City Theatre

The City Theatre, built in 1908-1909 in Neo-Baroque style according to the plans of the Vienna architect Alexander Graf, can seat 878 visitors. The opening ceremony took place on September 21, 1909. The interior is decorated with a ceiling fresco by Eduard Veith representing allegories of Business, Industriousness, Trade, Transportation and Industry accompanying Apollo as modern Muses. The theatre saw a period of unprecedented success during the years 1920-1929 and 1933-1941 and achieved a high level of artistic performance under the management of Alfred Hutig from Austria. The best singers of Europe frequently performed on the city thetre stage. The Nazi occupation in 1938 put an end to the Czech theatre life. The theatre was shut down in 1944 as a result of financial difficulties. In May 1945 the theater was renamed ”Slavic Theater of Beneš and Stalin”, one month later the absurd name was changed to ”City Theater of Usti nad Labem”. The first post-war performance, Smetana’s Sold Bride, took place on June 30, 1945. In following years the theater became famous on the international scale, especially in the years 1962-1974 under the leadership of Frantisek Vajnar. Besides opera the theatre has had a dancing ensemble since 1946. In 1987-1993 the theatre building underwent an expensive renovation and was equipped with up-to-date stage technology and a new administration building was constructed next to the historical building. Current repertoire includes opera, operetta and ballet.

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