First things first, this marks my 33rd post in the past five months - success! (Considering I only blogged 32 times in a nine month period the last time I was in Argentina.)
On to more interesting topics...Teatro Colon, which is considered one of the top five in the world. It is especially well-known for its acoustics and its architectural value. (Interesting fact: they don't use any microphones and you can hear even the slightest whisper.) A few years back, it celebrated its 100th birthday.
About a month ago, I went on a guided tour. The theater was built over a period of 20 years, due to the death of two of the three architects. (The first one died a year after starting the project and the second one was killed by his butler when the butler found out he had an affair with his wife.) Due to this, one can see varying styles of architecture within the building, depending on which architect carried out that specific project.
In 2006, restoration of the theater began. This process took 4 years, 1500 individuals and $100 million to complete. This makes sense when you consider that the theater takes up the whole city block and that it has three levels underground, which houses the tallers ... in other words, the shops needed to create everything the theater needs - costumes, wigs, backdrops, etc. (Interesting fact: everything used in the theater is made there.)
This morning, I had the opportunity to go to Teatro Colon and listen to Cuarteto Petrus for free in great seats! (More on that later) For anyone into music, they played Felix Mendelssohn: Capriccio en Mi menor; Anton Arensky: Variaciones sobre un tema de Tchaikovski, Op.35 a; José Bragato: Tres movimientos porteños; and Maurice Ravel: Cuarteto en Fa. It was neat because Mr. Bragato was present ...and because the theater is breath-taking! I'll leave you all with a tidbit of the concert. :-)
