The 100th season of the Teatro Real has a program full of plays and styles. His incessant activity during confinement and his risky (and successful) commitment to resume activity has made him a world reference. Its objective? Refill.
With responsibility and enthusiasm. ”He summarizes them Ignacio Garca-Belenguer, general director of the Royal Theater, his feelings about the beginning of the 100th season in the history of the Madrid bullring and the 25th since its reopening. The 2021-2022 course will be one of recovery, but also one of doubts, since the pandemic that has caused the entire world to reel does not allow us to predict what the future will be like.
However, the Real has prepared a program full of styles and few in which you can enjoy 16 pears, among which stand out CinderellaRossini, who started the season on September 23 and who returns to Real after 171 years; the absolute premiere The letter opener by Luis de Pablo or a new production of The wedding of Fgaro Directed by Lotte De Beer.
There will also be space for three dance programs, nine concerts – plus six on Chamber Sundays – eight productions for children framed within El Real Junior and five screenings of their own productions that are part of the pear in Cinema cycle.
“The real de-escalation is coming now. To recover capacity, activities that we had pending, economic strength … and maintain artistic, cultural and social excellence. Now the great challenge begins,” he says. Garca-Belenguer, which adds that this new period “is a challenge and an unknown, because nobody knows what the new normal will be like. We hope, and we are working hard on that, that the recovery of 100% of the capacity is in tune with the will and desire of the public to fill the rooms again “.
With effort, creativity and strength, the Teatro Real has become a world reference, both for being active during the pandemic and for the last recognition they have received: the International Opera Award 2021 for Best Company pear. Although the award recognized the work done during the 2019-2020 season, it has also served to strengthen the international projection of the Spanish Coliseum and to embrace the courage it showed when it decided to raise the curtain again on July 1, 2020 and that has maintained, solo, an uninterrupted stage activity for months.
“We were a stimulus and an example, for Spain and for the world, but above all for ourselves. Having confidence and initiative has made us stronger”, indicates the Real’s general director. “We are committed to recovering and staying alive, carrying out a meticulous analysis of the situation and taking very measured and thorough steps, with the firm decision to bet on keep the flame of culture alight and, with it, the activity of workers, musicians and artists whose lives depend on us “, he adds. According to him, his experience has also served other theaters that in recent months have asked them to provide them with the protocols and measures applied in Madrid.
The Royal Theater in the pandemic
Looking back, García-Belenguer recalls two moments of this turbulent period: the closure of the Teatro Real three days after a premiere and the first rehearsal of The Traviata, in June 2020. The unexpected closure froze the efforts of months. “The scenography of Achilles in Sciro abandoned on stage was a symbol of the uncertainty in which the world joins and whose path we do not know”, recalls the director. “For me, the responsibility of so many people in my charge was something very hard.” On the other side of the coin is return. “The gradual return of the workers to the theater, managing to transfer the artists, the creativity of all to overcome the obstacles, the economic effort. When the first notes of the opera finally sounded and the music returned to the Real … the emotion in that moment, it is indescribable. “
Returning to the present, and the months to come, from the Teatro Real they want to be especially cautious and not rush into making plans for the future: “Who would imagine something as tremendous as the pandemic or something as devastating and as impossible to stop as the eruption that is occurring on La Palma? “, highlights Garca-Belenguer. Now, the priority of the institution is to return to open the doors to all your subscribers and relocate them. Of the 20,000 they had before the arrival of the coronavirus, it has gone to about 15,000, although more than 3,500 people have already registered requests and are in a virtual queue; and other 1,500 subscribers, who had to stay out due to the capacity restriction, have requested to continue with their registration.
A more real theater
In addition to the opera, dance and concert performances this season, the Royal Theater has proposed to open itself more to the general public. With the motto Close to you under its arm, the arena will once again give up its stage to flamenco, rock and pop: Flamenco Real, the Tablao del Teatro Real and the Universal Music Festival They will return this year to their tables. Another aspect that they do not forget is the audiovisual. As for the audio part, Real has an interesting account on Spotify in which it publishes a playlist of the pears that will have this year, as well as a small sound summary of what the 2021-2022 season will be. On the visual side, the Real has My Opera Player, its own video-on-demand platform.
The Pear week and the live broadcasts in the open air, which are so popular every year, will return as in previous editions. All without forgetting the little ones, since it maintains its strategy of broadcasting titles in schools throughout Spain through its new program El Real en tu Clase. t
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