Singer Aitana and El Mago Pop have partnered to buy the Aquitània Theater in Barcelona, with the intention of building a “long-term” project based on “artistic excellence, innovation, and commitment to the future of performing arts,” according to their own message on social media and a press release. In the announcement, Aitana says they had been thinking for a long time about doing a project together and now this opportunity has come up. Aware of the “key role that theaters play in the transmission of culture,” they have decided to join forces to ensure the continuity of this theater on Sarrià Avenue, which was once the headquarters of the Filmoteca of Catalonia. In the case of El Mago Pop, Antonio Díaz, this would be the second theater he acquires in the city after acquiring the Victòria seven years ago.
“We will do the possible and the impossible,” joked El Mago Pop in the message posted on social media, so that everyone is “proud of this project.” In recent years, the Aquitània has had ups and downs and somewhat erratic programming. It so happens that a few months ago the illusionist also announced his interest in acquiring the Teatro Regina, an emblematic space for children’s and youth theater in Barcelona, which closed in June after 38 years of activity, but nothing has been finalized yet. Both artists will not make statements for now, according to the release, due to their busy schedules. It also adds that more details will be given in the coming months.
The Aquitània will become a place where “artists from different disciplines can connect with their audience,” stated the two promoters of this new stage of the space, whose ultimate intention is to strengthen Barcelona’s role as “one of the great cultural references in Europe.” Thus, it could be said that the singer and the illusionist become a strange couple behind a theater that has gone through various journeys.
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Antonio Díaz, who already acquired the historic Teatre Victòria in 2019, where he has programmed his own magic show, as well as diverse programming, has shown his excitement for this project and stated that both he and Aitana “deeply believe in the transformative power of culture and it is a privilege to be able to invest in it.”
The Aquitania hall has gone through many stages since it opened in 1945, at Sarrià Avenue number 31-33, as Cine Infanta. In 1969, the brothers Josep Maria and Joan Antoni Castañé renovated it and turned it into an art and rehearsal hall called Cine Aquitania. Later, it passed into the hands of the company Cinesa, which took charge of the programming, to finally become in 1991 the first hall of the Filmoteca of Catalonia, which currently has its headquarters in the Raval. It was from 2013 that it reopened as a theater, with about 300 seats. On its website, programming is scheduled until the end of the year.