Queen Sofía Palace of the Arts (Spanish: Palacio de las Artes Reina Sofía, Valencian: Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia) is an opera house and cultural centre in Valencia, Spain. It opened on 8 October 2005; its first opera staging was of Beethoven's Fidelio on 25 October 2006.
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Administration of the company is under the leadership of Helga Schmidt, formerly of London's Royal Opera House (from 1973 to 1981). Schmidt has attracted some major artists to be involved with the Palau. Among them is Zubin Mehta, who leads an annual music and opera festival, the Festival del Mediterráneo, which began in 2007; Lorin Maazel, who became music director; and Plácido Domingo, who brought his Operalia competition to the Palau in October 2007,[1] and performs there regularly (Cyrano de Bergerac in 2007, Iphigénie en Tauride in 2008, Die Walküre in 2009).
The resident orchestra at the Queen Sofía Palace of the Arts is the Valencian Community Orchestra. The theatre's first season was dated, 2006-2007. During the first and second seasons the theatre staged seven or eight operas per season, as well as an operetta, a zarzuela, and vocal recitals. During the 2008-2009 season theatre staged seven operas and one zarzuela, in performances that mainly conducted by Lorin Maazel. Soloists included Plácido Domingo, Christopher Ventris, Vittorio Grigolo, Maria Guleghina, and Cristina Gallardo-Domâs. The 2008-2009 Festival del Mediterrani included the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle conducted by Zubin Mehta, again with Plácido Domingo.
The Queen Sofía company promotes symphonic concerts, opera galas, and vocal recitals.[2] The company also hosts the Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo, an advanced training program of international draw for young opera artists, named in honor of Plácido Domingo.[3]
Queen Sofía Palace of the Arts is the final structure built of a grand City of Arts and Sciences concept designed by the Valencia-born and internationally known architect, Santiago Calatrava, which began in 1995 and it was opened on 8 October 2005.
The building rises 14 stories above ground and includes 3 stories below ground, and height is 75 metres (246 ft), being the tallest opera house in the world.[4] Under the expansive curved-roof structure, 230 m (755 ft) in length. The 40,000 m2 (431,000 sq ft) building contains four auditoriums:
The building suffered a number of unfortunate incidents after its opening which hampered initial productions. The first of these was the collapse of the main stage platform while it was bearing the complete set of Jonathan Miller's production of Don Giovanni in December 2006. This forced the Palau to cancel the last performance of La Bohème, all of La Belle et la Bête, and meant that the management had to reschedule the remainder of the inaugural opera season. In November 2007, the entire cultural complex suffered a series of floods. The recently re-built stage platform was paralised once again because almost 2 m (7 ft) of water entered the lower floors of the building and wrecked the electronics and the motors of the complex stage equipment, forcing the management to re-schedule the season again, delaying the premiere of Carmen and canceling the opera, 1984. [4]