The Liceu proposes embracing wounds in an eclectic season

Operatic protagonists are always full of wounds that lead them to an unrenounceable destiny, no matter how much they let themselves be seduced by dreams that fail to overcome the burden of the past they carry. Knowing that tragedy is always present on its stage, the Liceu proposes the concept of Irreversible Cracks as a leitmotif for the upcoming season, but asks not to give in to pessimism, now that a pandemic and the 175th anniversary have been overcome, and even the institution has managed to settle its historical debt. For this reason, it proposes that these scars be transformed into signs of strength, arguing that "the greatest perfection arises from imperfection," as artistic director Víctor Garcia de Gomar points out. "Let's not be afraid, we all carry our own wounds," he encouraged.

In this epic task of shedding burdens and defying the irremediable, the Liceu has designed an eclectic program that combines new productions and more classical proposals, totaling almost 200 performances. They will always be accompanied by great international voices such as Sondra Radvanovsky, Lise Davidsen, Freddie De Tommaso, Nadine Sierra, Lisette Oropesa, Javier Camarena, and Iréne Theorin, but also local ones such as Sara Blanch, Saioa Hernández, Carles Pachón, Josep Bros, Marta Mathéu, Carlos Chausson, and Carol Garcia. All this, under the baton of names like Josep Pons, John Adams, Gustavo Dudamel, or Jordi Savall, and stage directors like Calixto Bieito, Àlex Ollé, Elkhanah Pulitzer, Emma Dante, David McVicar, and the return of Núria Espert, who inaugurated the theater after its fire.

The season will begin on September 27 with Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. It will be one of the three Liceu co-productions to be presented in the 2023/2024 season, in this case, accompanied by the Den Norske Opera of Oslo and the Teatro Real of Madrid. Signed by Christof Loy, who already triumphed in Barcelona with Arabella and Macbeth, it will present a minimalist set design that will allow "to highlight the psychology of the characters, coloring them infinitely with all the nuances," Garcia de Gomar remarked.

There will also be two new productions. John Adams will premiere his latest opera in Europe, Antony & Cleopatra, a co-production of the Liceu and The Metropolitan Opera of New York. With a libretto adapted by the composer himself from Shakespeare's tragedy, the American composer's proposal will combine the image of Antiquity with the glamour of the 1930s in Hollywood. To round it off, Adams will conduct the six unique performances scheduled by the Liceu.

After the success of Raquel García-Tomás's Alexina B., the Barcelona theater will participate in the co-production of the new chamber opera Orgia by Hèctor Parra, with the Teatro Arriaga of Bilbao and the Castell de Peralada Festival. With libretto and stage direction by Calixto Bieito, the piece is based on Pier Paolo Pasolini's work about the tortuous relationship of a marriage. It will not be the only time Bieito visits the Liceu, which has also programmed his Carmen, pending since the pandemic. With this markedly Iberian proposal, the stage director debuted in the world of opera at the Castell de Peralada Festival in 1999.

Other great moments of the 2023/2024 season will be the premiere of Joan Fontcuberta on the Liceu stage with Winterreise, also being in charge of the season book that depicts these irreversible cracks, and the return of Puccini's Turandot with which the Liceu raised the curtain in 1999 after the 1994 fire. The emblematic proposal was signed by Núria Espert, who these days is performing what she has said will be her last performance, La isla del aire. As announced by Garcia de Gómar, it will be the last time that the monumental scenography that Espert proposed for a princess who wants to protect her virginity, set in the imperial city of Beijing, can be seen. This time it will go into the hands of her granddaughter, Bárbara Lluch, after it was already seen again in 2009.

The return of Gustavo Dudamel will also mark the coming season at the Liceu. The charismatic composer and orchestra conductor, who was seen this Sunday strolling through the literary super-block of Sant Jordi, will conduct Beethoven's Fidelio with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and incorporating sign language. There will only be two performances in Barcelona, then continuing the route at the Philharmonie in Paris and the Barbican in London. Also noteworthy will be the tributes to two undeniable local figures such as the Barcelona soprano Victoria de los Ángeles and the pianist Alicia de Larrocha, as well as the commitment to dance, with the participation of four international ballets instead of the usual three, including a classic like Swan Lake. Finally, Jordi Savall will come with Somni d'una nit d'estiu, a symphonic concert with Mendelssohn's repertoire.

Beyond music, framed within the Liceu de les Arts project promoted by Garcia de Gomar, there will be interventions by artists such as Lolo & Sosaku and a local one, from Alcanar, Iván Forcadell, in addition to Fontcuberta, and tributes to Francesc Català-Roca and Antoni Tàpies. In this interrelation with other disciplines, the Òh!pera project, which also gives voice to new talents, will turn the writer Laura Ferrero and the playwright Pau Miró into librettists.

The 16 million debt is settled

The 2023/2024 season will allow the Barcelona theater to leave behind the debt it had been dragging since 2013, for an amount of 16 million euros. "This turning point allows us to open a new stage," said the president of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation, Salvador Alemany. The budget will be 52.8 million euros, about 1.5 million euros more compared to the current season. Own revenues represent 51% ---ticket sales and contributions from patrons---, with the remaining 49% contributed by public institutions.

One of the Liceu's future projects that is progressing, albeit slowly, is its second venue in Port Vell, which is expected to have about 900 seats. Alemany has announced that they are already working on the call for an international ideas competition for the elaboration of the basic project of the future building and the urban planning of the area that the Imax Port Vell will leave empty. It is estimated that it will be launched in the fourth quarter of this year. "This will take a long time," Alemany remarked, taking into account that the America's Cup celebration has delayed it even further, since the competition will occupy the old cinemas to create an exhibition center to explain itself to the public.