Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Gioachino Rossini" the Liceo passed from the city of Pesaro to the Italian Ministry of Education. Zandonai was followed by another opera composer, Franco Alfano, who held the Directorship from 1947 to 1950. The conservatory produced or participated in a number of opera productions during the 20th century, including "Il barbiere di Siviglia" (1916), "La gazza ladra" (1941), "Le Comte Ory" (1942) and later "Orfeo ed Euridice", "Suor Angelica", "Gianni Schicchi", "Il Signor Bruschino", "Francesca da Rimini", and "Dido and Aeneas". In 1999 the school was designated by the Italian government as an "Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali" (Higher Institute of Musical
Classical music of Birmingham Company - specialises in staging innovative performances in unusual venues (in 2005 it performed Monteverdi's "Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria" in a burnt-out ice rink in the Chinese Quarter). Its artistic director, Graham Vick, has also directed at La Scala, Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera House in London. Visiting opera companies such as Opera North and Welsh National Opera perform regularly at the Hippodrome. Birmingham's other principal classical music venues include The National Indoor Arena (NIA), CBSO Centre, The Bradshaw Hall at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the Barber Concert Hall at the Barber Institute