Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía
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El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts) is an opera house and cultural centre in Valencia, Spain. The theatre opened on 8 October 2005. The first opera - Beethoven's Fidelio- was premiered on 25 October 2006.
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[edit] The Company
Administration of the company is in the hands of Helga Schmidt, formerly from London's Royal Opera House from 1973 to 1981. Schmidt has attracted some major artists to be involved with the Palau. Among them is Zubin Mehta who heads up an annual music and opera festival, the "Festival del Mediterraneo" which began in 2007; Lorin Maazel who became music director; and Plácido Domingo who brought his Operalia competition to the Palau in October 2007[1] and who performs here regularly (Cyrano de Bergerac in 2007, Iphigénie en Tauride in 2008, Die Walküre in 2009). The resident orchestra is the Valencian Community Orchestra. The theatre's first season was the 2006/2007. On the first and second seasons the theatre staged 7 or 8 operas per season, as well as operetta (zarzuela) and vocal recitals.
During the 2008/2009 the theatre will stage seven operas and one zarzuela, performances that will be conducted mainly by Lorin Maazel. Soloists include Plácido Domingo, Christopher Ventris, Vittorio Grigolo, Maria Guleghina and Cristina Gallardo-Domâs. The 2008/2009 Festival del Mediterrani will include the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle conducted by Zubin Mehta, with Plácido Domingo. Also, the company promotes symphonic concerts, opera galas and vocal recitals.[2].
[edit] The building
El Palau is the last-completed part of a grand City of Arts and Sciences concept designed by the Valencia-born and internationally-known architect, Santiago Calatrava, which began in 1995 and it was opened on 8 October 2005.
Under the huge curved roof structure, 230 metres in length, the building rises 14 stories plus 3 stories below ground. Its height is 75 metres.[3] The 40,000 sq. metre building contains four auditoriums:
- The Sala Principal (Main Hall), which seats 1,700 people, functions primarily for opera, but it can be converted for dance and other performing arts.
The Hall has 4 tiers of seating, a stage equipped with all major facilities and an orchestra pit capable of housing 120 musicians, the third largest in the world. Sadly, it has suffered a number of incidents since its opening which do not allow it to run at full speed. The first of these was the collapse of the main stage platform with the complete set of Jonathan Miller's production of "Don Giovanni" in December, 2006. This forced the "Palau" to cancel the last performance of "La Bohème", all of "La Belle et la Bête" and meant that the management had to re-think the whole of what remained of the inaugural opera season. In November, 2007, the entire complex suffered a series of floods which meant that the recently re-built stage platform was paralised once again due to the fact that almost two metres of water entered the lower floors of the building and wrecked the electronics and the motors of the complex stage equipment, forcing the management to once again re-schedule the season, delay the premiere of "Carmen" and cancel the opera "1984". [3]
- The Auditorio is located above the Main Hall. It seats 1,500, and its facilities include sound and video systems capable of screening events taking place below.
Officially given to the managing Trust during the 2007-2008 season, it is a spectacular venue with multiple uses, from classical music concerts to political rallies.
- Aula Magistral is capable of seating 400 people and is used for chamber music performances or conferences.
- Martí i Soler Theatre was constructed below the base of the Palau's plume[3] and seats 400. It shall be used for theatre productions and as a training centre for the main auditoria.
Unfortunately it suffered vast damage during the 2007 flooding and its opening was delayed. Luckily it had no equipment installed so the estimated cost for its re-building shall be lower than one might have expected.
