Barcelona's Liceu opera house 'leaps into the void' with adventurous 2022-2023 season

The Liceu's 2022-2023 season, described by the Barcelona opera house as a "leap into the void," will see 204 performances of 40 different operas, concerts and recitals, as well as dance performances – many of them classics with a contemporary twist.

The opera house, which celebrates its 175^th anniversary this year, has invited the likes of Jaume Plensa, Antonio López, Marina Abramovic, Louise Glück, Flávia Junqueira, and Raquel García-Tomás as the venue's distinguished guest composers and directors for a year in which it will explore "the need to leave one's comfort zone and take risks."

Plensa, for one, is known for his sculptures, but will be the creative mastermind behind the staging and costume design of Giuseppe Verdi's take on Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Another Barcelona native, Raquel García-Tomás, will be premiering her opera Alexina B, inspired by the story of 19^th century intersex French nun Adélaïde Herculine Barbin. 

Serbian artist Marina Abramovic's combination of opera, live art, performance art, and video creation, The Seven Deaths of Maria Callas, is expected to be one of the season's biggest hits featuring some of the Greek soprano's iconic arias. 

Other stars, including Jordi Savall, Gustavo Dudamel, Javier Camarena, Piotr Beczała, Aleksandra Kurzak, Sondra Radvanovsky, Lotte de Beer, Ermonela Jaho, Calixto Bieito, Iréne Theorin, Rafael R. Villalobos or René Jacobs will also be performing at the Barcelona opera house, as will the Paris Opera's orchestra, with which the venue is twinned.