At 6 :30pm, at Teatro Liceu :

TRISTAN AND ISOLDE by R. Wagner

Gran Teatro del Liceu Symphony Orchestra

Susanna Mälkki : Conductor

Bárbara Lluch : Staging

Clay Hilley : Tristan

Lise Davidsen : Isolde

Brindley Sherratt : King Marke

Tomasz Konieczny : Kurwenal

Roger Padullés : Melot

Iréne Theorin : Brangäne

Albert Casals : A shepherd/A young sailor

Milan Perišić : A helsman

Written between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich in 1865, Tristan and Isolde is one of the most beautiful love stories ever told. With a libretto by Richard Wagner himself, the opera is the most powerful expression of a passionate love that frees itself from all moral, social and philosophical conventions, deploying dual series such as eros/thanatos, duty/instinct, conscience/unconsciousness, prefiguring the most advanced reflections of modern psychology. An immense dramatico-musical poem, Tristan and Isolde benefits from unheard-of music: rich chromaticism in an unprecedented orchestration, leading to some of the most torrential scenes in the entire musical repertoire. As well as Isolde’s final Liebestod, the love scene in Act 2 between Tristan and Isolde is literally ecstatic, both for the characters and the audience. Barcelona’s renowned Liceu has entrusted this monumental work to Spanish director Barbara Lluch and the formidable Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki. Among the title roles, Clay Hilley‘s Tristan and Lise Davidsen‘s Isolde are quite simply among the finest performers of their roles today.

It’s a monument of superlatives. The most visited monument in Spain, with more than three million visitors a year, an indissociable emblem of the city of Barcelona (like the Eiffel Tower in Paris), but also a pharaonic construction site lasting 150 years (longer than the Pyramids of Egypt!), the Sagrada Familia fascinates and dazzles.

It took all the mad talent of one man to build such a basilica. Born in 1852, Antoni Gaudí laid the foundation stone in 1882 for a church that would become the masterpiece of a lifetime. Sadly, it is claimed that by the time he died in 1926, the Catalan architect had completed only a third of what he had planned. Knowing he was running out of time, he had nevertheless produced a large plaster model a few years earlier, enabling future builders to continue with his original plan. Originally scheduled for completion in 2026, the centenary of Gaudí’s death, the Sagrada Familia still awaits six new towers, the tallest of which, at 172 meters, promises to be the tallest religious tower in Europe! It’s a safe bet that Gaudí wouldn’t have minded the slight delay, since when talking about his building designed for the glory of God, he claimed that his “client was in no hurry” … Gaudí is buried in one of the church’s underground chapels.

When you visit the Sagrada Familia, the exterior is as dazzling as the interior. Its three facades – Nativity, Passion and Glory – illustrate the life of Christ, from birth to resurrection, and are sculptural masterpieces of Baroque imagination. The interior is nothing short of singular: with its colorful stained-glass windows and arches whose curves are inspired by natural phenomena, it’s like stepping into the belly of a gigantic animal and admiring one of the highest expressions of contemporary modern engineering.

Accompanied by an experienced guide, your group of Fugueurs will enjoy anecdotes and new information to better understand and appreciate this “Holy Family” that has already become a legend, and you’ll also visit Casa Vicens, the first building signed by Gaudí in Barcelona.

At 6:30pm, at the Palau de la Música Catalana :

SCHÉHÉRAZADE, by N. Rimski-Kórsakov

Del Vallès Symphonic Orchestra

Adrés Salado : Conductor

Camille Thomas : Cello

Programme :

– F. Say: Concerto for cello « Never Give Up »

– N. Rimski-Kórsakov: Schéhérazade, op. 35

In the sublime Art Nouveau setting of the Palau de la Música Catalana (undoubtedly one of the most beautiful halls in the world), the Del Vallès Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Andrés Salado invites the wonderful Franco-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas to perform an authentic rarity: Fazil Say’s Cello Concerto “Never Give Up”. Music lovers may be familiar with the great Turkish pianist as a soloist, but Fazil Say is also a great composer, whose rebellious work questions and challenges the politics of his native country. In the second half, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade is one of the masterpieces of the symphonic repertoire. An unsurpassed orientalist summit, the music is inspired by the Thousand and One Nights, rediscovered in Russia in the 19th century. We are thrilled to hear Sindbad in the midst of a stormy sea, we marvel at a feast in Baghdad, and we shudder when Princess Scheherazade frees herself from the yoke of the Sultan thanks to the most beautiful of violin solos.