Culture & leisure
Denmark has many leisure activities for children and adults and a varied and cultural life of international standards  

The Danes prioritise their spare time highly, and many are active outside of work practising sports, attending evening classes, participating in cultural activities such as visiting museums and going to the theatre or taking part in associations and clubs.

The Danish cultural life is varied, offering live music, ballet, theatre and opera. The Royal Danish Ballet, the opera houses in Jutland and Copenhagen and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra are examples of internationally acclaimed institutions. Denmark is, furthermore, the country of music festivals, which means the selection of music in the summer half is comprehensive and international, especially in the genres of rock, folk and jazz.
 
Other leisure activities range from all types of sport and exercise to clubs, associations, organisation and evening classes. All local authorities arrange activities specifically for children.

Cultural activities 
Denmark offers a broad range of cultural experiences all over the country  

Despite Denmark's small size, the nation boasts a great amount of cultural events. There are theatrical, artistic, filmic, musical and sports events in Copenhagen as well as in other areas of the country. Each town's tourist office has information about local events.

Denmark is the country of associations and folk high schools. No matter where you live in the country, there are ample possibilities for spending your spare time attending exciting lectures, recitations, discussion forums or studying at folk high school. You can also be actively involved with music and theatre at an amateur level.


Most cities have one or more venues for live music, which usually plays in the weekend. The repertoire is comprehensive and ranges from soft pop over hard rock to funk and hip hop. Events are advertised in the local newspapers, at the venues themselves and on the Internet. 

Ballet 
The Royal Ballet works in the heritage of August Bournonville, who still influences the repertoire 

Danish ballet traces itself back to August Bournonville, who created the Danish classical ballet tradition. Many of Bournonville's heirs have influenced and developed Danish and international ballet in the latest decades, for example Harald Lander, Erik Bruhn, Flemming Flindt and Peter Martins.

Many Danish classical composers, such as Hartmann and Gade, have written some of the most popular works for the Royal Ballet.

Ballets are performed primarily at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen.

Danish pictorial art
Danish pictorial artists have been internationally recognised in several different styles.

The group of painters working in and around Skagen in the 1880s - often personified by P.S. Krøyer and Anna and Michael Anker - united realistic figure painting and crowd pictures with a naturalist study of light, colour and ambience.

Among the impressionists, Sigurd Swane and Harald Giersing were especially noted.

Within the field of surrealist painting, some of the best known Danish artists are Ejler Bille, Richard Mortensen, Wilhelm Freddie and Wilhelm Bjerke Pedersen, while spontaneous abstract art was primarily expressed through the so-called Cobra Group. The famous Danish painter Asger Jorn was a central figure in the group.

The painter and sculptor Henry Heerup was also an important part of the modernist subculture in the post-war period, and an essential source of information for the sculptor Robert Jacobsen.

In the latest decades, the 2 acclaimed artists Bjørn Nørgård and Per Kirkeby have been the main reasons why Denmark has been placed on the artistic map of the world.

Theatre 
The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen is the Danish national theatre 

The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen has been Denmark's national theatre since the middle of the 18th century. The theatre is subsidised by the state, and its main tasks are to perform plays, operas and ballets of a high artistic standard. The productions are of Danish as well as of international origin. The Royal Theatre tours all over the country with plays, operas and ballets, and the Theatre trains ballet dancers and opera singers.

The cities of Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense host the regional theatres, the Danish National Opera and the Danish Theatre, which are responsible for national tours. Apart from these theatres, there are approximately 25 small city theatres and 20 regional theatres across the country. Most theatres receive regional and/or state subsidies.

Music 
Many Danish rhythmic music festivals are famous abroad  

Denmark is the country of music festivals. During the summer there is a comprehensive, international selection of rock, folk and jazz music. The most famous festivals are the Roskilde Festival, the folk festival in Tønder and the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. The Roskilde festival is one of the largest and most trend-setting events on the European rock scene.

Apart from the festivals, the rhythmic music scene in Denmark is famous for Danish jazz, which has won international acclamation through among others the performances of the Radio Big Band, the trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and the bass player Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. One of the most famous venues for jazz musicians is the Copenhagen Jazz House in Copenhagen.

Opera 
The public's interest in opera has been on the rise in recent years  

As in many other countries, the interest in opera has been increasing greatly in Denmark in the latest years, and the 2 opera houses, the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen and the Danish National Opera in Aarhus attract full houses. Their repertoire is broad, but it decidedly favours classical operas written by famous international composers such as Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Puccini.

However, operas written by Danes are performed too, for example the Danish composer Carl Nielsens Masquerade. Furthermore, the latest years have seen many exciting first showings of new Danish works, not least in Jutland.

In Copenhagen a completely newly build opera house at the waterfront opened on January 15th 2005.

Classical music 
Denmark has several classical ensembles, covering a broad repertoire 

Denmark has 2 operas, 7 fully developed symphony orchestras, 6 conservatories and 7,000 organised musicians and composers.

The Royal Orchestra is a classical ensemble. The Royal Orchestra is associated with the Royal Theatre and participates in operas, ballets and plays. The Orchestra also holds its own concerts.

Denmark's Radio runs the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Choir, the Radio Entertainment Orchestra, the Radio's Bigband and the Radio Girls' Choir. The Symphony Orchestra and the choirs are based in the Radio Concert Hall, but often tour in Denmark and abroad.

Denmark also has 5 regional orchestras, including the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense and the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. The orchestras' mission is to promote musical culture in their respective regions, and they are funded by the state, counties and local authorities. The orchestras have an all-round repertoire of old and new classical music, especially by Danish composers. The orchestras are to a certain extent available for providing music for ballets and music drama performances and the conservatories.

Museums 
There is a wide selection of museums in Copenhagen and in other cities and towns 

At the present time, Denmark has more than 300 museums or museum-like institutions, with countless art museums in Copenhagen and across the country hosting national and international pictorial art.

There are 3 state-owned art museums under the Ministry of Culture. One is the State Museum of Art, which is Denmark's national gallery and main museum for pictorial art. The 2 other state-owned art museums are the Ordrupgaard Collectionand the Hirschsprungian Collection. All 3 museums are located in Copenhagen.

Louisiana - the Museum of Modern Art - is today rated as one of Northern Europe's leading museums of modern art. Another museum of modern art is Arken (The Ark), which was inaugurated in 1996. Both museums are close to Copenhagen.

Further information about the museums, their opening hours and ticket prices can be obtained from the individual museums.

Cinema 
All larger cities have cinemas, as do many smaller towns. The Danish law about film censure ensures that films can be classified as unsuitable for children under the age of 7, 11 or 15. Tickets cost between DKK 40 and DKK 85. Only childrens films in foreign languages are dubbed; other foreign language films are subtitled.

Several Danish films have been acclaimed internationally. In the 1980s, first Gabriel Axels "Babettes Feast" then Bille Augusts "Pelle the Conqueror" won Oscars.

In the latest years, Danish directors have received some of the most prestigious prizes in the world of film. Among others Lars von Trier, who was awarded the Palm d'Or for his film "Dancer in the Dark," and Lone Scherfig, who won several European and international prizes for "Italian for Beginners".

With the Danish Dogma95 concept, Danish directors have made Danish film ground-breaking in the international film and media world

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