The governing board of the Madrid city council will award the Gold Medal of the city to Gregorio Marañón y Bertrán de Lis, President of the Teatro Real de Madrid.

The award will be bestowed on Marañón on May 15, 2021. The festivities will be held in honor of San Isidro, who is the patron of the city. Other honorees this year include singer Ramoncín, editor Andrés Tradiello and the former mayors Ana Botella and Manuela Carmena.

Marañón was named the first president of the Teatro Real de Madrid’s Patronage as well as the President of its Executive Commission in 2007. He was re-elected to both positions in January of 2012 and 2018.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the Teatro Real de Madrid has managed to maintain its doors open and deliver live performances with live audiences over the past year. The company however recently experienced an outbreak of COVID-19 during rehearsals for a production of “Peter Grimes.” While the company denies any connection to the outbreak and its rehearsals, the Health Ministry is investigating the occurrence and has confirmed several cases at the company during the rehearsal period.