . It was originally built by the Opera House to house a flower market (also selling fruits and vegetables), hence the name. It was designed by Edward Middleton Barry and opened in 1860. After being used as a concert hall, it became part of the Covent Garden Market in 1887. A fire broke out in the building in 1956, after which it sat derelict. It

4104-434: The name of the opera house. The conjuror John Henry Anderson , who had exposed the Davenport brothers , leased the theatre to stage his shows which were critical of mediums and spiritualism . After a gala performance and bal masqué organised by Anderson, the theatre caught fire in the early hours of 5 March 1856 and was destroyed. Work on a third theatre, designed by Edward Middleton Barry , started in 1857, and

4180-428: The new building, which still remains as the nucleus of the present theatre, was built by Lucas Brothers and opened on 15 May 1858 with a performance of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots . The Royal English Opera company under the management of Louisa Pyne and William Harrison , made their last performance at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane , on 11 December 1858 and took up residence at Covent Garden on 20 December 1858 with

4256-463: The night of 30 November 2019 / 1 December 2019 at his home in the Tolstoy House , Saint Petersburg, as a result of a longstanding heart condition, aged 76. Jansons was awarded various international honours for his achievements, including Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit from King Harald of Norway and memberships in the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of Music Friends) in Vienna. He

4332-446: The patentees' heirs until the 19th century. Their whereabouts were unknown for some time, but as of 2019 they are held in the Rosenbach Museum & Library , Philadelphia . In 1728, John Rich , actor-manager of the Duke's Company at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre , commissioned The Beggar's Opera from John Gay . The success of this venture provided him with the capital to build the Theatre Royal (designed by Edward Shepherd ) at

4408-565: The preliminary rounds of the competition in Oslo and do not have to go through the regular application procedure. The collaborating opera academies are: Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, Royal Opera House , London Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Metropolitan Opera , New York The Opera Studio, Bayerische Staatsoper , Munich Internationales Operastudio, Opernhaus Zürich , Zurich International Opera Studio, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin Teatro alla Scala Academy Young Artist Program, Teatro alla Scala, Milan The jury of

4484-414: The premiere of Michael Balfe 's Satanella – the first opera to have its world premiere at the new theatre – and continued there until 1865. The theatre became the Royal Opera House (ROH) in 1892, and the number of French and German works offered increased. Winter and summer seasons of opera and ballet were given, and the building was also used for pantomime, recitals and political meetings. During

4560-401: The present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The main auditorium seats 2,256 people, making it the third largest in London, and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. The proscenium is 14.80 metres (48 ft 7 in) wide, with the stage of the same depth and 12.20 metres (40 ft 0 in) high. The main auditorium is

4636-524: The second prize at the "Herbert von Karajan" International Conducting Competition. Karajan invited Jansons to be his assistant with the Berlin Philharmonic , but the Soviet authorities blocked Jansons from ever hearing about the offer. In 1973, Jansons was appointed Associate Conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1979, he was appointed Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic , with which he performed, recorded and toured extensively. Jansons resigned his Oslo position in 2000 after disputes with

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4712-465: The second time in 2012, and for the third and final time in 2016. Jansons was married twice. He and his first wife, Ira, had a daughter, Ilona, who became a pianist at the Mariinsky Theatre. The marriage ended during his tenure in Oslo. Jansons and his second wife Irina (née Outchitel), a former speech therapist, had a home in Saint Petersburg, where Jansons kept his collection of scores. He held both Latvian and Russian citizenship. Jansons died during

4788-426: The site of an ancient convent garden. Inigo Jones had developed part of this property in the 1630s with a piazza and St Paul's church (now known colloquially as the actors' church). In addition, a Royal Charter had created a fruit and vegetable market in the area, a market which survived in that location until 1974 . At the opening of the theatre on 7 December 1732, Rich was carried by his actors in procession into

4864-514: The size of the complex. The auditorium itself remained, but well over half of the complex is new. The design team was led by Jeremy Dixon and Edward Jones of Dixon Jones BDP as architects. The acoustic designers were Rob Harris and Jeremy Newton of Arup Acoustics. The building engineer was Arup with Stanhope as developer. The new building has the same traditional horseshoe-shaped auditorium as before, but with greatly improved technical, rehearsal, office, and educational facilities. Additionally,

4940-404: The theatre; many of his operas and oratorios were written for that venue or had their first London performances there. He bequeathed his organ to John Rich, and it was placed in a prominent position on the stage. It was among many valuable items lost in a fire that destroyed the theatre on 20 September 1808. In 1792 the architect Henry Holland rebuilt the auditorium; he expanded its capacity within

5016-418: The use of spotlights to highlight performers on the stage. The Theatres Act 1843 broke the patent theatres' monopoly of drama. At that time Her Majesty's Theatre in the Haymarket was the main centre of ballet and opera but after a dispute with the management in 1846 Michael Costa , conductor at Her Majesty's, transferred his allegiance to Covent Garden, bringing most of the company with him. The auditorium

5092-448: The war but, following lengthy negotiations, the music publishers Boosey & Hawkes acquired the lease of the building. David Webster was appointed General Administrator, and Sadler's Wells Ballet was invited to become the resident ballet company. The Covent Garden Opera Trust was created and laid out plans "to establish Covent Garden as the national centre of opera and ballet, employing British artists in all departments, wherever that

5168-554: The world. The singers compete not only for its main prizes but to also receive coaching, masterclasses, career development sessions and international exposure. Previous prize-winners include, among others, Argentinian soprano Virginia Tola (1999), Norwegian soprano Marita Kvarving Sølberg (2001), German tenor Daniel Behle (2005), Russian soprano Olga Mykytenko (2003), Canadian soprano Maesha Brueggergosman (2001), Norwegian baritone Audun Iversen (2007) and Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen (2015). The Queen Sonja Singing Competition

5244-715: Was a Latvian conductor , best known for his interpretations of Mahler , Strauss , and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky , Rachmaninoff , and Shostakovich . During his lifetime he was often cited as among the world's leading conductors; in a 2015 Bachtrack poll, he was ranked by music critics as the world's third best living conductor. Jansons was long associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO; 2003–2019) and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO; 2004–2015) as music director. Born in Riga , Latvia, Jansons moved to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg ) in 1956, where he studied conducting, and he received further training in Austria. He first achieved prominence with

5320-412: Was acquired by the Opera House in 1977 and used as storage space. The redevelopment of the Floral Hall as part of the 1990s redevelopment project involved lifting up the cast iron structure to accommodate new public areas for the opera house underneath. The southern side of the hall now connected with another building, so the cast iron south portico was dismantled and rebuilt in Borough Market , where it

5396-460: Was awarded the St. Hallvard Medal in 1986. In May 2006, he was awarded the Order of the Three Stars (2nd class or Grand Commander), Latvia's highest state honour. He was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit in 2007 and in 2010, the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art . In 2008, Jansons received the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art . Jansons' recording of Shostakovich 's Symphony No. 13 with Sergey Aleksashkin (bass) and

5472-553: Was completely remodeled after an 1856 fire, during the following 1856–57 seasons, the company performed at the Lyceum Theatre . The theatre reopened as the Royal Italian Opera on 6 April 1857 with a performance of Rossini 's Semiramide . In 1852, Louis Antoine Jullien the French eccentric composer of light music and conductor presented an opera of his own composition, Pietro il Grande . Five performances were given of

5548-616: Was for three years, but his subsequent contract renewals were evergreen contracts that required yearly renewal. In June 2002, he announced his resignation, which would become effective in 2004. In April 1996, Jansons nearly died from a severe heart attack while conducting the final pages of La bohème in Oslo. He recuperated in Switzerland. Later, surgeons in Pittsburgh fitted an implanted defibrillator in his chest to give his heart an electric jolt if it failed. (Jansons's father had died at

5624-498: Was for twelve weeks per season. In April 2014, the orchestra announced that Jansons was to stand down as chief conductor after the 2014–2015 season. He conducted his final concert as chief conductor of the RCO on 20 March 2015, in the presence of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima . He subsequently held the title of conductor emeritus of the KCO until his death. In 2006, Jansons conducted

5700-445: Was intense, and the companies often presented the same plays at the same time. Rich introduced pantomime to the repertoire, performing himself, under the stage name John Lun , as Harlequin . A tradition of seasonal pantomime continued at the modern theatre until 1939. In 1734, the theatre presented its first ballet, Pygmalion . Marie Sallé discarded tradition and her corset and danced in diaphanous robes. George Frideric Handel

5776-488: Was named musical director of the company at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1719, but his first season of opera for the theatre was not presented until 1734. His first opera was Il pastor fido , followed by Ariodante (1735), and the première of Alcina , and Atalanta the following year. In 1743 there was a royal performance of Messiah ; its success resulted in a tradition of Lenten oratorio performances. From 1735 until his death in 1759, Handel gave regular seasons at

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