Auditorio Nacional
Av. Paseo de la Reforma 50, Polanco V Secc, Miguel Hidalgo, 11560 Ciudad de México, CDMX
55 9138 1350
http://www.auditorio.com.mx
The National Auditorium is probably Mexico’s most prestigious stage and has hosted many national and international artists throughout the decades. It’s mainly known as a music venue but it also hosts theatre, opera, dance, fairs and exhibitions, conferences, and even sporting events. As a matter of fact, volleyball and basketball were the first events that took place inside the venue when it first opened in 1952, and the gymnastics competitions for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics also took place there. There’s even been an international movie premiere at the Auditorio; 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Many Mexican artists grow up dreaming of one day stepping on the stage of the Auditorio Nacional.
The Auditorio is at the northern edge of Parque de Chapultepec’s first section, right on Avenida Paseo de la Reforma, and has its own Metro station for easy access, “Auditorio” on Línea 1. The Turibús also has a stop at the location and it’s a short car trip away from Polanco and the Roma-Condesa part of the city. The venue has a 10,000 seat capacity and even has a smaller venue for more intimate concerts, a “baby auditorium” if you will, that has a capacity for 1,000 people, it’s called the Lunario del Auditorio and features concerts by more alternative, some would say “cooler”, artists. Ticket prices for the main Auditorio vary per artist, but one of the main national stars in Mexico, like Alejandro Fernández, will have tickets ranging, approximately, from $400 to $4,000 pesos. Prices for an international artist are somewhat similar, tickets for Arcade Fire cost between $520 to $2,000 pesos.
From 1988 to 1990 the Auditorio received a major upgrade and was almost completely redesigned by architects Abraham Zabludovsky and Teodoro González de León. The acoustics of the Auditorio have been highly regarded ever since, with a few international trade publications in the 2000s considering it one of the best venues in the world for concerts. Enjoying a concert at the venue can make you appreciate how it was designed and developed considering the quality of the audience’s experience as the most important part of the project.
In 2002, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Auditorio, the Lunas del Auditorio awards were created to honor the best live presentations in Mexico. The award itself is a (much) smaller replica of the original sculpture of the moon created by artist Juan Soriano, a bronze sculpture measuring 10 meters tall; it wasn’t well-received by the public when it was installed in 1992, yet Soriano defended his work saying the moon has been witness to many talented artists and their creative process since music was invented. The Moon sculpture has now come to be regarded as an icon of the city by locals.
