Teatro Real

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Teatro Real
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Teatro Real

The Teatro Real (literally Royal Theater) or simply The Real as is known colloquialy, is an opera house located in Madrid, Spain. The Teatro Real is one of the world's most famous opera houses alongside the Teatro alla Scala, Liceu, Metropolitan Opera House, Royal Opera House, Teatro Colón, Wiener Staatsoper, La Fenice, Opera Bastille, Sydney Opera House and the Opera Garnier. The Teatro Real was inaugurated on 19 November 1850, with Donizetti's La Favorite and is one of the world's finest stage and acoustic settings for opera.

The construction of the Real was ordered by the queen Isabel II, this is the reason why the theater is called Real (royal in Spanish). The Teatro Real is located just in front of the Palacio Real, the official residence of the Kings of Spain. The most successful years of the opera house (including the visit of Giuseppe Verdi to present his new opera La Forza del Destino) were from its construction in 1850 to 1925, when the theater had to be closed because of the damage that the construction of the Metro de Madrid had caused on the building.

Interior
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Interior

The theater reopened in 1966 as a concert theater until the middle of the nineties, when the theater was remodeled to host opera again. In 1969, The 14th Edition of the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the theatre, and featured a metal sculpture on stage, that was created by surrealist Spanish artist, Salvador Dalí. Since 1997, the theater has recupered the fame and the excellence that it possessed on the XIX century. The orchestra of the Teatro Real is the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid.

The Teatro Real has a museum and a tour through the whole building that can be visited even the days when there is not any event.

The Metro de Madrid station of the Teatro Real is located in the line 2 and is called Ópera.

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