The art and media Vocabulary

Opera – a musical play in which most of the words are sung, or plays and music of this type.

Sentence – The six principal roles in this opera have an average vocal range of two octaves.

Orchestra – a large group of musicians who play many different instruments together and are led by a conductor.

Sentence – After the orchestra had tuned up, the conductor walked on to the stage.

Concert – a performance of music by one or more musicians or singers.

Sentence – Three thousand audience crowded the concert hall.

Symphony – a long piece of music for an orchestra, usually with four movements (= parts).

Sentence – It is not possible to reconstruct the complete symphony from these manuscript sketches.

The Press – newspapers, periodicals, and often radio and television news broadcasting.

Sentence – The press has been blamed for intruding into people’s personal lives in an unacceptable way.

Conductor – someone who directs the performance of musicians or a piece of music.

Sentence – Finally in the programme, we come to the news that the American composer and conductor, Leonard Bernstein, has died.

Vocalist – a person who sings, especially with a group who play popular music.

Sentence – She guessed that her weekly visits made her a regular, for the keyboard player nodded at her and the guitarist/vocalist grinned.

Audience – the group of people together in one place to watch or listen to a play, film, someone speaking, etc.

Sentence – The audience clapped enthusiastically and called for more.

Festival – a special day or period, usually in memory of a religious event, with its own social activities, food, or ceremonies.

Sentence – The accusation of elitism seems unfair as the festival presents a wide range of music, with something to please everyone.

Carnival – (a special occasion or period of) public enjoyment and entertainment involving wearing unusual clothes, dancing, and eating and drinking, usually held in the streets of a city.

Sentence – The carnival got off to a virtually trouble-free start with the police reporting only one arrest.

Exhibition – an event at which objects such as paintings are shown to the public, a situation in which someone shows a particular skill or quality to the public, or the act of showing these things.

Sentence – A fire in the gallery caused the premature closing of the exhibition.

Classical Music – music that is considered to be part of a long, formal tradition and to have lasting value.

Sentence – He was passionately interested in classical music but failed to enthuse his children.

Theatre – a building, room, or outside structure with rows of seats, each row usually higher than the one in front, from which people can watch a performance or other activity.

Sentence – The theatre was evacuated when rain poured through the roof at the Liverpool Playhouse.

Cinemas – a theatre where people pay to watch films.

Sentence – Cinemas declined with the growth of television.

Art Gallery – a building where works of art can be seen by the public.

Sentence – The Art Gallery of Ontario has the world’s largest collection of sculptures by Henry Moore.

Museum – a building where objects of historical, scientific, or artistic interest are kept.

Sentence – The museum houses a fascinating miscellany of nautical treasures.

Ballet – a type of dancing where carefully organized movements tell a story or express an idea, or a theatre work that uses this type of dancing.

Sentence – I could not force my body into the contortions required by classical ballet.