- Ignacio García-Belenguer, General Director of Teatro Real Madrid, has been unanimously elected after having held the position of Vice President (2021-2023) and having been a member of the Board of Directors (2019-2021). The appointment will have to be ratified in the organization's General Assembly which will be held next April
- Opera Europa is an association that brings more than two hundred theaters and opera festivals together. All of these are from 42 European and non-European countries (New Zealand, Japan, China, India, Israel, Oman, and South Africa among others)
- García-Belenguer is also Vice President of Ópera XXI, a member of the Board of Directors of Ópera Latinoamérica and is part of the Executive Committee of the Beijing Forum for Performing Arts
- Teatro Real, therefore, occupies for the first time the presidency of Opera Europa
Madrid, Januray 13th 2023. ─ The General Director of Teatro Real, Ignacio García-Belenguer, was unanimously appointed President of Opera Europa within the framework of the Board of Directors of the association meeting that brings together all the most important theaters and lyrical festivals in Europe and other continents.
His appointment will have to be ratified on April 1st by the General Assembly of Opera Europa, which will take place in the German town of Wiesbaden during its Spring Conference.
Opera Europa, which held its first assembly in Madrid 20 years ago, is an association that brings together more than two hundred theatres and opera festivals from 42 European and non-European countries such as New Zealand, Japan, China, India, Israel, Oman, and South Africa. It ensures the development and dissemination of opera throughout the continent and through different joint initiatives, such as World Opera Day.
Ignacio García-Belenguer is the General Director of Teatro Real since April 2012. The main objective of his actual mandate, for which he was ratified in 2021 for another five years, is developing the 2021-2026 strategic plan. In 2021, he was awarded the Character of the Year Award from Fuera de Serie Magazine, in recognition of the work carried out by the Teatro Real during the pandemic, the same year in which he received the Man of the Day award from Forbes magazine.
In May 2018, he promoted the arrangement of the first meeting in the world of opera houses (World Opera Forum) that took place at the Teatro Real and in which it was agreed to develop a collective strategy in defense of opera. As a result of this meeting, October 25th was established as World Opera Day.
The General Director of Teatro Real has been elected president of Opera Europa after holding the position of Vice President of the organisation between 2021-2023. With this appointment begins a period of new strategies for international projection and the strengthening of the opera genre, its audiences and its institutions.
García-Belenguer is also Vice President of Ópera XXI and a member of the Board of Directors of Ópera Latinoamérica since 2018, making him the first European member of this organisation. He is part of the Executive Committee of the Beijing Forum for Performing Arts. He has a law degree and has been part of Cuerpo Superior de Administradores Civiles del Estado since 1995. During his professional career, he has held positions of high responsibility in different public bodies of the General State Administration and has worked as a professor in universities such as Carlos III, Complutense and Autónoma.