Teatro Colón

Possibly the continent’s most important performing arts venue, the ornate Teatro Colón (1908) is approaching its centenary down but far from out in the face of economic crisis. Unable to pay for top-tier international opera, ballet, and symphonic performers because of devaluation, it still manages to present first-rate local talent in opera, ballet, symphony, and occasionally in more popular idioms.

Argentine lyric theater dates from the early 19th century, immediately after the Revolution of May 1810, with the first European artists arriving in the 1820s. The original Teatro Colón, at the northeast corner of the Plaza de Mayo, seated 2,500 people and opened with Verdi’s La Traviata in 1857. As the earlier theater became the Banco de la Nación, authorities chose a site on the country’s first-ever railway station for the new facility. Italian architect Francesco Tamburini was responsible for the original Italian Renaissance design.

Occupying a lot of more than 8,000 square meters, with floor space of nearly 38,000 meters on seven levels, the Colón opened with a performance of Verdi’s Aída. Seating 2,478 patrons, with standing room for another 700, it’s one of the country’s most ornate buildings, its Gran Hall outfitted with Verona and Carrara marble, its Salón de los Bustos studded with busts of famous figures from European classical music, and its Salón Dorado (Golden Salon) modeled on palaces like Paris’s Versailles and Vienna’s Schoenbrunn.

The main theater itself follows lines of French and Italian classics, with world-class acoustics; a rotating disc makes it possible to change scenes rapidly. The orchestra accommodates up to 120 musicians. Seating ranges from comfortably upholstered rows to luxury boxes, including a presidential box with its own phone line to the Casa Rosada, and a separate exit. Presidential command performances take place on the winter patriotic holidays of May 25 and July 9.

Since the Colón’s opening, notable performers have included the composers Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Camille Saint-Saëns, Manuel de Falla, and Aaron Copland; conductors Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwaengler, Herbert von Karajan, Arturo Toscanini, and Zubin Mehta; singers Enrico Caruso, Lily Pons, Ezio Pinza, María Callas, José Carreras, Frederika von Stade, Kiri Te Kanawa, Plácido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti; dancers Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, and Mikhail Barishnikov; and choreographer George Balanchine.

Foreign dance companies that have appeared include the Ballet de Montecarlo, London’s Festival Ballet, the Opera Privée de París, the Ballet de la Opera de París, and the Ballet de la Opera de Berlín; orchestras include the New York Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, and the Washington Philharmonic. Soloists include Arthur Rubinstein, Pablo Casals, Yehudi Menuhim, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Andrés Segovia, and Anne Sofie Mutter. At times, though, the administration has let its hair down to accommodate performers like politically conscious folksinger Mercedes Sosa, the porteño rhythm-and-blues unit Memphis La Blusera, and rock guitarist-songwriter Luis Alberto Spinetta.

The Teatro Colón (Libertad 621, tel. 011/4378-7344, boleteria@teatrocolon.org.ar, www.teatrocolon.org.ar) presents some 200 events per annum, in a season that runs from May to November; the ticket office is open 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday, and 5 p.m. until the beginning of the performance (if there is one) Monday. While the main entrance is on Libertad, tours enter from the Viamonte side.

Guided tours, always available in Spanish and English but sometimes in French, German, and Portuguese, take place at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. weekdays, and 9, 10, and 11 a.m. and noon Saturdays. For reservations, contact the Teatro Colón (Viamonte 1168, tel. 011/4378-7132, visitas@teatrocolon.org.ar, US$3 for nonresident adults, US$1.50 for Argentine residents, US$.75 for children up to age 10); tours last 50 minutes and go behind the scenes as well.