La Fenice

Teatro La Fenice

Address	Venice Italy
Coordinates	45°26′01″N 12°20′02″E / 45.4337°N 12.3339°E / 45.4337; 12.3339
Owner	City of Venice
Capacity	1126
Construction
Opened	1792
Reopened	1837 2003
Architect	Gianantonio Selva Tommaso Meduna and Giovanni Battista Meduna Aldo Rossi
Website
www.teatrolafenice.it

Teatro La Fenice (pronounced [la feˈniːtʃe], "The Phoenix") is a historic opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre"^[1] and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice became the site of many famous operatic premieres at which the works of several of the four major bel canto era composers—Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi—were performed.

Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of three theatres to fire, the first in 1774 after the city's leading house was destroyed and rebuilt but not opened until 1792; the second fire came in 1836, but rebuilding was completed within a year. The third fire was the result of arson, and destroyed the house in 1996 leaving only the exterior walls; it was rebuilt and re-opened in November 2004. In order to celebrate this event, the tradition of the Venice New Year's Concert started.