Malaga music auditorium: city council names future cultural hub Palacio de la Ópera
The facility will have the capacity to hold 200 events a year, including shows, conventions and conferences forecast to attract half a million visitors
Malaga city council has decided to call the future music auditorium Palacio de la Ópera de Málaga (Malaga Opera House).
The name seeks to encompass the wide-range activities that this cultural hub will host: concerts, theatre plays, conventions and conferences.
This venue, to be built at the San Andrés port, will host more than 200 events and half a million attendees a year. The sponsor of this facility has not been chosen yet, but Cajamar is known to have shown interest.
The city council is fine-tuning the concept and design of this space to make it attractive to potential investors. With the budget increase in 2024, it became clear that the project would not be viable without the help of the private sector.
The Ministry of Culture has refused to collaborate with Mayor of Malaga Francisco de la Torre, although Malaga is the only provincial capital in Spain that does not have a proper facility for music and cultural events. This project has been in demand for decades.
De la Torre has made the Palacio de la Ópera one of the priorities of his mandate and has launched an ambitious campaign to attract sponsors, with letters to the main companies and entities of the country. In the presentation, he highlights the "avant-garde", "innovative" and "sustainable" nature of the space.
With the new name, the title 'auditorium' passes down to the main hall in the future Opera House. Among the proposed features of the centre is the creation of a museum of stage arts.
The building, designed by architects Federico Soriano and Agustín Benedicto, seeks to be the striking new landmark of the city. Rising 40 metres above street level, it features facades that change in form depending on the viewpoint, wrapped in ceramic pieces in three shades of blue, from cobalt to pale blue.
The result is a structure with a "contemporary and open" atmosphere, in which simplicity, functionality and accessibility are prioritised, according to the dossier sent to potential sponsors.
The city council presents a "multifunctional space for arts, business and tourism" to potential sponsors
In a series of infographics produced by the city council, the infrastructure is presented as a key urban hub, located "close to the main transport nodes and gateways for visitors and tourists".
The space is described as "modern and relaxed". The design combines cultural, tourist and business activity with artificial intelligence, digital accessibility, global connectivity and a so-called 'Wow' effect.
The centre will have two main spaces: the auditorium with a capacity of 1,900 people and a hall for medium and small events with over 500 seats. The auditorium's is flexible and adaptable to different performances.
The Opera House will also have "multiple spaces for all kinds of events", including the festivals that Malaga is already hosting: Festival de de Málaga, Festival de Jazz, los Premios Nacionales del Videojuego o el Congreso de Ciberseguridad de Andalucía.
The centre will also have the capacity to host conventions and conferences, mainly in the fields of tourism, technology and business. This broadens the scope of activities and increases its potential for sponsors.
