The Teatro Colón: Argentina’s Most Resplendent Theater

One of Buenos Aires’ finest landmarks, the grand Teatro Colón occupies an entire city block and an even larger space in the hearts and minds of Argentines.

The theater is rated as one of the best five opera houses in the world for acoustics and overall comes in at number three, after La Scala in Milan and Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, according to National Geographic.

Since it opened over a hundred years ago, the Colón is celebrated for its countless world-class operas, ballets and classical music acts.

Among the luminaries who have performed here are María Callas, Astor Piazzola, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.

Pavarotti famously commented that the acoustics were so perfect here that it made him nervous to perform because any mistake was amplified.

⇒ Take the skip the line Colón Theater tour

Early History of the Teatro Colón

The Teatro Colón was originally in the Plaza de Mayo, now the site of the National Bank. The old theater functioned between 1857 and 1888, but it wasn’t as popular as anticipated, and didn’t break even.

Since moving to its new location, an air of the unknown has always lurked around the illustrious Colón. Italian architect Francesco Tamburin laid the first stone of the new building in 1890 before dying unexpectedly a year later.

His partner Victor Meano took over, though the project had to stop in 1894 due to financial problems – the mix of private and public funding only added up to 15% of the cost of the project. Meano had his own issues, after being caught in a love triangle with his valet, he was murdered by his servant in his own home in 1904.

The project was already beginning to lose money and the proposed opening date in 1892 was by now a distant memory. The state injected more money into the project and put a third architect, Belgian-born Jules Dormal, in charge.

After nearly twenty years of construction, on May 25, 1908 the Colón finally opened its doors and wowed the crowds with Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, Aida. Some parts of the building were still under construction, but the theater still managed to put on 14 operas and 54 functions that same year.

Colón Theater: The Historic Building

The magnificent seven-story building has almost 2500 seats and standing room for 500 spectators.

In the style of other 20th century European theaters it is in the shape of a horseshoe with an attractive dome on the ceiling, painted by Argentine Raúl Soldi in 1966.

The glittering chandelier at its center weighs a staggering five tons. Every inch of the Colón is decorated with fine attention to detail, even the plush crimson seats are stuffed with horsetails, and all aspects of the theater are made to ensure the highest quality of acoustics possible.

A view of the stage at the Colón Theater from the upper balcony seats — Courtesy of Nahuel Padrevecchi/GCBA

The classical music pit has room for 120 musicians, the stage is slightly slanted to allow better viewing and has a revolving disk to allow for slick scene changes.

Ticket Prices at the Teatro Colon

Tickets at the theater have typically been accessible, as standing seats are available, meaning that people from all social strata can enjoy the theater.

Traditionally, the location of your seat is an indicator of your class. Orchestra and box seats are the most desirable and expensive, allowing visitors access to the Golden Hall and the entrance via the elegant Grand Staircase. The prices rose substantially in 2012, some by a whopping 600%, though compared to similar opera houses across the globe, they still remain reasonable.

There are a number of free shows throughout the year, check the website linked below for details.

Renovations: The Master Plan

In the year 2000 a ‘Master Plan’ to renovate the Colón was made. It was originally decided that the theater would remain open while the changes took place, but in 2006 Argentine folklore goddess Mercedes Sosa sang at the closing ceremony amidst famous faces and disgruntled workers.

The plan was to open in May 2008, just in time for the Colón’s 100th birthday but the refurbishments were delayed. After the 2007 elections, Buenos Aires then-mayor, Mauricio Macri pledged to make the Colón his priority and injected even more money into the project.

The Salon Dorado, or Golden Hall at the Colon Theater — The Salon Dorado, courtesy GBCA

Grand Bicentennial Re-opening of the Theater

After much controversy and severe delays, the theater re-opened with a grand ceremony in May 2010, which coincided with Argentina’s bicentenary celebrations. Many breathed sighs of relief as the acoustics were deemed intact and the Colón looked more resplendent than ever. The renovations cost an estimated 300 million Argentine pesos.

Guided Tours, Getting Tickets & Dress Code

Guided tours of the Teatro Colón begin every 15 minutes, seven days a week and last approximately 50 minutes.

The tours are in English, Spanish and Portuguese. They are free for children under six and discounts are provided for seniors and students.

⇒ Book The ‘skip the line’ Colón Theater Tour

The best way to buy tickets to performances is to simply buy them at the box office. You can purchase them online or on the telephone, but unless an Argentine credit card is used, the price will be at the official exchange rate, which is slightly lower than the ‘Blue Dolar’ exchange rate.

Still, for popular performances buying online may be the easiest way to secure tickets without having to cue.

In the more expensive seats, especially for a gala performance, formal wear is now again required. The least expensive Paraíso (‘Paradise,’ or upper balcony seats) seats do not have a dress code, but visitors will still feel out of place if wearing sneakers and t-shirts.

Make sure to arrive on time — in contrast to most things in Argentina, punctuality is important at the Teatro Colón — visitors cannot enter after the performance begins.

–Rosie Hilder

⇒ Take a three-hour Buenos Aires Walking & Colon Theater Tour

⇒ Take the Skip-the-Line Colón Theater Tour

Teatro Colón
Cerrito 628
Tickets, Colón cafe & tours: Tucumán 1171
Performance entrance: Libertad 621
4378-7100 (general)
4378-7127 (tours)
5254-9100 (tickets)

→ To see the entire 2019 schedule of ballet, opera and orchestra and other performances the Teatro Colón check their website.

→ Read our Porteño Corner interview with Sarah Stern, an American harpist at the Colón Theater.

2012 Buenos Aires International Indie Film Festival

Tickets are on sale for the 2012 Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival, taking place from the 11th until the 22th of April.

Known by its Spanish acronym, BAFICI, this is the yearly festival’s 14th edition. Buenos Aires’ largest festival will be bigger than ever with a total of 449 films screening in 11 locations throughout the city.

The Films

The festival’s opening film is El Último Elvis (The Last Elvis), which premiered at Sundance earlier this year. It’s the directorial debut of Aramando Bó III, co-writer of 2010’s Biutiful and the grandson of the legendary Argentine director of the same name. The film is about a Buenos Aires-based Elvis tribute artist who is forced to reassess his iconic obsession.

Among the feature length films that will have their worldwide debut at the festival is comedy, Aqui estoy, aqui no (Here I am, Here I’m not) by Chilean Elisa Eliash.

The International Sign for Choking, by US director Zach Weintraub takes a look at Argentine idiosyncrasies through the lens of a North American. It follows a dejected college grad who decides to go to Buenos Aires to teach English and stalk an Argentine sweetheart.

La casa Emak bakia (The Search for Emak Bakia) by Spanish director, Oskar Alegría, will also debut at this year’s BAFICI. The documentary follows the director as he searches for a house on the Basque coastline where avant-garde photographer Man Ray made a 1926 movie called Emak Bakia.

Among the 59 feature-length Argentine films at this year’s BAFICI, three will compete in the prestigious International Competition.

La Araña Vampiro (The Vampire Spider) is a comedy by Gabriel Medina that follows a 20 year-old protagonist who suffers from panic attacks and travels to Cordoba with his father to seek tranquility.

Germania, the debut film by Maximiliano Schonfeld is about the difficulties a German family faces as they abandon their farm in the Argentine province of Entre Ríos.

Los salvajes (The Wild Ones) by young director, Alejandro Fadel tracks the survival of five young people who escape from a juvenile facility in rural Argentina.

Other films in the international competition include Snowtown, Justin Kurzel’s film based on the real-life story of the Australian murders. Released in the U.S. as ‘The Snowtown Murders,’ it won a special mention at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

’The Woman in the Septic Tank,’ a satire by Marlon N. Rivera, was the Philippine’s official 2012 entry to the Best Foreign Language category at the Academy awards.

Celine Sciamma’s ‘Tomboy,’ is an intimate French film about a girl who refuses to conform to gender roles.

BAFICI 2012 Themes — Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll

New this year are the edition of Buenos Aires’ San Martín Cultural Center and the Galileo Planetarium as screening venues. The planetarium will screen films spanning its 360º dome, creating a concert-like venue. Pink Floyd-The Wall and U2, a film about the band’s ‘360 tour,’ will both be shown under the theme ‘Adolescence,’ one of nine thematic categories highlighted at this year’s festival.

Along with the rock and roll, other themes this year are ‘The Law of Desire,’ –code for sex — and ‘Trance,’ which looks at the use of drugs in film.

Another focus this year is the work of directors who are not well known in Argentina, such as Taiwanese director, Te-Sheng Wei and British filmmaker, Grant Gee, mostly known for his music videos of groups such as Radiohead and Joy Division.

Almost the entire body of ‘anti-avant-guard’ work of the elusive Brazilian director, Carlos Prates’s will screen at this year’s BAFICI as well.

Free films will be shown this year in Parque Centenario’s Amphitheater including Let the Right One In, by Swede, Tomas Alfredson; Papá, soy una zombie (Dad, I’m a Zombie) an animated film from Spain; and ‘There are No Innocent Bystanders,’ a music documentary about the popular UK band, The Libertines.

As part of a tribute to classic independent filmmakers, Armando Bo III’s grandfather’s sought-after 1960 film, India will also be shown. This copy of the collector’s film was literally dug up from a museum closet and revamped by the Buenos Aires Culture Department.

Georges Méliès, Viaje a la luna (Trip to the Moon) is also now digitally remastered and in full color. It includes a soundtrack by the French duo, Air.

Among hundreds of lesser-known films debuting is El Gran Río, which documents the life of David Dodas Boungora, an African refugee who landed in Argentina from a cargo boat eight years ago.

The festival’s comes to a close with Ursula Meier’s L’enfant d’en haut, a sibling drama set in a Swiss ski resort. Known elsewhere by its English title, ‘Sister,’ the film won the Silver Bear at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

Tickets, Times and Trailers

This year ticket prices rose three pesos, to $AR15 for the general public and AR$13 for students and seniors.

To purchase advance tickets and see a list of all the films and their plot summaries, see the Festivales de Buenos Aires website. It is recommended to purchase tickets as soon as possible, as popular films tend to sell out quickly.

Trailer for Masterplan by filmmaking brothers, Diego and Pablo Levy. To see this and other trailers visit the Festival of Buenos Aires youtube page.

Soccer Tour — See a Game Live

Wander Argentina offers exciting, safe and affordable tours to Argentine soccer games.

Tour Includes:

– Transport and accompaniment to the game.
– Tickets to the game (even for games in which only ‘club members’ are normally provided access)
– Expert explanations: bilingual guides explain the ins and outs of the game, translate chants and provide insider details on players and clubs
– Accompanied return from the stadium

Terms of online booking:

– Specific game days and times are usually not decided until a few days before the game. If game time is not confirmed upon booking please be flexible.
– If for some reason you cannot attend the elected game, please inform us as soon as possible. We will work with you to arrange to see another game.
-Price is determined by the cost of the match tickets

Upcoming games

To inquire about upcoming games, check our list of upcoming soccer games and send us a message at the bottom of the page, or go ahead and contact us through our contact form.

The 2011 Buenos Aires’ Tango Festival

Editor’s note: Please read about this year’s World Tango Festival here.

The 2011 Buenos Aires World Tango Festival, now in its 11th addition runs from August 16th until August 30th. This year’s festival is a few days shorter in duration than last year’s event but it still packs a tango punch with over 150 live shows, classes, conferences and other activities featuring over 500 national and international artists.

The free festival features tango classes for all levels, documentary films, exhibitions, and an abundance of dance and musical performances by some of Buenos Aires’ best tango ensembles such as Orchestra Tipica El Provenir and tango legends such as Horacio Ferrer, known to habitues of San Telmo’s cafe La Poesia for his work with Astor Piazzolla.

Aside from the country’s best national tango groups, hailing from both traditional and electro-tango genres are international acts such as Uruguay’s La Murguera, Canada’s Quetango and Germany’s Tango Fusion.

The event opens on Tuesday March 16th at The Centro de Exposiciones in Recoleta with a concert by Amelita Baltar and Horacio Molina at 7:00 p.m. followed by a massive milonga (tango dance party) with music provided by María Nieves and Los Reyes del Tango.

New this year is the addition of the Ribera Theater as a principal venue, which is only appropriate since it is located in the increasingly safe La Boca, the neighborhood that lays claim to fame as the ‘birthplace of tango.’

Also new is a Carlos Gardel exhibition called ‘From Man to Myth’ featuring 500 items and documents that tell the story of one of tango — and Buenos Aires’ — most important historical figures. The exhibit can be seen from August 17th until the 28th from 4:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. BAFICI will be showing a variety of films devoted to tango throughout the festival.

The event’s grand finale is the World Tango Championship, pitting 400 of the world’s best tango dancers against each other in a competition to win worldwide prestige and an AR$20,000 (US$4,800) prize. There are two categories: ‘salon tango,’ the more traditional version of the dance seen in milongas throughout the city and ‘stage tango,’ the flashier ballroom-style tango.

Events

To see a day-by-day breakdown of the Tango Festival events and the World Championship Dance competition see the Buenos Aires Culture Department’s official webpage.

Principal Tango Festival Venues:

-Centro Municipal de Exposiciones: Av. Figueroa Alcorta and Av. Pueyrredón, Recoleta

-Teatro de la Ribera: Av. Pedro De Mendoza 1821, La Boca
-Teatro 25 de Mayo: Triunvirato 4444, Villa Urquiza

–Luna Park stadium: Av. Madero 420, Downtown

Tickets:

All the activities for the Tango Festival are free, on a first-come first-serve basis. Only the activities taking place at the CCC 25 de Mayo Theater and the dance competition semi-finals and finals at downtown’s Luna Park require obtaining tickets in advance.

-To get tickets for activities at the CCC theater, head to the theater at Av. Triunvirato 4444 between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Two tickets are given out per person.

-To get tickets for the semi-final and final rounds of the dance competition go to the Casa de Cultura, 525 Ave, de Mayo Monday August 22 between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 6 p.m. Two tickets per person.

Football Argentina: Getting a Hold of Tickets

The easiest way of getting a ticket to an Argentine football game is probably to purchase a ticket online from an agency.

Purchasing the tickets this way is a full tour that includes a bilingual guide and football expert and transport to and from the stadium.

The only downside with this method is that prices will be marked up from the cost at stadium counters. Considering exchange rates, even with such a mark up, this might just be the most convenient approach because getting tickets from the source can be an exercise in frustration.

Due to the popularity of their teams, prices to Boca Juniors and River Plate games are by far the most expensive. Suffice to say, because only ‘socios’ or ‘team members’ can purchase tickets, it is now impossible to buy Boca tickets the conventional way, and almost impossible for River tickets. Visitors will have to go through an agency unless you have a local friend that is a member and can get you tickets.

Most tourists visiting Argentina want to see the world famous Boca or River play a match, but there are many exciting Division I matches with equally rabid rivalries between the fans that are worth attending, as well as the Copa Libertadores, which has six local Argentine teams competing in the South American championship.

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Buying Tickets at the Stadium

— If you have more time than money, you can take a chance and go to the stadium before the match to buy a ticket (aside from Boca and River games, where that won’t work).

The problem here is that procedures vary depending on the importance of the match, or on other factors which often don’t make any sense at all. Sometimes tickets are available at the stadium ticket stalls a couple of weeks before the match in question, sometimes they only go on sale to the public the day before and big games featuring popular teams often do not offer tickets to the public.

Purchasing tickets at the stadium will work for most of the smaller teams, it’s just a matter of finding out when those tickets go on sale.

If it’s a big match, people will line up early in the morning to make sure they get a ticket. If you’re a hardcore enough fan to do this, make sure you get all the details beforehand — you don’t want to go on the wrong day, and stand in the wrong line!

Sometimes tickets to important games are sold in other venues as well, such as the Luna Park entertainment complex downtown.

For many matches, tickets should still be available right up until kickoff, but unless you have your finger on the pulse of Argentine football it can be hard to determine this beforehand. There are sometimes tickets for sale on Mercado Libre, Argentina’s version of Ebay and Viagogo, but, again, purchasers will need to know what a real ticket looks like and be around to accept the delivery, and we’ve heard a couple of cases of the tickets not being delivered.

Buying Soccer Tickets from a Scalper

— If it’s the day of a big game, and you don’t yet have a ticket, one other option is to try to pick one up from an ‘unauthorized’ (read: illegal) vendor outside the stadium in the hours leading up to the match. Do so at your own peril, though. It might just work, but you also might end up — as many have before — with a bunk ticket, just as can happen buying from individuals online .

Scalpers are found in the parks and streets outside the stadium shouting out ‘¡Boletos!’ (Tickets!). Ticket prices will be substantially marked up, probably more so if you are a foreigner, but that is to be expected going through an intermediary. Try to use your good judgment on the legitimacy of the tickets, which are increasingly plastic cards instead of paper tickets. Talk to several of the vendors to compare prices — if they see you talking to the competition, they will probably drop the price a little too.

The scalper will undoubtedly assure you until he’s blue in the face that the ticket is real, but be careful. If he won’t let you inspect the ticket before you buy, forget it. Very carefully check the details written on the ticket. Is it the right game? The right date? An adult ticket? If you’re buying more than one, make sure they’re all the same.

If you’re with a friend who has a legitimate ticket, you can use it to compare. You may do everything right and still find out the ticket is a fake when you get to the stadium entrance. If you’re desperate enough to see the match, and you think it’s worth the risk of throwing your money away, buying from a scalper (for non Boca games) is a final resort that may actually work.

*updated: 2019

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