The Liceu has opened the year with a revival that is also a birthday party. In 1999, the Peralada Festival commissioned Calixto Bieito to stage direct a new production of Carmen. In 2010 and 2015 this Carmen, which has travelled to more than 70 theatres around the world, could be seen at Liceu. Now, on the 25th anniversary of the premiere, it has returned once again to the Barcelona stage. Carmen was the title that placed Bieito's name in the international panorama of opera...

Gran Teatre del Liceu has inaugurated the new season by putting Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin on stage in a new co-production between the Barcelona theatre, Den Norske Opera in Oslo, which premiered the production in 2020, and Teatro Real of Madrid that will present it next season. This new approach to this surprising intimate wonder – Tchaikovsky called it "lyrical scenes" rather than opera – based on the novel of the same name in verse by Aleksandr Pushkin,...

The chorus sings its last phrase, the mysterious and enigmatic "Erlösung dem Erlöser" (Redemption to the redeemer) while greeting a Parsifal dressed more or less like a fascist dictator. Kundry, the Jewess, does not expire placidly after being baptized but, alarmed by what she sees and, above all, by what she foresees, she packs her bags and goes into exile, the curtain falls. The question is obvious: And now who will redeem us from Parsifal? Thus ends the Parsifal...

If Shakespeare's Macbeth is already bloodthirsty, dark, barbaric, ferocious, atavistic and telluric, Verdi's operatic reworking of this work not only keeps intact the strength of the original but, by concentrating and essentialising it, he even increases it. Verdi's Macbeth is the ultimate party of wickedness and an orgy of moral perversion. Stylistically, it is a rare opera that does not fit anywhere – chronologically it should be inscribed in late bel canto, but...

It is difficult to achieve great success when singing or conducting Don Pasquale, but it is also difficult to fail. Don Pasquale, the last capolavoro of opera buffa, is a comfortable and friendly work which does not present major problems. Vocal requirements are important though perfectly acceptable for professional singers and the same goes for the orchestral part. The work is not one of those mythical titles in the repertoire that make or break a career. There are devotees of...

In the 18th century there was pain and misery, but art generally displayed the beauty of the world. In the 19th century there was also pain and misery and art showed a part of it. In the 20th century there was a lot of pain and a lot of misery and very often art became unpleasant because the artist felt the need to show the world all the unnecessary pain, the avoidable misery, the great alienation and violence that govern human relationships. For many artists, failing to do this would have...