Holiday Season in Monaco

Monaco offers special cultural events and gala dinners throughout the Principality on Christmas Eve and on New Year’s Eve, including parades, concerts and activities for children. Monaco's hotels and restaurants offer special packages. On New Year's Eve at the stroke of midnight, revelers convene in the magnificent Casino Square to ring in the New Year.In Monaco, Christmas Eve was the occasion when all the members of a family would gather at their home to perform, as a preliminary act to the evening meal, the rite of the olive branch. Before sitting down, the youngest of the guests, or the oldest, soaked an olive branch in a glass of old wine. He approached the fireplace where a great fire of pine and laurel branches burned and with his little branch traced the sign of the Cross while pronouncing a few words on the virtues of the olive tree, a source of all kinds of good things. After this, everybody in turn would wet his lips in the glass of wine serving as an aperitif. Dinner traditionally consists of an enormous "brandamincium", a Monégasque dish of salt cod pounded with garlic, oil and cream, surrounded by "cardu", cardoon in white sauce; "barba-giuan", literally "Uncle John", stuffed fritters and "fougasses" flat crunchy biscuits sprinkled with sugared aniseed colored red and white, flavored with several drops of rum and orange-flower water.

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For Its First Venture Abroad, Monte-Carlo SBM Has Chosen Marrakech

Masters of savoir-faire since 1863, having reached the pinnacle of excellence, the Monte-Carlo S.B.M. brand has, throughout its prodigious history, made a name for itself as a leading trendsetter. Today, it is one of the world’s top luxury brands, ready to export its image to the planet’s great capital cities and the most elegant venues. For its first project abroad, the Monegasque group has chosen a flagship destination, popular amongst its traditional clientele: Marrakech.

For more information, please go to http://www.visitmonaco.com/pdf/marrakech08.pdf

Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival January 15-25, 2009

For decades, the circus has been known for its ability to brighten up the faces and spirits of adults and children alike. As a young child, H.S.H. Prince Rainier was fascinated with the circus world. It is for this reason that in 1974, he created the Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival to showcase the world’s greatest Big Top performers. Each year hundreds of acts request to be a part of this weeklong ceremony, during which the two best performances are crowned with the coveted Gold and Silver Clown awards. Held every year in mid-January, the event features spectacular animal acts, uproarious comedic performances, and masterfully choreographed acrobatic feats. Each act is judged on its technical difficulty and creativity by a panel composed of seasoned circus professionals from around the world. Presiding over the panel, H.S.H. Prince Albert II and His Sister, H.S.H. Princess Stephanie (who serves as Vice President), traditionally open the star-studded festivities.

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Monte-Carlo Ballet Season 2009

In 1985, H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover recreated a new company in the Principality, a project initiated by her mother, Princess Grace, and became the President of the company, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.

Since the first performance of Serge de Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Monaco in 1911, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo became the first official company of the Principality of Monaco, performing throughout the year at the Opera de Monte-Carlo as well as in the most famous theaters and venues abroad. Determined to keep this ballet company at the highest professional level, and to enrich the repertoire with creations and contemporary works, the President of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo offered the direction to Jean-Christophe Maillot in 1993.

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Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra Season 2009

The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1856, holds a rarefied position in the musical world having been led by guest conductors such as Arturo Toscanini, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Bruno Walter, Richard Strauss, Victor de Sabata, Sir Thomas Beecham, Kiril Kondrachin, Raphael Kubelik, Leopold Stokowski, Charles Munch, Sir John Barbirolli, and Eugene Jochum.

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Monte-Carlo Opera Season 2009

By the end of the nineteenth century, Charles Garnier was hired to build Monaco's Opera House. The famous architect had gained recognition from his work for the Paris Opera House.

Sarah Bernhard inaugurated the new Salle Garnier in 1879. Between 1893 and 1951, Raoul Gunsbourg directed the Opera and built fame and prestige for Monaco's Opera House. Among the best internationally, Monaco's Opera hosted great voices such as Patti, Tamagno, Melba, Caruso, Chaliapine, Garden, Schipa, Dalla Rizza, Gigli, Lubin, Muzio, Thill, and Pons.

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Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique at the Cleveland Museum of Art through January 18, 2008

A jeweled masterwork from the Princely Family of Monaco's private collection... This fall at the Cleveland Museum of Art, one of Princess Grace's most treasured possessions, never before seen in the United States, will be unveiled -- and will be a highlight of Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique, an exhibition which runs from October 19 - January 18, 2009.

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