Bellas Artes

There are some words that bring the sound of music into any language: La Scala, the Met, Carnegie Hall; just as there are places like Broadway that resound of theater and others of dance.

But when anyone in Puerto Rico thinks of serious music, drama or dance, they think of the Luis A. Ferre Fine Arts Center- or Bella Artes for short.

The award-winning modern architectural masterpiece in Santurce houses three theaters. Smallest is the Carlos Marichal Experimental Theater, a 210-seat room designed for theater-in-the-round and intimate chamber music performances. The Rene Marques Theater is a more formal 760-seat room that permits dramatic staging without losing the intimate feeling of live performances. The majestic Antonio Paoli Festival Room is a 1883 seat concert hall, home of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.

Puerto Rico is at the crossroads of Latin and International culture and you are just as likely to encounter Plácido Domingo, Joan Sutherland or José Carreras as you are a concert of Latin pop,salsa or merengue--or international stars of rhythm and blues, jazz, country and western or rock.

Ballet,regional and international dance troupes do their turns on the stages, and visiting and local proffesional theater groups call Bellas Artes home--as does the internationally acclaimed Casals Festival. The intimate Café Teatro Sylvia Rexach, tucked into a corner of the Center, presents everything from stand up comedians to jíbaro jazz and dramatic monologues.

The Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferre is located on Ponce de Leon Avenue at stop 22 in the center of the Santurce area of San Juan and is a unit of the Puerto Rico Institute of Culture.

Culture