THE MIRACLE OF TRANSFORMATION

It is a pleasure for me to address all of you once again to present the projects by our stable musical corps in everything but staged opera, which we have carefully prepared for this season.

But first let me make a different gesture this time, not self-congratulations, which is by no means my way of thinking, but instead to pause for a moment to visualise the enormous amount of work done over these years. The stable musical corps of a theatre is its nerve organs; they provide the dimension of quality, together with the voices and the stage productions.

The renovation and optimisation of the musical score is precisely the task that brought me to this theatre, to my theatre. Allow me to take this brief pause, this look back in time, to see and appreciate the work done over these years, with the musicians’ invaluable commitment and dedication to the work, the renewal of ideas and spirit, the constant questioning and improvement, which have led us to have one of the leading orchestra among the symphony orchestras in Spain right now. I would also like to highlight the work that Pablo Assante is doing with the Choir. And I want to tell you that we are not resting on our laurels, that collectively we want to grow and improve even more. This is our commitment to you.

The concerts we are presenting for this season focus on five symphonies and a series we call ‘Constellations’ in the space dedicated to chamber orchestras.

Two of the symphonic concerts are in homage to two grande dames of the most international Catalan music: Victoria de los Ángeles and Alicia de Larrocha.

We have also programmed a new instalment of the ‘Mahler Universe’ series with his fifth symphony, and two opera-related programmes: a concert version of Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and the first act of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre (The Valkyrie).

We are also offering you, in the original version with ballet, one of the peaks of symphonic music worldwide, the revolutionary Le Sacre du printemps, by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, which he himself conducted with Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at this theatre when it premiered in Spain.

I am particularly pleased to present a new version of the chamber orchestra series, which we call ‘Constellations’, with the aim of showing you the stars that make up the different constellations in our orchestra’s firmament in concerts featuring soloists. This season we invite you to enjoy the soloists from the viola and double bass sections, as well as the traditional concert with the outstanding brass section of the Liceu Brass Ensemble.

The Choir’s outside activities include the invitation from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Gustavo Dudamel to sing the choral part of Ludwig van Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, both in our theatre and on the tour that will take them to London’s Barbican and Paris’s Philharmonie.

The Orchestra, in its outside activities, will take the music of Brahms - with the first symphony and the violin concerto, with Kai Gleusteen, our concertmaster, as soloistaround Catalonia, in these concerts that we appreciate so much and that spread the Liceu’s L around the territory.

Josep Pons

Musical Director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu

The Chorus and Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu with Josep Pons, its resident conductor, and Pablo Assante, the Chorus director.

The Chorus and Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu with Josep Pons, its resident conductor, and Pablo Assante, the Chorus director.