Teatro Real

The groundbreaking of the Teatro Real was on 23 April 1818, under the reign of King Ferdinand VII, 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 78,210 square metres (841,800 sq ft) 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 of the Government of Spain, the Government of the Community of Madrid and the City Council of Madrid. 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 building is listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural 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, Giorgio Ronconi, Italo Gardoni, Mario de Candia and Antonio Selva among many others. In 1863, Giuseppe Verdi 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, Luisa Tetrazzini, Mattia Battistini, Julián Gayarre, Angelo Masini, Francesco Tamagno and Enrico Tamberlick. In 1917, the Ballets Russes 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 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, in which it was performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 –together with the Orfeón Donostiarra– and Manuel de Falla'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 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 78,210 square metres (841,800 sq ft), with a stage of 1,430 square metres (15,400 sq ft) and a maximum capacity, depending on the orchestra pit, of 1,958 seats.