“There’s room for everyone on the same stage”

There’s room for everyone on the same stage.

Since 1991, La Scala

has been a very special organization where music and the performing arts intertwine our hearts, dancing freely to uplift the soul and build character, weaving bonds of life with the many voices of diversity for living well together.

A large cast of children celebrating on stage, arms raised

Performers with white umbrellas in a scene with coloured lights

An actor in a red costume and masks in a fantasy scene — Photo: José Luis Pérez Fotografía

Dancers in glow-in-the-dark skeleton costumes

A young performer in a colourful necklace and feathered headband opens her arms on stage — Photo: Manuel Parra Coronado

Three young performers in Indigenous-inspired costumes dance in front of the cast — Photo: Manuel Parra Coronado

The cast on stage with colourful banners and totems — Photo: Manuel Parra Coronado

A character on stilts in a long gown, surrounded by the cast — Photo: Manuel Parra Coronado

A child in a toy costume, kneeling on stage

A children’s choir with arms raised in a theatre

A girl in white singing, hands on her chest

An actress in an apron in front of a fantasy set

The Eleonora Scrooge cast in period costume — Photo: Alex Ballesteros Gaviria

The full cast of Eleonora Scrooge in front of the snowy set — Photo: Alex Ballesteros Gaviria

Dancers in front of the Scrooge pawnshop — Photo: Alex Ballesteros Gaviria

View from above of the blue-lit stage and the orchestra — Photo: Alex Ballesteros Gaviria

A scene from Eleonora Scrooge with a staircase on the set — Photo: Alex Ballesteros Gaviria

A street scene from Eleonora Scrooge — Photo: Alex Ballesteros Gaviria

The Eleonora Scrooge cast around a banquet table — Photo: Alex Ballesteros Gaviria

A full theatre, with the cast and orchestra on stage — Photo: Alex Ballesteros Gaviria

Young children gathered around a girl playing the piano

A children’s choir dressed as flowers and sunflowers — Photo: Manuel Parra Coronado

Smiling girls hugging backstage — Photo: Miguel Varona (Scala Pacífico, 2018)

A girl in a red flower costume, looking surprised — Photo: Miguel Varona (Scala Pacífico, 2018)

Musicians with traditional drums on stage — Photo: Miguel Varona (Scala Pacífico, 2018)

A boy with a colourful headdress — Photo: Miguel Varona (Pájaro Azul)

Two girls with braids in colourful costumes — Photo: Miguel Varona (Pájaro Azul)

A girl with a crown of flowers — Photo: Miguel Varona (Pájaro Azul)

Performers in pink and red flower costumes — Photo: Miguel Varona (Pájaro Azul)

A winged character in blue at the centre of the cast — Photo: Miguel Varona (Pájaro Azul)

Our story

A dream that became a stage

Rosana Perafán de Velasco studied music at the Universidad del Cauca and also trained at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In September 1991 she opened the school in Popayán that is now La Scala.

1991 In September, Rosana opens Academia Musical La Scala in Popayán.
1993 First Christmas musical, Algo Maravilloso Soñé. There has been one every year since.
1994 On 26 September the non-profit Fundación Academia Musical La Scala is legally constituted.
2025 Season 33 at the Teatro Municipal Guillermo Valencia: Eleonora Scrooge en el espejo del tiempo.

Read the full story →

A foundation team member looks out at a theatre full of children

Rosana welcomes children at the academy, among costumes

Rosana, in a white dress, applauds on stage with the cast at the end of a show

Rosana with a group of children wearing foundation vests

Rosana, in a blue dress, with the leads of a musical in costume

Rosana receives flowers on stage after a show

Rosana Perafán de Velasco, founder of La Scala, smiling in front of a bookcase

Enroll

Come and learn music with us

Enrollment is open for two kinds of class. Tell us what you are interested in and we will reply with schedules.

Piano lessons

One-to-one lessons at your own pace, for children, teenagers and adults.

Ask us about prices.

Group music classes

Singing, playing and creating with others, in groups by age.

Ask us about prices.

Early music stimulation

The youngest begin by playing with rhythm, voice and movement, in a group. From age 3. Ask us about schedules.

The enrollment form is in Spanish; you can also write to us in English on WhatsApp or at lascalapopayan@gmail.com.

Interested in another class? Let us know.

Let us know

Talent casting

The door is open

“You do so many things I have always wanted to do,” says one hopeful at the start of the video. Sonidos de la Convivencia, supported by Banco Mundo Mujer through CoCrea (Corporación Colombia Crea Talento), held auditions for children and young people from Popayán.

Talent casting.

Alumni

They grew up at La Scala

Messages recorded by La Scala alumni, in Spanish, with English and Spanish subtitles.

Diana LombanaAlumna. Music producer; music director of Caracol TV’s music reality shows, now leading School of Rock as it opens in Bogotá.La Scala is a place where there is room for everyone.

Juan Felipe VallejoAlumnus. Director of Infrastructure at Colombia’s Ministry of Transport.It was an experience that changed my life in many ways.

Adriana RuizAlumna. She was in the cast of Serafín and toured to the Teatro Colón in Bogotá.Behind art there is a great deal of effort, many hours of work, a lot of dedication.

Juan Camilo ValenciaAlumnus, seven years at La Scala. He graduated as a lawyer from the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia. He now acts in film and television in Bogotá and was selected to represent Colombia in Madrid in 2027 after winning a theatre improvisation competition.At La Scala we are like a family; we are connected somehow.

More alumni testimonials

Our Community Mission

Some children in Popayán arrive at La Scala carrying more than any child should carry. Here they find a stage, a group, and someone who believes in them.

Fundación Academia Musical La Scala is a non-profit. Through scholarships, productions and programmes such as Sonidos de la Convivencia (Sounds of Living Together), it brings music, dance and theatre to children and young people from neighbourhoods and families who could not afford them, including families displaced by violence.

35years in Popayán (1991–2026)
33Christmas musical seasons
20,000+people reached over more than thirty years
3,500people reached in Popayán’s neighbourhoods in 2020

Voices from the Solidaridad neighborhood

“There’s room for everyone on the same stage”

Many families in Popayán’s Solidaridad neighborhood arrived there displaced by violence. In this video a father who leads his community, several mothers and their children describe, in their own words, what La Scala has meant to them.

“In this home there may be no wealth, but there will be art and culture… thanks to La Scala.”
A voice from the Solidaridad neighborhood, in the video

These are their voices and their story.

English and Spanish subtitles.

From the mountains of Sotará, Cauca

Sirley’s story

Sirley lives in the mountains of Cauca. To get to the Eleonora rehearsals with Sonidos de la Convivencia, she walked two hours and then took a bus. Rosana has said it is one of the stories that moves her most: her family did whatever it took so that Sirley would not miss a rehearsal.