During this year and as soon as the authorities allow the cultural centers to function, the Theater will resume its activity with presentations via streaming specially created for the Municipal Delivery platform and the eventual presentation of small-format shows with limited capacity. The major works scheduled – opera, ballet, and concerts scheduled for this year – will carry over to the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Considering the current context of uncertainty, where there is still no clarity regarding when mass shows will be authorized; the need for certainties that artistic programming requires for technical and contractual reasons; and the impossibility of large shows being performed with the recommended social distance, the Municipal de Santiago’s board of directors, chaired by Mayor Felipe Alessandri, decided to reorganize the 2020 Season.

After analyzing various scenarios for weeks, the board of directors agreed that, as soon as the authorities allow it, the Theater will resume its activity with presentations of its artistic bodies via streaming, specially created for the platform. Municipal Delivery, and the eventual performance of small-format shows with limited capacity. The great works – opera, ballet and concerts scheduled for this year – will be carried over to the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

“We are in an exceptional moment, as a result of a pandemic that still has no end date. And that is why, because we must act responsibly before our public, artists and workers and safeguard the health of all of them, that we have decided to adjust our season, moving the larger format shows that take place in the main hall to 2021-2022. . It was not an easy determination, but it is what we must do in a unique moment like this, “explained Mayor Alessandri.

Among the factors considered by the board for this reorganization, are the characteristics of the disciplines cultivated in the Theater and the density of the main hall, which has a capacity of 1,466 people. Thus, the closeness between the musicians of the orchestra – gathered in the pit whose dimensions are 14×7 meters and which will remain closed until conditions allow it to be reopened – was also analyzed, as well as the impossibility of many of them using masks for playing wind instruments. The natural physical contact between the dancers and the closeness with which the choristers sing were also taken into account, all conditions that prevent performing large shows safely enough for the artists, the public and the theater workers.

The board also considered the tight financial situation of the institution and the risks that would involve suspending contracts unexpectedly or incurring expenses for works that have a high probability of not showing up. To which is added the low inclination of people to attend massive shows in the near future – around 13% – for fear of catching it, manifested in recent national and international surveys.

In this way, the shows to be rescheduled in 2021 will be the operas La Flauta Mágica, Nabucco and Lucía de Lammermoor, to which 5 new titles will be added. All operas will be in concert version. The rescheduled ballets will be Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Nutcracker and 33Horas Bar. The dates and casts will be communicated on July 1, along with the details of the 10 seasonal concerts that will direct Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Pedro-Pablo Prudencio, Paolo Bortolameolli, Juan Pablo Izquierdo and Alejandra Urrutia, among others,.

Likewise, the dates of the small-format shows that could take place this 2020 will be informed as soon as the Theater has the authorization of the health authorities to resume its activities.

The commercial area of ​​Municipal de Santiago will communicate with each of the subscribers and customers who have tickets for plays scheduled for this 2020 in order to offer them various alternatives, which will also be detailed on their website. Among the options that the public will have are the reprogramming of tickets and subscriptions; keeping the amount of the tickets on a virtual card available for use in any future show of the 2021 and 2022 seasons; donating the value of tickets and subscriptions, among other alternatives, such as money back. The call of the Theater to the public is to choose one of the first three alternatives, in order to support the artists and workers of the Theater in the context of the tight financial situation facing the institution as a result of the pandemic, and to keep alive the culture so that you can continue to give containment and inspiration to people.  

“The covid-19 has imposed a challenge on the income of Municipal de Santiago, which has three outstanding stable bodies and a plant of 390 workers, who for 163 years have given life to great operas, ballet and concerts. For this reason, I want to invite those who have known us in this period thanks to digital transmissions, those who have been moved by our productions and those who feel a deep love for this institution, to join the campaign that we will begin in the coming hours. in order to raise funds to continue creating this 2020 ”, indicated the general director, Carmen Gloria Larenas, who added that, in addition to the subscribers and those who had individual tickets, anyone can donate a voluntary amount to the institution. 

Theater team will communicate with the entire public by mail and contact information will also be available on the website www.municipal.cl.