Évry, Essonne coming from as far away as Canada, but only 500 visitors watched the ceremony on a giant screen erected in the nearby park. The following political parties have a permanent base in Évry: The composer Gioachino Rossini had a country residence in Évry to be near his friend Edmond de Goncourt, who lived on the opposite bank of the Seine in Draveil. It was here that he wrote the greater part of his opera "The Barber of Seville". On 16 November 1943, Resistance fighter Missak Manouchian was arrested during a gun battle on the banks of the Seine, a few
Gioachino Rossini under state control and turned into the Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Gioachino Rossini". The corporate body which managed Rossini's inheritance assumed the name Fondazione G. Rossini. The aims of the institution, which is still active, are to support the conservatory and promote the figure, the memory, and the works of Rossini. The institution has been a major sponsor of the Rossini Opera Festival since its beginning. Rossini's estate funded the Prix Rossini, a prize awarded to young French composers and librettists. The prize began to be awarded in 1878 on the death of his widow and is given by the