The Gran Teatre del Liceu

Barcelona’s musical treasure

Top Classical, April 2021
The Gran Teatre deI Liceu was built in 1847. Barcelona had long had an opera house, the Teatre de la Santa Creu, renamed Teatre Principal. This building was home to a great opera house but was itself very small, and by the middle of the 19th century, when Barcelona became a major industrial city, a larger opera house seemed necessary.

A rivalry quickly developed between the Liceu and the old Opera: the two houses competed with one another over the price of seats. The Liceu would have won had it not burned down in 1861. The shareholders stepped up, and the architect, Joseph Oriol Mestres, needed just one year to rebuild the theatre, which reopened on 20 April 1862, with Bellini’s I Puritani. The Liceu then set about expanding its productions of operas and ballets. Each season a large number of operas would be staged, mainly from the Italian repertoire.

The most important works of classical music were presented here by the greatest singers of the last two decades. Domingo, Pavarotti, Caballé, Callas, Tebaldi will always have a special place in the heart of the audience. The hall regularly hosts the largest Wagner Festival after the Bayreuth Festival.

In January 1994, a fire severely damaged the theatre, destroying the auditorium and the stage. Since 1986, there have been plans to expand and modernize the building. Based on these plans, made by Solà Ignasi de Morales, the Liceu was rebuilt. The original was almost completely preserved, since as many undamaged parts as possible were reused.

Thus, the magnificent foyer and the equally splendid hall of mirrors were reconstructed according to the original rooms. Below the concert hall, an auditorium with a restaurant was built as a break room for the guests, and the stage was equipped with state-of-the-art technology. The curtain has been modernized and was designed by Antoni Miró. The upper floor seats got TV technology installed, since not all seats have a view on the stage. The geometry of the otherwise faithfully recreated concert hall has been slightly adapted to modern acoustics. The Gran Teatre del Liceu reopened in 1999 and now has nearly 2,300 seats on 6 levels. The Liceu is an integral part of Barcelona’s culture of today.

During this year 2020, the Liceu as well had to be locked down due to the world pandemic. In June 2020 to mark Spain’s lifting of lockdown, a very special concert was held. On that occasion musicians played to an unusual audience as thousands of plants filled its seats.

The event was the work of conceptual artist Eugenio Ampudia and included a performance from the UceLi Quartet string quartet. A total of 2,292 plants were packed into the theater, while the string quartet performed Puccini’s “Crisantemi,” according to a statement from the Liceu.

Although humans were not present in the audience, spectators could watch the “Concierto para el bioceno” via livestream.