The Campoamor Theatre, next to Escandalera Square, in the heart of Oviedo, is the great lyrical theatre of Asturias that stages internationally relevant performances and events.

Since it opened in 1892, the Campoamor has attracted the finest musical artists. Rubinstein, Ravel, Bartok, Rostropovich, Yehudi Menuhin… have all performed in this theatre. Or Mario del Monaco and Victoria de los Angeles, who performed for the reopening of the theatre in 1948, after it had been practically destroyed during the October Revolution of 1934. Alfredo Kraus, Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Vevisor Freni and Pavarotti have also been applauded by the audiences of Oviedo in this theatre.

The Campoamor Theatre hosts the second oldest opera season in Spain, after the Liceo de Barcelona, and stages, together with Madrid, the only zarzuela season in Spain. Each October, it is also the venue for the Princess of Asturias Awards ceremony, considered by many as the second most important in the world, after the Nobel Prize.

Located in the grounds of the convent of Santa Clara, the project for this cultural space began to take shape in 1876, with José Longoria Carbajal as the mayor of Oviedo and based on a proposal by the writer and, at the time, councillor, Leopoldo Alas "Clarín". It was also Clarín who proposed, in 1890, that the theatre should bear the surname of the famous politician and poet from Navia, Don Ramón de Campoamor. The theatre was designed as a stage on which to perform operas and plays due to the demand of the bourgeoisie that was beginning to emerge in the capital. Until then, plays had been staged at the El Fontán Theatre, next to the square of the same name, today the seat of the Ramón Pérez de Ayala Library of Asturias. On 17 September 1892, the Campoamor Theatre was inaugurated with a representation of the opera Les Huguenots by Giacomo Meyerbeer.

The exterior of the theatre, which has been renovated several times and is regularly subject to discussions on its possible expansion, is in the classical style with large windows on the first floor that correspond to the so-called “Salón de Té” (Tea Room), which is now a room used for small cultural or formal events. Inside, the Campoamor has 1,491 seats. It is a horseshoe-shaped theatre with overhangs for galleries and stalls with parapets with bronze fittings on the ground floor and railings on the upper floors. In the centre of the ceiling, which is a large shallow dome, hangs a large bronze and glass chandelier.