Located on de Julio, the widest street in the world, the 2,367-seat Teatro Colón is the second largest performing arts theatre in the southern hemisphere, second only to Australia's Sydney Opera House. The theatre opened on 25 May 1908 with a performance of Verdi's Aida and during the twentieth century has deservedly earned the reputation of a world-renowned operatic centre possessing fantastic acoustics and hosting such famous names as Maria Callas, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti as well as other leading stars of opera, ballet and classical music.
On 1 November 2006, the Teatro Colón closed its doors to the public to start the third and last stage of the US$25m renovations which will be undertaken with a "closed theatre". The Third Stage (2006-2007) of the Master Plan for the restoration of the theatre called for new lighting and following a thorough comparison of available products, stage and technical director Jose Luis Fiorruccio, and lighting chief Jorge Pérez chose Selecon Pacific 12°-28° and Pacific 14°-35° zoomspot units to be added to the theatre's lighting inventory. In total, 43 units have been supplied by Stage Tech SRL, the local Selecon distributor. Antonio Agra, Stage Tech SRL's managing director, explains the process and reasoning behind the Pacific's successful selection for La Sala (the auditorium).
To maintain the integrity of the restoration the Teatro's technical team decided to add new luminaires to their inventory and after an evaluation process Selecon Pacific 12°-28° and 14°-35° Zoomspots were chosen. Compact in size and lightweight, the Pacific is well designed, well constructed, and well suited to the needs of professional theatre lighting. The modular design that lets the use of different lamps and the interchangeable lens tubes were also important advantages at the final decision, according to the technical team.
This installation of Pacifics joins a growing number of prestigious theatres in Buenos Aires such as the Teatro Nacional Cervantes (60 units) and the Teatro El Nacional (170 units) which have all realised the unique modularity, performance and control features offered by this high quality Selecon range."
Re-opening is scheduled to coincide with the celebration of the centenary of this majestic venue on 25 May 2008, with most of the works expected to be completed. Meanwhile, the theatre's activities will continue as programmed in other halls of the city.
(Lee Baldock)
