Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival celebrates its fourth edition

Barcelona Obertura is an initiative born from the union of the city’s three flagship classical music venues, namely the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Palau de la Música Catalana and the L’Auditori. It is being promoted by Barcelona Global, with the aim of promoting Barcelona on the international stage through classical music. Each season, Barcelona Obertura picks the best concerts and musical productions from the three venues and bundles them together in special packages, offering visitors a truly exceptional experience. The slogan “Come for the music, stay for the rest” embodies the desire of Barcelona Obertura to showcase the majesty of Barcelona through its impressive musical offering.

The Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Palau de la Música Catalana and L’Auditori have unveiled today the fourth edition of the Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival. The event will run from 8 to 31 March and is being organised by Barcelona Global with the support of Barcelona City Council, through its Department of Tourism and Creative Industries, and the Culture Institute of Barcelona (ICUB). The Festival is essentially a seasonal selection of the most outstanding proposals of the three cultural institutions, and relies on the support of Ibercamera, Franz Schubert Filharmonia and the Conservatori del Liceu. An edition in which all involved will continue to work towards the key objective of cementing Barcelona’s status as a city of culture and music. The Ciutat de Clàssica (City of Classical Music) Festival will also be taking place at the same time( from 10 to 26 March) with free public concerts to be held in 23 venues of the city, including various historic and iconic buildings. The event seeks to promote and support the young local musicians and ensembles taking part and to create new audiences in Barcelona by creating synergies between the classical music scene and other facilities within the city.

The synergies generated by the Barcelona Obertura project between the city’s three flagship classical music institutions have led to new emerging partnerships on several key international projects that will take place over the coming seasons and which we are proud to announce today.

Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival 2023

En aquesta 4a edició del Spring Festival, el Gran Teatre del Liceu proposa tres propostes artístiques, amb un important component multidisciplinari, entre les quals trobem 7 Deaths of Maria Callas de l’artista Marina Abramović, coincidint amb la celebració del centenari del naixement de la diva, inclou les àries més icòniques de Callas. Entre el 18 i el 22 de març, el teatre estrenarà per segona vegada en la seva història una òpera d’una compositora, en aquest cas, Raquel García-Tomás, Premi Nacional de Música 2020. Alexina B. compta amb el commovedor testimoni d’una persona intersexual a la França de 1838. Paral·lelament a l’òpera, es podrà visitar una exposició de García-Tomás al Saló dels Miralls del Gran Teatre del Liceu. Per últim, la tercera proposta del teatre s’ubica fora d’ell, a l’Antic Centre Penitenciari La Model, ara convertit en un centre cultural. En aquest espai trobarem la proposta escènica d’Antonio López, pintor, escultor i enregistrador de Tomelloso, en diàleg amb la coneguda obra de Schubert Winterreise, que estarà interpretada pel baríton Benjamin Appl i el pianista James Baillieu.

Per la seva banda, el Palau de la Música Catalana ofereix un total de sis propostes artístiques molt diverses. El 8 de març, Ibercamera presenta a la sala modernista un programa de Vivaldi protagonitzat per la mezzosoprano Vivica Genaux, el Bach Consort Wien i dirigit per Rubén Dubrovsky. L’11 de març, Mark Padmore encapçala un elenc de solistes, que juntament amb el Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana i el conjunt Europa Galante, dirigit per Fabio Biondi, interpretarà l’òpera Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria de Claudio Monteverdi. El 15 de març Christoph Prégardien i Roger Vignoles protagonitzaran una tarda de lied amb el cicle Die schöne Müllerin (La Bella Molinera) de Schubert. El 21 de març la Franz Schubert Filharmonia interpretarà juntament amb el violinista Joshua Bell un programa amb obres de Beethoven i Mendelssohn. Per finalitzar el festival, la sala modernista proposa les dues Passions de J. S. Bach, el 30 de març la Passió segons Sant Mateu amb Vox Luminis i la Freiburger Barockorchester, dirigida per Lionel Meunier, i el 31 de març la Passió segons Sant Joan que serà interpretada pel Collegium Vocale Gent amb Philippe Herreweghe a la batuta.

The l'Auditori fa una agosarada proposta amb cinc cites ineludibles que mostraran l’ADN d’excel·lència i modernitat que caracteritza la seva programació. En primer lloc, l´Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC) presentarà tres programes d’alta volada que posaran en diàleg tòtems musicals dels segles XIX i XX. El primer programa serà el cap de setmana del 10 i 11 de març amb el director Ludovic Morlot, director titular de l’OBC i guanyador de cinc premis Grammy, dirigint una obra cabdal del repertori simfònic romàntic, com és la second de Brahms, a més de peces de Pedrell i Lutoslawski. Morlot es posarà també al capdavant de l’orquestra els dies 18 i 19 de març per interpretar un programa amb obres de dues dones clau en la composició contemporània, com són Gubaidulina i Boulanger. D’aquesta última, s’interpretarà el seu Psalm 130, peça fonamental en el catàleg de la genial compositora francesa i que serà una ocasió única per gaudir d’aquesta obra poc habitual en les programacions simfòniques. A més, Morlot dirigirà grans pàgines del repertori, amb músiques de Berlioz i l’inspirador El cant del destí of Johannes Brahms. Tot plegat acompanyat per Marc Bouchkov, la mezzosoprano Marta Infante, l’Orfeó Català i el Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana. La tercera trobada amb l’OBC serà de la mà de la directora Anja Bihlmaier, els dies 24 i 25 de març, que estarà acompanyada per la flamant pianista Isata Kanneh-Mason i un repertori amb obres de Prokófiev i Xostkóvitx. A més, L’Auditori presenta un concert excepcional amb un dels solistes més interessants del panorama actual, el violoncel·lista Nicolas Altstaedt. Altstaedt, artista convidat de la temporada de L’Auditori, oferirà un ambiciós recital de violoncel sol el 13 de març amb obres de Bach, Kodály, Dutilleux i Widmann. La proposta musical a L’Auditori es completa amb una doble col·laboració amb el Latvian Radio Choir, pilar indiscutible en l’univers coral internacional. El 21 de març interpretaran Les vespres by Rachmaninov i l’endemà faran l’estrena mundial de light, del compositor català Ramon Humet.

Ciutat de Clàssica

The Ciutat de Clàssica festival will be running in tandem with the Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival, from 10 to 26 March. This free festival is open to everyone and is supported by Barcelona City Council. The initiative will include 23 concerts to be held in a series of historic and emblematic buildings across the city, along with museums and other municipal venues, which will become stages for a few hours for young local talent.

Aside from regular venues such as Casa Batlló, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Pavelló Mies van der Rohe, CASA SEAT, Fundació Miró, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, and the Xarxa de Centres Cívics de l’Ajuntament de Barcelona (Barcelona City Council Civic Centres Network), new venues this year include Mirador Torre Glòries, Palau Güell, Centre Cívic Can Deu and the Mercè Rodoreda and García-Márquez libraries.

This year’s programme focuses on six artistic themes: During Integral de Trios per a piano de Mozart, the six Trios for piano, violin and cello by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be performed on 11, 12 and 15 March. Eastern Europe, a series of concerts taking audiences on a journey through the colourful and highly original vision of various Slavic and Baltic composers. Johann Sebastian Bach & Max Reger, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of German composer Max Reger, with a cycle of three concertos for solo instrument in which we explore the link between Reger’s work and that of J. S. Bach. Made in Barcelona: our city has welcomed many great musicians and composers over the years, and in this cycle we present concerts with repertoires inspired, created or performed in the city. Tribute to Jordi Cervelló: homage to the Catalan composer, with three concerts including works by him and other composers from his artistic clique and circle of friends. The sixth artistic line is Univers Albéniz: three pianists will be delivering three concerts against the iconic backdrop of Montjuïc mountain, featuring the most representative works of Isaac Albéniz, in dialogue with masterpieces from his piano repertoire.

Some two hundred musicians will be taking part in these 23 concerts, notably: the Atenea Quartet (El Primer Palau Prize 2022 and Prix Crédit Suisse of the Lucerne Festival 2023); the Bärhof Ensemble, formed by musicians trained at the ESMUC, and pianist Emma Stratton from the region of Baix Empordà. Also making their debuts with us will be the award-winning Quartet Adelphi (with Catalan members) and Quartet Arete. The event will also include a concert bringing together the Camerata del Conservatori del Liceu and the Cor Infantil and Cor Petits of the Orfeó Català, among others.

The Festival will also offer several commissioned programmes, such as a recital by pianist Marc Heredia at Palau Güell, with one of the programmes that Franz Liszt performed during his visit to Barcelona in 1845, as well as a programme to be given at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion by the Diogenes Quartet, with three highly contrasting works written in 1929, the year the pavilion was built as part of the Barcelona International Exposition. Further highlights include a programme that pays tribute to the composer Jordi Cervelló, performed by the recently created Freixas Trio.

The three institutions partner up on new international projects

The Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Palau de la Música Catalana and L’Auditori will be exclusively presenting various international projects over the coming seasons that stem from this winning combination of synergies between the three institutions, which is the heart and soul of Barcelona Obertura. Ultimately, they are projects that will help to make Barcelona a new capital for classical music and art:

July 2023. Prestigious American composer David Lang will be visiting Barcelona alongside stage director Elkhanah Pulitzer for the premiere of his opera Prisoner of the State, co-commissioned with L’Auditori, the New York Philharmonic, the De Doelen Concert Hall in Rotterdam, the Barbican Centre in London, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Brugge and the Malmö Opera, in which the composer actively appropriates Beethoven’s Fidelio to create a new opera commissioned to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of this genius composer from Bonn. A project that will bring the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC) and the Orfeó Català choral society to the stage of the Grec Festival of Barcelona.
October/November 2023. John Adams will be landing in Barcelona to collaborate with El Liceu and the Palau de la Música. At the Gran Teatro del Liceo (October 2023/24) he will be taking part in the co-production of Anthony and Cleopatra, alongside San Francisco Opera (2022), Teatro Massimo Palermo and Metropolitan Opera New York. The work, commissioned to mark San Francisco Opera’s 100th season, has been composed by John Adams and is stage directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer. The Gran Teatre del Liceu will host the European premiere of this new production in October 2023. Moving across town to the Palau de la Música Catalana, John Adams and Simon Halsey will be conducting the Orfeó Català and Cor de Cambra choirs in a concert featuring works by the composer.
May 2024. Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra will be landing in Barcelona on what will be their first visit to Europe following the pandemic. They will be performing Beethoven’s opera Fidelio at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, while across town, at the Palau de la Música Catalana (Palau 100), they will be putting on a programme that features works by John Williams, Gabriela Ortiz and Dvořák’s New World Symphony.
January 2025. Rufus Wainwright will be returning to Barcelona for the premiere of a new work by the Canadian singer, songwriter and composer, commissioned in this case by the OBC and the Orfeó Català, in collaboration with the L'Auditori, the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Royal Ballet, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and RTÉ Ireland.

Proposals running through the year

Barcelona Obertura will be offering a total of 13 music packages in 2023, featuring more than 60 concerts. Running throughout the year, they are ideal for music lovers also keen to take in all the culture, architecture, cuisine and entertainment that Barcelona has to offer. This time around, the project includes a new website launched last October, which not only showcases all the concerts being staged by Barcelona Obertura, but also promotes the numerous cultural, artistic, architectural and gastronomic activities going on in Barcelona, having already attracted more than 40,000 visitors.