impresario n : a sponsor who books and stages public entertainments [syn: showman, promoter]

English

Noun

1. a manager or producer in the entertainment industry, especially music or theatre

Italian

Noun

feminine impresaria

1. entrepreneur, contractor
2. manager, producer, impresario

Synonyms

• imprenditore

Related terms

• impresa
• impresario di pompe funebri

Impresario, from the Italian impresa, an enterprise or undertaking, is a traditional term still very much in use in the entertainment industry for a manager or producer of concerts, tours and other events in music, opera, theatre and even rodeo. It is sometimes misspelled ‘impressario.’

The term is occasionally applied to others, such as art museum curators and conference organisers, who take a lead role in orchestrating events.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau said of himself that he was an impresario of scientists as an explorer and filmmaker who worked with scientists in underwater exploration. Nicholas Wade described James D. Watson and E. O. Wilson in The New York Times as impresarios of Charles Darwin's works.

Famous impresarios

• Rudolf Bing
• Sergei Diaghilev
• Richard D'Oyly Carte

• Fortune Gallo
• Bill Graham
• Ian Hunter
• Sol Hurok
• Robert Newman
• Ernesto de Quesada
• Aaron Richmond
• David Ferguson
• Quincy Jones

References

See also

• Entrepreneur
• Promoter (entertainment)
• Theatrical producer

MC, administrator, agent, auteur, ballyhoo man, barker, callboy, conductor, costume designer, costumer, costumier, deputy, directeur, director, emcee, equestrian director, exhibitor, governor, intendant, makeup man, manager, master of ceremonies, playreader, producer, prompter, rector, responsible person, ringmaster, scenewright, set designer, showman, spieler, stage director, stage manager, supercargo, theater man, theatrician, ticket collector, usher, usherer, usherette