Opera house

Features typical of opera houses

Because many operas call for large-scale productions, opera houses are usually large – generally more than 1,000 seats and often several thousand seats. Many operas do not require large-scale productions and may be presented in smaller theaters.

In a traditional opera house, the auditorium is normally U-shaped, with the length of the sides deciding the audience capacity. Around this are tiers of balconies, and often, nearer the stage, are boxes (small partitioned sections of a balcony where a wealthy lady can sit comfortably in a wide-skirted ballgown). An opera house generally has a spacious orchestra pit, where a large number of orchestra players may be seated at a level below the audience, so that they can play without overwhelming the singing voices. The size of an opera orchestra varies, but for some operas, oratorios and other works, it may be very large — for some romantic period works, it can be well over 100 players. Similarly, an opera may have a large cast of characters, chorus, dancers and supernumeraries. Therefore, a major opera house will have extensive dressing room facilities. Opera houses often have on-premises set and costume building shops and facilities for storage of costumes, make-up, masks, and stage properties, and may also have rehearsal spaces.

Major opera houses throughout the world often have highly mechanized stages, with large stage elavators permitting heavy sets to be changed rapidly. At the Metropolitan Opera, for instance, sets are often changed during the action, as the audience watches, with singers rising or descending as they sing. This occurs, for example, in the Met's productions of Aida and Tales of Hoffman. Although stage, lighting and other production aspects of opera houses often make use of the latest technology, traditional opera houses generally have not had elaborate sound systems, since the singers are normally expected to project unamplified voices. In many opera houses, however, sound systems are being introduced, as some operas or non-opera productions permit amplification.

Often, operas are presented in their original languages, which may be different from the first language of the audience. For example, an opera presented in London may be in the German language. Therefore, modern opera houses have begun to assist audience understanding of the text of the operas by providing supertitles projected over or near the stage and, more recently, a more complex electronic libretto system on individual screens attached to the backs of seats.


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Travel : Japan

Japan (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon,? officially 日本国 Nihon-koku or Nippon-koku) is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of China, Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes identified as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan's capital and largest city is Tokyo.

Japan comprises over three thousand islands,[1] the largest of which are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of land area. Most of the islands are mountainous, many volcanic; for example, Japan’s highest peak, Mount Fuji, is a volcano. Japan has the world's tenth largest population, with about 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.

Archaeological research indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the first century AD. Influence from the outside world followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. Thus, its culture today is a mixture of outside influences and internal developments. Since adopting its constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, the Diet.

A great power,[2] Japan is the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP and is a member of the United Nations, G8 and APEC.


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Travel : Sweden

Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Its capital city is Stockholm. It is surrounded by Norway (west), Finland (northeast), the Skagerrak, Kattegat and Oresund straits (southwest) and the Baltic Sea (east). It has maritime borders with Denmark, Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and it is also linked to Denmark (southwest) by the Öresund Bridge. It has been a member of the European Union since 1995.

At 449,964 km² (173,720 square miles), Sweden is the third largest country in Western Europe. Sweden has a low population density except in its metropolitan areas; 84 percent of the population lives in urban areas, which take up only 1.3 percent of the total land area.[1]

The citizens enjoy a high standard of living and the country is generally perceived as modern and liberal,[2] with an organizational and corporate culture that is non-hierarchical and collectivistic compared to its Anglo-Saxon counterparts.[3] Nature conservation, environmental protection and energy efficiency are generally prioritized in policy making and embraced by the general public in Sweden.[4][5]

Sweden has a long tradition as a major exporter of iron, copper and timber. Improved transportation and communication allowed more remote natural assets to be utilized on a larger scale, most notably timber and iron ore. In the 1890s, universal schooling and industrialization enabled the country to develop a successful manufacturing industry and by the twentieth century, Sweden emerged as a welfare state, consistently achieving a high position among the top-ranking countries in the UN Human Development Index (HDI). Sweden has a rich supply of water power, but lacks significant oil and coal deposits.

During the Middle Ages, Denmark, Norway and Sweden (including the Swedish-controlled areas of what is today Finland), were united through the Kalmar Union, formed in 1397 under Margaret I of Denmark. Sweden left the union in the 16th century, and battled its neighbours for many years, especially Russia and Denmark-Norway. In the seventeenth century, during an era of absolute monarchy, the Swedish kings expanded Sweden's territory through warfare, creating Swedish dominions on the Scandinavian peninsula, in the Baltic and in areas in present-day Germany. After the death of Charles XII in 1718, the Swedish empire crumbled. In 1809, the eastern part of Sweden, Österland and the eastern part of Norrland became Finland, the semi-autonomous Grand Duchy of Imperial Russia and by 1814, Sweden had lost all of the conquered territory outside the Scandinavian peninsula. In 1814, Norway was coerced into a personal union with Sweden which lasted until 1905. Since 1814, Sweden has been at peace, adopting a non-aligned foreign policy in peacetime and neutrality in wartime.

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Travel : Switzerland

Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera, Romansh: Svizra), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country in Western Europe. This small multi-lingual country, of a little over 7.5 million people, has four national languages, German,[3] French, Italian, and Romansh. The country is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria, and Liechtenstein. It dates its independence to 1291; historically it was a confederation, and it has been a federation since 1848, with a current division into 26 cantons, six of which are sometimes referred to as "half-cantons", since they have less representation in the Council of States.



Switzerland has a strong economy in finance and banking, rates highly in international economic standards despite its small size, and maintains a long and strong tradition of political and military neutrality. This background allows Switzerland to host various international organizations, such as the United Nations, which, though headquartered in New York City, has many departments in Switzerland. The safety, security, and scenic beauty of the country, for walking, hiking, climbing, and skiing, give it a strong and robust tourism sector.

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Travel : Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region commonly known as Hong Kong is one of the two special administrative regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), along with Macau. Comprising more than 260 islands, the territory is located on the eastern side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province in the north and facing the South China Sea in the east, west and south.

Hong Kong was under United Kingdom administration from 1842 until the transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997. The Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Hong Kong stipulate that Hong Kong will operate with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2047, fifty years after the transfer. Under the policy of "one country, two systems", the Central People's Government is responsible for the territory's defense and foreign affairs, while Hong Kong maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, immigration policy, and delegates to international organizations and events.




Hong Kong, the Oriental Pearl, is simply amazing!

It would be hard to find a more exciting city than Hong Kong. Set among beautiful natural surroundings it has all the benefits of a thriving and vibrant commercial center. Here you can find the delights of modern living alongside an abundance of reminders of its historic past. Whether you visit the better known highlights like the stunning Ocean Park, the fantastic viewpoint of Victoria Peak or the beautiful Repulse Bay , Hong Kong is certain to exceed your expectations.



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Travel Thailand - Songkran Festival

Welcome to Thailand in Festival / April

"Songkran"

...From Wikipedia,

The Thai New Year (Thai: สงกรานต์ Songkran) is celebrated every year on 13 April to 15 April. It is also celebrated in Laos (called Songkan in Lao), Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma where it is called Thingyan), and by ethnic Dai in Yunnan, China. Sri Lanka also celebrates a similar festival called Sinhalese and Tamil new year on the same dates.



The date of the festival was originally set by astrological calculation, but it is now fixed . If these days fall on a weekend, the missed days off will be taken on the days immediately following (But Sri Lanka still uses an astrological calculation to set the dates and times based on the sun's positional change and those dates and times are used to start the festival events).

Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the end of the dry season. Until 1888 the Thai New Year was the beginning of the year in Thailand; thereafter 1 April was used until 1940. 1 January is now the beginning of the year. The traditional Thai New Year has been a national holiday since then.

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WebSite ... (SongKran Festival)

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