Animpresario (fromItalianimpresa'an enterprise or undertaking')[1][verification needed] is a person who organizes and often financesconcerts,plays, oroperas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of afilm ortelevision producer.
The term originated in the social and economic world ofItalian opera, in which from the mid-18th century to the 1830s, the impresario was the key figure in the organization of a lyric season.[2] The owners of the theatre, usually amateurs from the nobility, charged the impresario with hiring acomposer (until the 1850s operas were expected to be new) and the orchestra, singers, costumes and sets, all while assuming considerable financial risk. In 1786Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart satirized the stress and emotional mayhem in a single-act farceDer Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario).Antonio Vivaldi was unusual in acting as both impresario and composer; in 1714 he managed seasons atTeatro San Angelo in Venice, where his operaOrlando finto pazzo was followed by numerous others.
Alessandro Lanari (1787–1852), who began as the owner of a shop that produced costumes, eliminated the middleman in a series of successful seasons he produced for theTeatro della Pergola in Florence. He presented the premieres of the first version ofGiuseppe Verdi'sMacbeth, two ofVincenzo Bellini's operas and five ofGaetano Donizetti's, includingLucia di Lammermoor.Domenico Barbaia (1778–1841) began as a café waiter and made a fortune atLa Scala, in Milan, where he was also in charge of the gambling operation and introducedroulette.
Duchess Elisabeth Sophie of Mecklenburg[3] was aharpsichordist who also presided over seventeenth-century North German court music as an impresario.
The traditional term is still used in theentertainment industry to refer to a producer ofconcerts, tours and other events in music, opera,theatre,[4] and evenrodeo.[5] Important modern impresarios in the traditional sense includeThomas Beecham,Rudolf Bing,Sergei Diaghilev,Richard D'Oyly Carte,Fortune Gallo,Sol Hurok,Sarah Caldwell,Andrew Lloyd Webber,Aaron Richmond, and jazz festival producerGeorge Wein.Bill Graham, who produced music shows atThe Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, was known as a rock music impresario.
The term is occasionally applied to others, such as independent art museumcurators,[6] event planners, and conference organizers[7] who have a leading role in orchestrating events.
Jacques Cousteau said of himself that he was an impresario of scientists[8] as an explorer and filmmaker who worked with scientists in underwater exploration.Nicholas Wade describedJames Watson andE. O. Wilson inThe New York Times as impresarios ofCharles Darwin's works.[9]
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