The Teatro Arriaga, Arriaga Antzokia in Basque, stands on the bank of the Nervión in Bilbao. Its site was previously occupied by the Teatro de la Villa of 1834, which had become too small and dilapidated after damage in the Carlist Wars. The neo-Baroque new building by architect Joaquín Rucoba, whose façades are modelled on the Paris Opera, opened on 31 May 1890 with Ponchielli's La Gioconda. The house is named after the Bilbao-born composer Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, the "Spanish Mozart". After a fire in December 1914, Federico de Ugalde rebuilt the theatre; it reopened in 1919 with Verdi's Don Carlo. The 1983 flood caused severe damage, and the theatre reopened after restoration in 1986. The horseshoe-shaped auditorium seats around 1,200.
The Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, opened in 1890 in Neo-Baroque style, is home to the Basque opera tradition — the magnificent building on the Nervión River survived several fires and is today one of the most beautiful theatres in Northern Spain.
At a glance
- Type
- Opera house
- Location
- Bilbao, Spain
More venues in Spain
- Auditorio Nacional de Música · Multi-genre theatre, Madrid
- Gran Teatre del Liceu · Opera house, Barcelona
- Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía · Opera house, Valencia
- Salto Escénico · Theatre, Madrid
- Teatre Nacional de Catalunya · Theatre, Barcelona
- Teatro de la Maestranza · Opera house, Sevilla
- Teatro de la Zarzuela · Opera house, Madrid
- Teatro Real · Opera house, Madrid