Buenos Aires (EFE) – Former dancer Julio Boca will manage the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, replacing Jorge Tillerman, who until now was in charge of the Buenos Aires amphitheater, the most important in Latin America, official sources said on Friday.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Culture of the city of Buenos Aires, Boca will form, together with the Uruguayan Gerardo Greco, who was general director of the Sodré National Ballet, whose national ballet was under the artistic direction of the Argentine between 2010 and 2017, director of the Teatro Solís and creator of the Sala Zitarrosa, three important performance venues in Montevideo.
Both are already working on the “new management model” for Cologne, which will be presented in the first days of November, according to the Cultural Portfolio.
Julio Boca: “I am very happy to be back home”
“I am very happy to be back home, very excited and proud of this new beginning,” the Argentine ballet star said in the statement.
For her part, the Minister of Culture of Buenos Aires, Gabriela Ricardes, expressed her satisfaction with the changes, as, as she stated, “Boca and Greco have shown, in addition to their individual virtues, the knowledge of how to carry out a process like the one the Colón Theater needs,” referring to the experience of both at the helm of the Sodré Theater in the Uruguayan capital.
In 1981, Boca joined the Teatro Colón Chamber Ballet Company, and from there he left for Caracas and Rio de Janeiro, where he worked as a first dancer before returning to the Buenos Aires Coliseum to join the stable cast.
Award Winning Career
Among many other achievements in his career, the native of Monroe (Buenos Aires Province) won the gold medal at the age of 18 at the Moscow International Dance Competition, and a year later, he was appointed first soloist of the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where he performed for two decades in all seasons at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Boca retired as a professional dancer in December 2007, performing on the street stage in Buenos Aires, in front of an estimated 300,000 people, after having shone on major stages around the world.
For his part, Greco held many cultural administrative positions, and was awarded the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government, in recognition of his distinguished work in this field.
The duo will replace Colón’s current president, Jorge Tillerman, who announced his departure from his position on social media shortly before.
Jorge Tillerman’s passing
In an extensive message he posted on his social media account, since taking office in March 2022.
The Teatro Colón was founded in 1857 in the Argentine capital, but it was not established in its current headquarters on the central 9 de Julio Street in Buenos Aires until 1908.
Some of the most famous names in classical music and opera of the 20th century have performed on its stages, such as composer Igor Stravinsky; conductors Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein; or interpreters Maria Callas and Luciano Pavarotti.
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