impresario
Americannoun
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a person who organizes or manages public entertainments, especially operas, ballets, or concerts.
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any manager, director, or the like.
noun
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a producer or sponsor of public entertainments, esp musical or theatrical ones
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the director or manager of an opera, ballet, or other performing company
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of impresario
1740–50; < Italian, equivalent to impres ( a ) impresa + -ario -ary
Explanation
An impresario is a promoter: someone who books, promotes, and organizes shows such as concerts. Impresario comes from an Italian word for a businessperson, and in English it especially refers to someone in the promotion business. In the music business, Bill Graham was a famous impresario who arranged concerts for huge bands such as The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd. An impresario signs a band — or other entertainment — and makes a deal with the venue. Impresarios then arrange advertising and promotion to alert fans and arrange for tickets to be sold. Impresarios make shows happen.
Vocabulary lists containing impresario
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mr. Orbán was ultimately more impresario than statesman.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
Earlier, in 1999, Naveen Kishore, theatre impresario and publisher of the Kolkata- based publishers Seagull Books, documented Bhaduri's life in a film and exhibition.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026
Further evidence of a paradigm shift: Enthusiastic theatergoers thronging to “Malinche the Musical,” the brainchild of Nacho Cano, a Spanish rock star turned impresario.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2026
In real life he’s an Australian impresario who, surprise, plays the trumpet.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 14, 2025
Gay’s Beggar’s Opera was produced by the impresario John Rich, so the saying around town was that the venture had 'made Rich gay and Gay rich’.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.