Teatro Real
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Teatro Real () is an
opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...
in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as "''El Real''" (The Royal One). it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts in the country and one of the most prestigious opera houses in Europe. The groundbreaking of the Teatro Real was on 23 April 1818, under the reign of King
Ferdinand VII Ferdinand VII (; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was King of Spain during the early 19th century. He reigned briefly in 1808 and then again from 1813 to his death in 1833. Before 1813 he was known as ''el Deseado'' (the Desired), and af ...
, and it was formally opened by his daughter Queen Isabella II on 19 November 1850. It closed in 1925 due to damage to the building and reopened on 13 October 1966 as a symphonic music venue. Beginning in 1991, it underwent major refurbishment and renovation works and finally reopened as an opera house on 11 October 1997. It has a floor area of and a maximum capacity of 1,958 seats. Since 1995, the theatre is managed by a public foundation in whose Board of Trustees are represented the
Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...
of the
Government of Spain The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the ...
, the Government of the Community of Madrid and the
City Council of Madrid The City Council of Madrid () is the top-tier administrative and governing body of Madrid, the capital and biggest city of Spain. The city council is composed by three bodies: the mayor, who leads the city council and the executive branch of it; ...
. Since 1998, its principal orchestra is the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. In addition to its regular annual program of opera, dance, concerts and recitals, the theatre has hosted other special events throughout its history, such as the 14th Eurovision Song Contest in 1969, the 25th Goya Awards in 2011 or the Lotería Nacional's Christmas special draw since 2012. The Royal Opera received the "Opera Company of the Year" award at the 2020/21
International Opera Awards The International Opera Awards is an annual awards ceremony honouring excellence in opera around the world. Origins The International Opera Awards was founded in 2013 by Harry Hyman, a UK businessman, philanthropist and supporter of opera, and ...
. The building is listed as a
Bien de Interés Cultural (, , , ) is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Colombia and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense). It includes not only mater ...
since 1993.


History


Background

The former Teatro de los Caños del Peral was a theatre, built over an earlier corral de comedias, and opened in 1738 under the reign of King Philip V. It got its name from the nearby Fountain of the Pear Tree Canals. The theatre was demolished in 1817 to clear the space for the current Teatro Real.


Early years

The current theatre was founded by King Ferdinand VII in 1818, and after thirty-two years of planning and construction, a Royal Order on 7 May 1850, decreed the immediate completion of the "Teatro de Oriente" and the building works were finished within five months. The opera house, located just opposite the Palacio Real, the official residence of the royal family, was finally inaugurated by Queen Isabella II on 19 November 1850, attending the performance of Donizetti's '' La favorite''. Madrid Opera soon became one of the most prestigious opera houses in Europe. For over five decades it hosted the most renowned singers and composers of the time. In the early period, it saw famous opera singers such as Alboni, Frezzolini, Marietta Gazzaniga, Rosina Penco,
Giulia Grisi Giulia Grisi (22 May 1811 – 29 November 1869) was an Italian opera singer. She performed widely in Europe, the United States and South America and was among the leading sopranos of the 19th century. Her second husband was Giovanni Matteo Mario ...
, Giorgio Ronconi, Italo Gardoni, Mario de Candia and Antonio Selva among many others. In 1863,
Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...
visited the theatre for the Spanish premiere of his '' La forza del destino''. At its peak, in the last quarter of the 19th century, the Teatro hosted world renowned artists such as Adelaide Borghi, Marie Sasse, Adelina Patti,
Christina Nilsson Christina Nilsson, Countess de Casa Miranda, also called Christine Nilsson (20 August 1843 – 22 November 1921) was a Swedish operatic dramatic coloratura soprano. Possessed of a pure and brilliant voice (B3-F6), first three then two and a ha ...
, Luisa Tetrazzini, Mattia Battistini, Julián Gayarre, Angelo Masini, Francesco Tamagno and Enrico Tamberlick. In 1917, the
Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...
of Diaghilev performed in the theatre with the presence of Nijinsky and Stravinsky.


As a concert hall

In December 1925 a Royal Order ordered its activities to be discontinued owing to the damage that the construction of the Metro de Madrid had caused to the building. The government set out to restore it and ordered numerous projects to be drawn out for its renovation, such as that from architect Antonio Flórez Urdapilleta, who proposed a monumental remodeling of the building. However, the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
and the post-war financial difficulties prevented the completion of these projects and led to a simple restoration, sponsored by the Juan March Institute, and carried out first by the architect Manuel Gonzalez Valcárcel, and later by architects Miguel Verdú Belmonte and Francisco Rodriguez Partearroyo. The theatre reopened on 13 October 1966 as a concert hall as well as the main concert venue for the Spanish National Orchestra and the RTVE Symphony Orchestra. The reopening was celebrated with a concert of the Spanish National Orchestra, conducted by
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (born Rafael Frühbeck; 15 September 1933 – 11 June 2014) was a Spanish conductor and composer. Frühbeck was born in Burgos, Spain to a family of German ancestry. He first took up conducting while on military serv ...
, in which it was performed
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
's '' Symphony No. 9'' –together with the Orfeón Donostiarra– and
Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was a Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20t ...
's ''Homenajes''. The venue closed for renovations with a last concert by the Spanish National Orchestra on 13 October 1988. From 1867 to 1925 and from 1966 to 1990, the Royal Opera also housed the Madrid Royal Conservatory and the Royal Higher College of Performing Arts.


Remodeling

Starting on 2 January 1991, the house was remodeled to host opera again. The building was completed in late 1995, then the process of technical, administrative, artistic and functional organization began which led to the opening of the theatre by King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía on 11 October 1997. The opera program performed at the reopening was '' El sombrero de tres picos'' and '' La vida breve'' by Manuel de Falla, which was immediately followed by the world premiere of the opera ''Divinas Palabras'' by Antón García Abril –actually commissioned to open the house– with
Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...
in the cast. The remodeling was based on the old classical style of opera house with only basic modernization leaving many seats without a view of the stage. A considerable percentage of seats have a limited or zero view of the stage and a live stream of operas and ballets is projected on the upper side walls of the house so that the entire audience can follow the performance regardless of their view of the stage. The theatre has a floor area of , with a stage of and a maximum capacity, depending on the
orchestra pit An orchestra pit is an area in a theatre (usually located in a lowered area in front of the stage) in which musicians perform. The orchestra plays mostly out of sight in the pit, rather than on the stage as for a concert, when providing music fo ...
, of 1,958 seats.


Productions

The theatre stages around seventeen opera titles and two or three major ballets per annual season, from September to July, both own productions or co-productions with other major opera houses abroad, as well as concerts and recitals. The most popular operas at the Teatro Real have included Verdi's ''
Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...
'' with 409 performances, followed by '' Aida'' with 378 and '' Il trovatore'' with 356. Two works by Meyerbeer ''
L'Africaine ''L'Africaine'' (''The African Woman'') is an 1837 five-act French ''grand opéra'' by Giacomo Meyerbeer, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe. By 1852, the plot had been revised to depict fictional events in the life of Portuguese explorer Vasco da ...
'' –with 268– and ''
Les Huguenots () is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836. Composition history '' ...
'' –with 243– have been shown to draw audiences, although the former work has not been performed since the 1920s, being no longer considered mainstream repertory. Donizetti's ''
Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She was a former governor of Spoleto. Her family arranged ...
'' has been given some 218 performances since its debut in the house in 1919.


World premieres

In addition of the world premiere of ''Divinas Palabras'' by Antón García Abril, the Royal Opera has staged another sixteen world opera premieres since its reopening: ''Don Quijote'' by Cristóbal Halffter (2000), ''La señorita Cristina'' by
Luis de Pablo Luis de Pablo Costales (28 January 1930 – 10 October 2021) was a Spanish composer belonging to the generation that Cristóbal Halffter named ''the Generación del 51''. Mostly self-taught as a composer and influenced by Maurice Ohana and Max ...
(2001), ''Dulcinea'' by Mauricio Sotelo (2006), ''El viaje a Simorgh'' by José María Sánchez-Verdú (2007), ''Faust-Bal'' by Leonardo Balada (2009), ''La página en blanco'' by Pilar Jurado (2011), '' The Perfect American'' by
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
(2013), ''
Brokeback Mountain ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from Brokeback Mountain (short story), the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, the screenplay ...
'' by
Charles Wuorinen Charles Peter Wuorinen (, ; June 9, 1938 – March 11, 2020) was an American composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. He also performed as a pianist and conductor. Wuorinen composed more than 270 works: orchestral music, c ...
(2014), '' The Public'' by Mauricio Sotelo (2015), ''La ciudad de las mentiras'' by Elena Mendoza (2017), ''El Pintor'' by Juan J. Colomer (2018), ''Je suis narcissiste'' by Raquel García-Tomás (2019), ''Marie'' by Germán Alonso (2020), ''Tránsito'' by Jesús Torres (2021), ''El abrecartas'' by Luis de Pablo (2022) and ''Extinción'' by Señor Serrano Group (2022). The company also premiered the first complete staging, with sets and scenography, of Isaac Albéniz's ''
Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...
'' in 2003 –101 years after its completion–, the first modern revival of Vicente Martín y Soler's '' Il burbero di buon cuore'' in 2007 and ''Poppea e Nerone'', a new orchestration for a modern chamber orchestra of
Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string instrument, string player. A composer of both Secular music, secular and Church music, sacred music, and a pioneer ...
's ''
L'incoronazione di Poppea ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' (Stattkus-Verzeichnis, SV 308, ''The Coronation of Poppaea'') is an Italian List of operas by Claudio Monteverdi, opera by Claudio Monteverdi. It was Monteverdi's last opera, with a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Buse ...
'', by Philippe Boesmans in 2012.


Bicentenary

The Teatro Real celebrated its bicentenary with a special programme from 2016 through 2018. One of the operas featured was Bellini's '' I puritani'', a co-production with the Teatro Municipal of Santiago, Chile. A performance of this work was streamed in July 2016 via the Royal Opera's
Facebook page Facebook is a social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are available to users of ...
, an example of the theatre extending its reach by digital services. The event was also relayed to a number of venues and was a national trending topic on Twitter. The same production has been performed by the company –including orchestra and chorus– in August 2017 at the
Savonlinna Opera Festival Savonlinna Opera Festival () is held annually in the city of Savonlinna in Finland. The Festival takes place at the medieval Olavinlinna (St. Olaf's Castle), built in 1475. The castle is located amid spectacular lake scenery. Origin The birth ...
.


Company

Since 1998, the resident ensemble of the Teatro Real is the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. The current artistic manager is Joan Matabosch, former director of Gran Teatre del Liceu in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
. The current music director of the company is Ivor Bolton, since 2015. The current principal guest conductors are Pablo Heras-Casado and
Nicola Luisotti Nicola Luisotti (born 26 November 1961, in Viareggio, Italy) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds the title "Director Principal Invitado" (principal guest conductor) of Madrid's Teatro Real. Biography Luisotti grew up in Bargecchia. He ...
. Bolton is scheduled to stand down as music director at the close of the 2024–25 season. In July 2022, the company announced the appointment of Gustavo Gimeno as its next music director, effective with the 2025–26 season, with an initial contract of five years.


Artistic directors (partial list)

* Stéphane Lissner (1995–1997) * Luis Antonio García Navarro (1997–2001, artistic and music director) * Emilio Sagi (2001–2005) * Antonio Moral (2005–2010) * Gerard Mortier (2010–2013) (artistic advisor from 2014) * Joan Matabosch (2014–''present'')


Music directors (partial list)

* Luis Antonio García Navarro (1997–2001, artistic and music director) * Jesús López Cobos (2003–2010) * Ivor Bolton (2015–''present'')


Special Events

The Teatro Real has hosted some special events throughout its history. On 29 March 1969,
Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in Equatorial Guinea. T ...
held the at the theatre, featuring an onstage metal sculpture created by surrealist Spanish artist . On 13 February 2011, the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain held the 25th Goya Awards ceremony at the theatre. Every 22 December since 2012, Loterías y Apuestas del Estado holds its Lotería Nacional's Christmas special draw there.


Tours of the building

The Opera House offers daily different types of guided tours, lasting between 50 and 90 minutes and given in various languages. This gives the public the opportunity to learn about the building, including the stage area, the workshops and the rehearsal spaces.


Controversies


Cancellation of Shen Yun

In 2019 Teatro Real scheduled several performances of a show by the American dance company, Shen Yun Performing Arts. The theatre sold 900 tickets for the performances, but canceled the event. The Royal Opera claimed technical problems, but the then Chinese ambassador to Madrid Lü Fan said in a recording that it had been he who had pressured and given directions to the theatre to cancel the performance.


COVID-19 measures

In 2020 the theatre cancelled a performance of the opera '' Un ballo in maschera'' amidst booing from the audience due to lack of safety distance in the roost. Several attendees complained about the relocation of some audience members in the gods' seats and the overcrowding of audience members with respect to the rest of the areas. The police later verified that the capacity was adequate for the restrictions imposed by
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
. The theatre claimed that less than 50 percent of the tickets had been sold.


See also

* Madrid Symphony Orchestra * Spanish National Orchestra * RTVE Symphony Orchestra * Community of Madrid Orchestra * Queen Sofía Chamber Orchestra * National Auditorium of Music * Teatro Monumental *
Zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name o ...


References


External links


Teatro Real official web site

Teatro Real at Google Cultural Institute
{{authority control 1850 establishments in Spain Entertainment venues in Madrid Opera houses in Spain Theatres in Spain Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Madrid Theatres completed in 1850 Music venues completed in 1850 Buildings and structures in Palacio neighborhood, Madrid Isabella II