"In opera programming, the blank page never exists"

Víctor García de Gomar is an excellent programmer, trained at the Palau de la Música and responsible for the artistic direction of the Liceu for six seasons. He explains the difficulties and balances of his work, the necessary complicity to cultivate with artists ("even if they don't come," he points out) and above all the necessary anticipation in a theater of these dimensions.

Right now there is a work by Tàpies in the middle of the Saló dels Miralls, to commemorate his year, and that was his idea. He says that nothing is invented. But, if he didn't exist, this country would need to invent him.

--- Can we already say that this season is "Víctor's brand"?

--- No, no, no. Not yet.

--- How not? It's your sixth in office!

--- The Liceu has always shied away from the concept of "author" programming. It's the Liceu's season, period. In fact, there are still some dreams, some ideas from Christina Sheppelmann programmed, such as the Lohengrin signed by Wagner's great-granddaughter, Katharina Wagner. There are things that I have made my own, and others where I have contributed more. Right now we are working on the 2026-2027 season and we are already programming works until 2031. There may be modifications, of course, but the Liceu needs a lot of institutional and artistic stability.

--- Well, tell me about the most Víctor part.

--- Without a doubt, it would be the concept of the Liceu de les arts, which makes opera coexist with living plastic artists, in one or two titles of the program. We also add an exhibition part (now we have one by Antoni Tàpies), and conferences and colloquiums. These are proposals such as the Amazonia by photographer Sebastião Salgado, on November 26, for example, or Cantelluci's avant-garde theatrical proposal for the Requiem. All this came from my experience as artistic director of the Palau de la Música, and now the Liceu is the only theater in the world that is doing it. Furthermore, this commitment is understood better every day.

--- And from a musical point of view?

--- We have committed to protecting national talent more, giving the first roles to voices from the country. Once the great era of Caballé, Carreras or Victoria de los Ángeles has passed, we have imposed on ourselves not to leave that spirit empty. Being an international theater could lead to the temptation to think that national talent should have secondary roles, but we have done just the opposite. Hence, undisputed talents such as Sara Blanch, Serena Sáenz, Carlos Pachon have emerged today.

--- "Youth academy" model.

--- Exactly. And to mark a new generation of talents. Joan Matabosch already set a course of excellence in novelty, in the staging of new names. We want to continue this. And from there, a balance between great voices, great directors, and great stagings will derive.

--- "Total art."

--- Opera is composed of all three things at once, exactly. Some works lend themselves more to staging, others more to great voices, of course... But opera always ends up encompassing everything. And therefore, we need a lung of quality in the stable formations, orchestra and choirs, led by conductor Josep Pons.

--- You have started very Russian this year. You and the Palau.

--- Well, Shostakovich's fiftieth anniversary facilitated it. We started with Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which is a very brave bet. A production we had dreamed of for a long time, since before COVID and the financial crisis. We had fallen asleep a bit in leading new productions and now, hand in hand with Àlex Ollé and Josep Pons, we have returned in style. I must also mention the National Ballet of Spain, which is having great success with its Afanador.

--- The Liceu is a public theater. That is, directly: Does politics hinder programming?

--- Politics fortunately always accompanies and tries not to hinder.

--- What is the most difficult thing to program?

--- Faced with the fierce international auction of singers or conductors, or orchestras and set designers, all of whom have a limited agenda, you have to anticipate a lot.

--- How do you seduce them?

--- Barcelona. The good weather. The familiar, close, highly protective and understanding atmosphere for artists. Keeping them company, accompanying them. Even being friends, and I'll tell you more: being friends even when they don't come. Listening to them, always.

"Barcelona has been very Wagnerian but it is also deeply belcantist"

--- Both.

--- Topical answer. Fair enough.

--- No, no, seriously! Barcelona has been very Wagnerian but it is also deeply bel canto. We did everything and we do everything. However, Italian opera has a greater appeal. And Wagner... well, he has his fans and his haters.

--- And the relationship with Palau and Auditori?

--- Like a sports rivalry. We compete for a similar niche, especially when it comes to admirers of voices, and that makes it tense sometimes.

--- Explain the next two seasons to me.

--- I think an attitude is especially noticeable. You have to take into account that, if you don't do Puccini one year, no one protests; but if you don't program Wagner one year, some hooligans appear. We will maintain the standards of 5 or 6 performances per work, although they can reach 14 or 16 if they are very popular (with three casts, of course). What we propose is a journey that goes through many temperatures and very diverse audiences. It will appeal to the general public who loves history: we will do Alexina B. by Raquel García Tomás, that is, maximum modernity and contemporaneity, combining it with Núria Espert's Turandot, which we have been waiting for 25 years (before the Liceu burned down). That is: produce, co-produce (in a kind of quid pro quo established in the system), create and bet on local talent.

--- How do you attract someone who has never been to the Liceu?

--- I think patterns help a lot, someone who acts as a prescriber, who tells the story well and does it according to your tastes. Young audiences today are curiously much more conservative, they want the pyramids of Aida and the Japanese Turandot... The older ones generally want more experimentation.

"We turned our backs on the neighborhood for 175 years. Now we are much more inclusive with different types of audiences"

--- I like not being too museum-like, doing new things, showing that the lyrical genre is alive. Being a gym for emotions, making them take us further. Even if we like to see the Meninas even if we've already seen them once, we have to keep in mind that Turandot was a scandal when it premiered. And now... now it's mainstream, a museum piece. We will have Ros Marbà with Benjamin a Portbou, Benet Casablancas, Joan Magrané, Héctor Parra, Raquel García Tomás... And we will have micro-operas to support new names, reserving a premium format for the large format. Think that it is necessary to justify the choice, always. And history will tell us if each bet is a success or not.

--- How do you experience the works on La Rambla?

--- I handle it well, the public doesn't seem to as much. We experience it with maximum enthusiasm, it will be an important and necessary boost. Every day I observe small changes, and also the problems it may have caused in terms of accessibility, routes, parking... But once all this is resolved and laid out, we have gotten used to it. La Rambla will be recovered for the people of Barcelona, and then it will be necessary for commerce to do the same, that is, not to renew certain businesses that contribute nothing.

--- So, does the neighborhood coexist harmoniously with the theater?

--- The neighborhood has never been a problem, it's an opportunity. We turned our backs on the neighborhood for 175 years. Now we are much more inclusive with different types of audiences, with different ages, we did the inclusive project with the Raval for the opera La gata perduda... Look: opera will not die if it knows how to feed several faces of the same exercise.

--- What do you mean?

--- A community operation is an instrument of cohesion. Dudamel's Fidelio also did it with the deaf-mute community. What I was telling you: an opera house cannot be just a museum. And, as I also told you before, there is no blank slate. I inherit many projects already invented, everything is somewhat invented.

--- So opera must be permeable?

--- Opera has been and will be the reflection of a modernity, a society. Opera is the reality of peoples in Europe who detected a genre that united them. Long before the ECSC, there was already a circuit of productions, of singers... It was the first "common market." Opera was a bourgeois idea, not an aristocratic one. And, in this context, the Liceu then became the theater with the most seats in all of Europe.