BOGOTÁ – The 2027 cultural calendar is set for an extraordinary year. The Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo has unveiled next year’s season, a programme of 152 performances spanning opera, classical music, dance, theatre and contemporary artistic expression, reaffirming the institution’s position as one of Colombia’s leading cultural stages and an important meeting point for international performing arts.
Since opening its doors in 2010, the Teatro Mayor has developed an ambitious programme that places Bogotá in conversation with some of the world’s most established cultural institutions. Its collaborations with orchestras, opera companies and artistic organisations from Europe and Latin America have helped establish a reputation for presenting productions of considerable scale and international standing.
Yet its identity extends beyond the stage, with an ongoing commitment to making culture accessible through educational and social programmes that bring performances and artistic experiences to younger audiences and communities with limited access to the arts.
The 2027 season opens with a particularly strong operatic programme. Among its principal productions is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fidelio, presented in collaboration with La Compañía Estable, featuring the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln under Colombian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, with stage direction by Pedro Salazar.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto will follow, with the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Patrick Fournillier and Salazar once again directing the production. Both works demonstrate the Teatro Mayor’s continued investment in large-scale lyrical productions.
The opera programme also includes Francis Poulenc’s La voix humaine, Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, presented in concert with the National Symphony Orchestra and National Choir of Colombia, and Tristana, a contemporary production inspired by the novel by Spanish writer Benito Pérez Galdós. A zarzuela gala will complete a season that places the operatic tradition firmly within Bogotá’s cultural landscape.
Orchestral music will provide some of the year’s most anticipated moments. The Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, one of Europe’s historic symphonic ensembles, opens the major concert series on 31 January under Orozco-Estrada. Spanish guitarist Pablo Sainz-Villegas, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and her ensemble, the Mutter’s Virtuosi, and French-Canadian cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras are among the international artists scheduled to appear. Queyras will undertake an especially demanding programme, performing all six of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suites.
One of the season’s most ambitious undertakings will be Gustav Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, popularly known as the Symphony of a Thousand. The monumental composition will bring together the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the National Choir of Colombia, the Philharmonic Youth Choir and the Philharmonic Children’s Choir. Its scale alone makes this one of the year’s defining musical events.
The programme will also coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra (OFB), celebrated through a series of concerts that include Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony with German conductor Christoph Eschenbach, a tribute to the Colombian tiple featuring Juan Manuel Araque, and Echoes of Beethoven, conducted by Henrik Schaefer with Colombian-Austrian pianist Sergio Posada.
The National Symphony Orchestra will meanwhile present Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with Dutch pianist Gile Bae and Osvaldo Golijov’s La Pasión según San Marcos, a powerful Latin American interpretation of the Passion narrative.
March brings another major international event. From 24 to 27 March, the eighth Bogotá International Classical Music Festival, titled Bogotá es Beethoven 200, will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death. Across four venues, the festival will present 18 concerts, including two free performances, with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Belcea Quartet, Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos, pianists Enrico Pace and Gottlieb Wallisch, and tenor Christoph Prégardien among its featured artists.
Beethoven’s legacy, particularly his exploration of human freedom, personal struggle and the transformative power of music, provides the festival with a compelling historical and artistic framework.
Dance will offer an equally international perspective. Colombia’s Incolballet will present three major productions: Carmen, Zorba the Greek and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. From Spain, choreographer Antonio Najarro brings Romance sonámbulo, inspired by the poetry of Federico García Lorca, while Argentina’s National Folkloric Ballet presents Enlazados, celebrating traditional dance from across the southern continent. Contemporary dance also features prominently, with productions by French choreographer Simon Le Borgne, Colombian company Gregarios and Basque company CieloRaso.
Another defining cultural anniversary will be the centenary of Gabriel García Márquez’s birth. The Teatro Mayor will mark the occasion through a dedicated programme that includes Gabo 100: In Memoriam, by Teatro Cenit, and Úrsula Iguarán, delirio sin fin, by Teatro Tierra. A new musical work dedicated to the Nobel laureate, performed by French contemporary ensemble L’Itinéraire, will further extend the celebrations into the world of experimental music.
The season will not, however, be confined to European classical traditions or international touring productions. The Colombia es Música programme will welcome artists including Las Añez, Marta Gómez, María Cristina Plata, Piangua, Colombia Negra and Oscar Acevedo Big Band.
Bogotá will also host the launches of three of the country’s most important musical gatherings: the 60th Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata, the 53rd Festival de Música Andina Colombiana Mono Núñez and the 31st Festival de Música del Pacífico Petronio Álvarez.
The theatre schedule sbring together established and emerging voices from Colombia and abroad, with productions ranging from Shakespeare-inspired Argentine performance to contemporary Spanish drama and new Colombian stage works. Younger audiences will also have their place through Conejo azul, the winning production of the theatre’s 2027 children’s performance creation competition.
Beyond its artistic programme, the Teatro Mayor continues to place social responsibility and sustainability at the centre of its institutional mission. Initiatives such as Cien Mil Niños al Mayor, Teatro Digital and Teatropedia seek to expand access to the performing arts, particularly through education and opportunities for children and young people. Its Teatro Verde programme will also feature 17 productions addressing environmental and sustainability themes.
For a city whose cultural identity is increasingly international, the 2027 season represents more than an impressive succession of performances. It reflects the value of sustained investment in cultural infrastructure, international collaboration and the conviction that access to the arts should extend beyond traditional audiences.
With Beethoven and García Márquez providing two extraordinary historical reference points, and an ambitious programme bringing together some of the most compelling names in music, opera, dance and theatre, the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo is preparing to make 2027 a memorable year for Bogotá’s cultural life.
For information on the complete 2027 programme visit: www.teatromayor.org
