The Ginastera Hall of the Teatro Argentino reopens tonight, with a special function for guests. Given the speed with which tickets sold out, the historic La Plata building announced a new show for Friday at 8:00 p.m. and from there, more cultural proposals.
The program is integrated by Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, under the direction of the Orchestra and the Theater Stable Choir. Carlos Vieu is in charge of the direction, Eduviges Picone of the preparation of the Choir with the intervention of Paula Almerares, Cecilia Diaz, Juan Carlos Vassallo and Walter Schwarz. Tickets are free and complimentary and can be booked through the official page.
This room is one of the most prominent in the country and was under renovation for enhancement with an investment of more than 350 million pesos. The day will begin with the Argentine National Anthem, accompanied by the Academic Camerata, under the direction of Bernardo Teruggi, and the Children’s Choir, by Mónica Dagorret.
The Ginastera room, with capacity for 1,780 spectators and a 1,365-square-meter stage, was inaugurated on November 19, 1890. On October 13, 1999, it reopened its doors after the theater burned down and was closed in November 2017 for the government of María Eugenia Vidal to carry out maintenance and repair works.
Ernesto Bauer, baritone and artistic director of the Teatro Argentino, spoke exclusively with the newspaper EL DÍA to comment on how the reopening was achieved. He assumed his current position on March 1, 2020 and, by decision of the provincial management, he devoted himself to these enhancement works.
Its closure, in 2017, meant that “not only the public cannot access”, but also musicians, singers or ballet dancers cannot develop their profession and that “all the other workers who exist in this enormous space of more than 60 thousand square meters, who are maintenance workers and general services, technical, general production, costumes, scenery, carpentry, blacksmith, administrative are unable to carry out their task.
Bauer landed on this project 20 days before the pandemic landed in Argentina and forced the closure of recreational spaces. This caused a delay in the start of the work: “What the pandemic gave us was to carry out a lot of work to see what works had to be done primarily in this building.”
The Ministry of Infrastructure was in charge of “two immense works” on thermomechanics, the change of air conditioners, the renewal of the air and “the entire oleohydraulic system”, scenario, the electricity system, the latter two being the ones that are in validity. In 2021, the reopening of the Piazzolla Room was achieved, which is already in operation.
“There is a lot of work that is being done apart from the artistic ones, which has to do with everything related to maintenance. We can also speed up the process so that we can be here today too, in a dress rehearsal,” he added.
Regarding the work on the capacity of the room, and without losing focus on health, the current Ginastera has fewer seats but more space between one and the other to be more comfortable, but mainly because of the acoustics. “They were very tall corduroy chairs (the previous ones) that, since they are works that are carried in here, especially of an acoustic nature, there is no amplification. This new arrangement of seats works in favor of acoustics and, in addition, seats for people with disabilities were provided”, explained the baritone.
The jobs don’t stop
In the future, work will be done on “the artistic” and to be able to carry out the programming that will begin this Friday, April 20, which implies that there will be “operas, ballets, and more symphonic concerts.” Restroom repairs and maintenance will be made.
Open with Beethoven
Regarding the reasons why this particular work by Ludwig Van Beethoven was chosen, Bauer stated: “It’s simple: for me, it’s the universal anthem.” “We started by reopening the room with our National Anthem and then the universal anthem, the one about the hug, the one about coming back, coming together for culture, to be better people. It is something that is also mystical, it is a beautiful music that invites us to continue that change. Besides, we were left in the pandemic truncated from being able to celebrate the 250th anniversary of his birth, ”he added.
Appetizer
The tickets reserved for tomorrow’s show sold out in just five minutes, news that moved and took the staff by surprise. Last year it began in the Sala Piazzolla, which has a capacity for 270 people and sold out “in two minutes”.
With the anxious anticipation of this opening, the phenomenon continued and in “five minutes” the 1,780 available tickets were reserved. Since they are reserved online, they are working on a system for those older adults who want to meet her but do not have access to technology.
