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Teatro Colón,  Buenos Aires: Pedro Pablo García Caffi takes on direction of the Teatro Colón (JSJ)


Argentine musician, producer and cultural administrator Pedro Pablo García Caffi has been named the new director of Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colón.

The appointment was effective from February 12, and fills the gap left following the surprise resignation a month earlier, at the height of the summer holiday, of then incumbent Horacio Sanguinetti.

García Caffi, 64, is a trained singer, musician – in piano, guitar and flute – and stage producer, who has had a wide ranging career spanning various artistic disciplines and combining performance with production and administration. Most recently he was the artistic director of the well known chamber orchestra Camerata Bariloche (of which previously he had been executive director) and the CEO of the EsArt school of artists.

In a message to Colón artists and personnel shortly after being appointed, García Caffi said his appointment would mark the start of a journey with the hope of leaving behind the past frustrations.

“It is time to think and to see things in a different manner and to act accordingly,” said García Caffi. “We have to change the old structures: To be the best we have to improve what we do well and to change what we do badly. The great theatre that we desire will be achieved when all of its members are professionally responsible for its development. García Caffi also committed to reopening the Teatro Colón next year. After being closed for renovations in 2006, a sorry tale of woes has resulted in the theatre remaining closed subsequently, missing its centenary year in 2008, and the up to now fast diminishing hope was that it would be reopened in time for Argentina’s bicentennial in May 2010.

Artistic programmes are also being prepared for the 2009 and 2010 seasons, said García Caffi, who also takes on the position of artistic director. Other appointments are maestro Reinaldo Censabella as the musical director and maestro Esteban Gantzer as the executive director of artistic production.

While the appointment of the director of the Teatro Colón is to all intents and purposes a political one – it is made by the mayor as head of the government of the City of Buenos Aires – there is widespread hope and optimism that García Caffi will restore the house to its once pre-eminent position as one of the world’s top opera houses – a goal that he has recognized.

“I truly believe we should celebrate the fact that we have in our hands the possibility to refound the Teatro Colón. Great and important is this task and much will be expected of us," he said.

Jonathan Spencer Jones


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