The Opera in Madrid Dress Code
 

Hey everyone
I was going to be in madrid in mid may or so and i am hoping to take in a an opera show at the royal theatre...i was just wondering what the dress code is for such a thing. I am planning ot take dress shirt/dresspants/dress shoes for the occasion..i hope that someone can tell me what the dress code is

cheers

You should be fine with what you are bringing. You may see some in more formal attire but is not the norm in my experience which is more limited than I would like as I do not subscribe to the season and seem to always have trouble getting tickets.

Add jacket and tie.

i was in prague a few years back(with some fellow students)
and one night we decided to go to the opera instead of hitting the pubs straigt on, we went to the market and bought these really dodgy ties with father christmas on them for the occation, and found a pair of clean jeans and T-shirt..we then hit the The Theatre of Estates, built for mozart(don giovani)... in the mentioned outfit, and we had a blast, sure there were a few who looked so uptight, but most people found it amusing.
true story, but not in Madrid..

Bienvenido a Flyertalk br_aguilar!

As MADflyer says, people in very formal attire is the exception rather than the norm (especially in the seats I can afford!). I've been to more ballets - and 'ballet Español' - than I have Operas in Madrid but dress code is always pretty relaxed - think of going to dinner at a friend's house (the sort of dinner where you make a 'bit' of an effort) and dress that way.

You certainly won't need a jacket and tie!

I hope you're not thinking of wearing that mask you picked up in BKK for your next trip to the Opera!

relevant thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ighlight=opera

Kinda sad that people don't dress respectably for these types of occasions anymore.

M8

Unless you're attending a season opening, production premier or a gala performance, I think that "dressy business casual" up to 'jacket & tie' should be just fine.

One way you can get an actual idea as to dres is to look at the audiences shown when an opera production is presented on DVD. For example, during th production of 'Il Viaggio a Rheims' at the Liceu in Barcelona, there are plenty of shots of the audience, as the singers often go into the auditorium for various arias and ensembles. The dress of the people in the Luceu audience the night that the DVD was taped exactly fit the description above (IIRC it was taped in either late 2003 or early 20040.

BTW if you're going in May you'll be seeing Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, a very nice Mozart singspiel with a couple of fiendlishly difficult arias for the sproano lead, Konstanze (yes, named after Mozart's real-life wife). The production is the 2003 Aix production, and the cast has a couple of porentially excellent singers (Desiree Rancatore and Eric Cutler). It looks like Internet ticket sales being on 26 April (but I'm not 100% sure about that).

yeah..thats the one im going ot watch!! booya ^

While fully respecting the traditional views of attire for these sorts of occasions one of the positive sides promoted by relaxing the dress code is that the events are more accessable to a broader audience.

I was often amazed at first in Stockholm at the mix of attire but then really came to appreciate it. They now sell heavily discounted student tickets to all perfornances except for the first row but it used to be they would fill all the remaining seats at the last minute with students in all sorts of attire for around $5 if I recall. They still have 'listening seating' for around $6 for all performances.

Madrid needs to add a section to their website as they have in Stockholm where they state as follows:

Klädsel
Det finns ingen ”dresscode” på Operan. Det är helt valfritt hur man vill klä sig. Det är vanligt att man klär sig elegantare på premiärer än andra föreställningskvällar. Klä dig så att du själv känner dig bekväm!

Translated
There is no 'dresscode' at the Opera. It is totally up to you how you choose to dress. It is the norm that people do dress somewhat more elegant for Premeirs than for other performances. Dress in a way that you yourself will feel comfortable!

In their own English translation they add... 'though to dress up might make the evening more special' ... not in the Swedish text.