It is unusual for an operatic production to remain in the repertory for more than forty years, and rarer still for it to continue looking fresh and youthful. This Elisir d’amore, which will occupy the Liceu throughout the Christmas season, has a long and distinguished history. In 1983 Barcelona’s Grec Festival presented a staging of L’Elisir by Mario Gas in open-air performances; in the early 1990s it was revived at the Festival de Peralada; towards the end of that decade...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s final opera The Magic Flute, which premiered on 30 September 1791 just a few months before his death, takes the form of a Singspiel that combines singing with spoken dialogue. In it, the Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro, who she claims is evil. As Tamino goes about his quest, however, and falls in love with Pamina, he learns that things are the other way around. The Queen...