The Ethiopian National Theatre (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: የኢትዮጵያ ብሄራዊ ቲያትር) is a national theatre in central

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. Formerly known as Haile Selassie I Theater, it was initially built by

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

during its occupation of Ethiopia as Cinema Marconi, which consisted of some 250 seats. In 1955, the theatre was established as national theatre under Emperor

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

. The Austrian composer Franz Zelwecker was the first director general of the theatre. In 2019, plan to build new headquarter has been commenced.

Overview

Formerly known as the Haile Selassie I Theater, the hall had begun to be built during the Italian occupation as the Cinema Marconi with some 350 seats. The building was later completed in 1955 for the celebrations of the Silver Jubilee, and expanded to seat 1,260 people. The theatre group was founded by the government in the late 1940s, with the main objective of playing

Ethiopian songs Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

by soloists accompanied by a modern orchestra. The Austrian composer Franz Zelwecker became the first director of the National Theater. The theater is divided into two directorates, one for theater and the other for music. The music directorate includes the Izra Folk Music and Dance Group, Yared Modern Orchestra, Dawit POP Orchestra and String Orchestra. In 2019, the theatre planned to renovated with 1.5 billion birr, anticipated for completion within five years. The new theatre has 12 storey, lying on 7,000 square kilometers with construction is undertaken by the Addis Mebratu Consulting Architects & Engineers. Initially awarded to the Afro Tsion Construction PLC, the Federal Building Construction Project Office took part in March 2021. Manyazewal Endeshaw has been the director general of the theatre since 2019.

References

External links

Ethiopian Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture
Theatres completed in 1955 Theatres in Ethiopia Buildings and structures in Addis Ababa Culture in Addis Ababa 1955 establishments in Ethiopia 20th-century architecture in Ethiopia {{Ethiopia-struct-stub

Overview

See also

References

External links