Liceu's eclectic 2023-24 season will kick off with Tchaikovsky's 'Eugene Onegin'

The Gran Teatre del Liceu revealed its 2023-24 season on Tuesday, an eclectic mix of old and new that will see opera stars such as tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky grace the grand old venue on Barcelona's famous La Rambla boulevard. 

Under the tagline 'Irreversible cracks', the Liceu will also welcome the likes of soprano Lise Davidsen, tenor Freddie De Tommaso, directors including Robert Wilson, Calixto Bieito, Àlex Ollé, Elkhanah Pulitzer, Núria Espert, Emma Dante and David McVicar and music directors such as Josep Pons, John Adams and Gustavo Dudamel. 

The season will get underway on September 27 with Tchaikovsky's lyric opera, 'Eugene Onegin'. 

European premiere 

One of the highlights of the season will be the European premiere of 'Antony and Cleopatra', the latest work from American minimalist composer John Adams, with six performances between October 28 and November 8. 

Adams' adaptation of Shakespeare's text combines the mythical image of antiquity with the glamor of 1930s Hollywood. 

Return of Turandot 

Puccini's Turandot is an opera with a special place in the history of the Liceu, the work that reopened the opera house in 1999 after a fire gutted the venue in 1994. It returns this November, in a production which organizers describe as "full of beauty and formal balance, amplifying the epic story." 

Bizet's Carmen kicks off 2024 at the opera house, directed by Calixto Bieito, followed by Verdi's 'Un ballo in maschera' in February and Mozart's reworking of Handel's 'Messiah', directed by Robert Wilson. 

Raquel García-Tomás's new chamber opera 'Orgia', Rossini's 'La Cenerentola' and Cilea's 'Adriana Lecouvreur' round off the opera season. 

Concerts and dance 

As well as the opera program, the season includes a series of concerts and dance, including the return of conductor Gustavo Dudamel with two performances of an innovative version of Beethoven's 'Fidelio'. 

Josep Pons will conduct a concert version of Bartók's 'Bluebeard's Castle'. 

Catalan conductor Jordi Savall will return to the Liceu with a symphonic concert featuring works by Mendelssohn, together with La Capella Nacional de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations. 

The dance program features four touring ballets: 'Faun/Noetic' by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui with the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' by Alexander Ekman with the Ballet Dortmund, 'Sacre' with Sasha Waltz & Guests and 'Swan Lake' with the ballet of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.