ABOUT THE COLON OPERA HOUSE - from the Teatro Colon official web site
The
Teatro Colón, in the City of Buenos Aires, is considered one of the best theaters in the
world. Acknowledged for its acoustics and the artistic value of its construction, it
turned 100 years in 2008
The
theater is now located in the heart of downtown Buenos Aires, among the streets Cerrito,
Viamonte, Tucumán and Libertad. It was inaugurated on May 25th, 1908 with Giuseppe
Verdi's opera Aida. This building replaces the former Teatro Colón, which was located in
front of Plaza de Mayo, on the block where the Banco Nación (National Bank) building
stands now. The old theater was there between 1857 and 1888.
The
construction of the new building took around 20 years. Its cornerstone was placed on May
25th, 1890, intending to inaugurate the theater before October 12th, 1892, the date of the
fourth centennial of the discovery of the Americas. The architect in charge of the initial
project was Francesco Tamburini. After his death in 1891, the project was continued and
modified by his partner Víctor Meano, the architect of the Argentinian Congress building.
The construction continued until 1894, but it came to a halt due to financial problems. In
1904, Meano was murdered in his house and the government assigned the Belgian Jules Dormal
to finish the construction. Dormal introduced some structural changes and stamped his
French style on the decoration.
At
the end of 1907, the first lease agreement of the Teatro Colón was signed, even though
the works to conclude the building were behind the date set for the inauguration –
May 25th, 1908. Finally, despite the fact that some parts (such as the Golden Room and the
iron marquees on the streets Libertad and Cerrito) were not finished, the main hall of the
Teatro Colón was inaugurated with the Great Italian Lyrical Company performing Giuseppe
Verdi's opera Aida.
BUILDING
DIMENSIONS, CHARACTERISTICS, EXPANSIONS & IMPROVEMENTS
The
Teatro Colón's building has an eclectic style, typical of the beginning of the 20th
century. It extends for 8,202 m2, 5,006 m of which correspond to the main building and
3,196 m to underground rooms beneath the narrow street Arturo Toscanini (right next to the
theater, parallel to the street Viamonte). The total covered area of the initial building
was 37,884 m2. The expansions carried out later, especially at the end of the 1960s (by
the architect Mario Roberto Álvarez), added 12,000 m2, taking the total area of the
Teatro Colón to 58,000 m2.
The
main hall, in the shape of a horseshoe, fulfils the most severe standards of the Italian
and French classic theater. It has box seats up to the third floor. The horseshoe has a
minor diameter of 29.25 m, a major diameter of 32.65 m and a height of 28 m. It can hold
up to 2,478 people sitting, but the shows can also be attended by 500 people standing. Its
318 m2 dome used to have paintings by Marcel Jambon, but they got damaged in the 1930s.
The repainting of the dome was assigned to the Argentinian painter Raúl Soldi.
The
stage has an inclination of 3 cm per meter, 35.25 m wide, 34.50 m deep and 48 m high. It
includes a spinning disk with a diameter of 20.30 m which can be electrically activated to
spin in any direction and change the scenes quickly. In 1988, the grid sector of the
scenic machinery was improved, aiming to make the operation of the scenery easier and to
speed up the scenery changes.
The
orchestra pit can hold up to 120 musicians. It has been treated with a resonance chamber
and special curves for the reflection of sound. These conditions, together with the
architectural proportions of the hall and the quality of the materials used, give the
Teatro Colón exceptional acoustics, globally acknowledged among the most perfect in the
world.
The
production of the Teatro Colón's shows is carried out in its own workshops, located in
the basements. In 1938, the basements beneath the square on the street Arturo Toscanini
were expanded, and a tunnel that linked the production workshops was built. Also in 1938,
the machinery, scenery, props, tailor, shoes, scenery mechanics, sculpture, photography,
hair and make up workshops were opened. In 1963, new workshops were created – props
decoration and costume painting.
Between
1968 and 1972, according to the project of the architect Mario Roberto Álvarez, a second
expansion was carried out, under the square and the street Cerrito. The areas of
theatrical production, scenery workshops, rehearsal rooms, administrative offices, and a
dinning room for the employees are located there. The technical area of production design
and the lightning, electromechanical FX, and audio and video workshops were added later.
In
2000, the Executive Branch of the City, through the Undersecretariat of Cultural Patrimony
(Subsecretaría de Patrimonio Cultural), called upon the General Directorate of
Infrastructure (Dirección General de Infraestructura) to elaborate a "Master
Plan" for the restoration of the building and the fly loft technological update.
The
theatre underwent massive phased remodeling of both interior and exterior, initially while
the house was still open, but production activities ceased at the end of October 2006 to
allow full refurbishment.
Initially,
what had been planned as an 18-month, $25-million renovation with 500 workers, scheduled
for a May 2008 reopening with Aida, became
a three-year $100-million extravaganza with 1,500 workers including 130 professional
architects and engineers."[8]
In addition, an exterior open-air stage was planned for an opening in 2011.
In
all, 60,000 square metres (645,835 sq ft) underwent updating, both inside and
out.
While
it was originally planned to reopen in time for the centenary on 25 May 2008, delays
prevented this, and the house was finally reopened with a gala concert and 3D animations
on 24 May 2010, the eve of its own 102nd birthday and the Argentina
Bicentennial. Tchaikovsky's Swan
Lake and Act 2 of Puccini's La
bohème were performed.
