Teatro Colon and insane ticket prices

[SaraSara]

The Colon had superb acoustics. I don´t know that it´s true that the renovations have adversely affected the sound. We´ll find out when it reopens. The Metropolitan Opera has very good acoustics.

We went to the Met when if first opened (back in the Pleistocene), and the acoustics were (was?) not very good. Over the years there was work to improve it: the ceiling was replaced, and there were some new wall panels added, I think. I'm glad to hear it works well now - it's a great theatre.

I have read that acoustics is an art, not a science. I understand that La Scala has wonderful acoustics, and so does La Fenice, in Venice. I've never been to either one, but don't lose hope of doing so.

 

[Mano Negra]

Now compare that with what I actually paid at the Metropolitan Opera in December and January...many opera lovers consider it the best opera company in the world. Totally dependent on ticket sales and private contributions, virtually no subsidies....

Monday evening performance, orchestra rear $80 USD
Saturday performance, prime orchestra...peak time, highest price.... $175 USD
Monday evening performance using rush tickets. Thanks to the generosity of a benefactor, there are something like 200 of the best seats in the house sold on a first come basis the same day as the performance for $20 USD. I had prime orchestra.

Yes, there are cheaper tickets at the Colon but keep in mind that the Colon is a HUGE theatre with many extremely poor visibility areas. The Metropolitan Opera has more seating however the house has fewer partial views. Keep in mind too the gap in salaries between the US and Argentina. Hard to understand where all the subsidy money goes. The last I heard, the Colon receives the lion´s share of government subsidies though that may have changed under the Kiurchners I don´t know.

It's unfair to compare apples with pears. You can't compare getting a $20 discounted ticket to having to pay full price.

$882 pesos (+10%) (roughly £150) for something that is a luxury (even more so here than in the West) seems reasonable for the best seat in the house. If you compare this to the Royal Opera House in London, it works out roughly 30% cheaper. For example for the upcoming season of the ROH (booking period 3), prices range from £5 for the cheapest seat/standing place to £210 for a box seat or the best area in the orchestra stalls. If you also consider that the majority of the productions are sponsored, and look at the number of donors and lottery funding, the actual cost of a ticket is a lot higher.

As with the cheap seats in the Colon, the £5 seats in London aren't great, but give people who wouldn't have been able to go otherwise the chance to see an Opera or Ballet.

People tend not only to forget that Argentina is a third world country, and as such (apart from heinous import taxes), luxuries on the whole are priced in dollar terms, but also that in the West, schemes exist to widen participation in the arts, for example the $20 ticket you mention, or the £10 tickets the ROH offers students (also often the best seats in the orchestra stalls).

 

[sergio]

Sara, I wasn´t aware that the Metropolitan Opera had acoustical problems in its early years. Are you sure you are not thinking of Philharmonic Hall, now Avery Fisher Hall. That building has had a long history of acoustical problems which seem to have been sorted out. I believe they did place acoustical panels and made changes to the roof. I have never heard of the Met´s getting a new roof and I´ve been attending performances since their second year, but maybe I missed something...Anyway, as long as I can remember the sound has been great.

Miles, I don´t think I expressed myself well. I mentioned the $20 discounted tickets to illustrate the generosity of philanthropists, I believe a couple, who want to share their love of opera with the public. There are rich people here who could do the same. Amelia Fortabat, for example, paid for a beautiful building in Puerto Madero to house her art collection, now open to the public. Constantini paid for the MALBA Museum. I compared orchestra stalls prices at the Met - $80 for orchestra rear on a Monday and $175 for orchestra prime on a Saturday - to the high prices the Colon is charging this season. I´m well aware that the $20 tickets are a gift from some extraordinary people. Whatever the higher cost of tickets here compared to the Metropolitan Opera, please remember that Argentines earn devalued pesos, not dollars, pounds or euros!

I don´t share the view that classical music is a luxury. It´s a basic in a society that values art and humanistic values. On the contrary, the arts should be accessible to everyone and that accessibility should be made possible by the state if there are no private contributors willing to help out. Lots of money is spent by the city of Buenos Aires on ´popular´ entertainment, rock concerts etc, and other activities that go under the cultural umbrella. There is enough money here to do this. It´s just a question of appropriate and honest appropriation of funds. It´s true, though, that a lot of people in Argentina see classical music as the property of a small elite and do not want to share it with others. That´s an attitude that I hope will change as more people travel and see how some societies make greater efforts to be inclusive.

 

[Futboljunkie]

Classical music is the property of a small elite, this not different in Argentina or somewhere else in the world

 

[SaraSara]

Sara, I wasn´t aware that the Metropolitan Opera had acoustical problems in its early years. Are you sure you are not thinking of Philharmonic Hall, now Avery Fisher Hall.

You are probably right: perhaps it was the Avery Fisher Hall and not the Opera House. It was so long ago.

Do you know of any classical music radios in BA? Amadeus was wonderful, but it vanished without warning. Before I left Argentina there were two classical radios: Radio Nacional and Radio Municipal. They did a good job of popularizing classical music. Which is not for the elites, but for anyone who loves it: a classical CD costs as much as a cumbia one.

When I was a student I used to go to the Colon's top floor, Paraiso, lo listen to concerts standing up. Anyone could afford those tickets. That is, anyone with legs strong enough to run up six floors to reach Paraiso. (Aptly named!)

 

[sergio]

Sara, I believe you were thinking of Philharmonic Hall, Avery Fisher Hall now.It has been a problematic building but things seem better now. Lincoln Center is currently undergoing an enormous makeover that will vastly improve the complex. As for standing, I did that at the Met when I was very young but I have passed that stage. I´ll pay to attend one of the operas at the Colon this year to see what the theatre looks like after the restorations but I won´t pay those prices on a regular basis. I prefer to wait until I am in New York where I get far better value for my $.

Futboljunkie, Classical music is accessible in the US. There are many discounted tickets, especially for students and retired people. There is a great effort to make it affordable to everyone. You are wrong.

 

[SaraSara]

I'm sure you are correct about Philharmonic Hall - that must be the one I remembered.

There will probably be tours when the Colon reopens, like they were before closing. They included the costume shop, which was fascinating.

No classic music radio that you know of? Someone told me that Amadeus had moved, but I haven't been able to find it.

 

[sergio]

Yes, there will eventually be tours but I have a feeling that not right away- I think they are going to have a hard time meeting the deadline. Just walk by and see all the work going on!

Classical music radio....I no longer listen to local radio, so I can´t help you. I prefer to listen online. There are so many choices!

 

[Futboljunkie]

Sara, I believe you were thinking of Philharmonic Hall, Avery Fisher Hall now.It has been a problematic building but things seem better now. Lincoln Center is currently undergoing an enormous makeover that will vastly improve the complex. As for standing, I did that at the Met when I was very young but I have passed that stage. I´ll pay to attend one of the operas at the Colon this year to see what the theatre looks like after the restorations but I won´t pay those prices on a regular basis. I prefer to wait until I am in New York where I get far better value for my $.

Futboljunkie, Classical music is accessible in the US. There are many discounted tickets, especially for students and retired people. There is a great effort to make it affordable to everyone. You are wrong.

And how many people actually use it and how many Americans have been there?

Does kind of things used to exist as well in BA before the Colon closed down but classical music is just not mainstream, not in Argentina and in the US neither

 

[lwfh]

http://www.derecho.uba.ar/extension/conciertos.php

On the topic of free classical music concerts, I went to a few of these concerts in 2008 and always enjoyed them. The 2010 is given on the website