Lluís Pasqual, on the controversy of having Judit Martín's voice pass for Montserrat Caballé's: "I did nothing illegal"

BarcelonaLluís Pasqual spoke today on El suplement about the controversy over using a recording of Judit Martín imitating Montserrat Caballé as if it were a real recording by the soprano. For the first time since the comedic actress denounced it on the podcast La ruina, the theater director has given explanations about this case and has denied wanting to impersonate Caballé's voice in the tribute held for her at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2019, organized by himself. "Impersonating is a very strong word," he told Roger Escapa. Furthermore, he defended that he would do it all again just as he did. "I did nothing illegal," replied the director, who described the whole affair as "gossip."

Pasqual has confessed that he does not believe that the outbreak of this controversy is a coincidence. "Catalonia is a minefield for me. Every time I appear, there is something that prevents me from calmly putting on a show in Barcelona," Pasqual reflected during the interview on El suplement.

The mysterious interview on Ràdio Reus

The recording heard at the tribute to Caballé was, theoretically, the recording of an interview that Ràdio Reus had conducted with Montserrat Caballé in 1988 at the Teatre Fortuny. In this interview, the soprano said that if she were to be honored one day, she wanted Pasqual to organize it, who was also present at the Teatre Fortuny event. This audio was played at the 2019 tribute, but the voice heard was not Caballé's but that of comedian Judit Martin, who was hired by Pasqual to imitate the soprano. At the tribute, the theater director did not say at any point that it was an imitation or that it was not the real voice of the opera singer.

Ràdio Reus has stated that it has no record of the existence of this supposed interview, but this Saturday Pasqual insisted on his version: according to him, at the stage, at the Teatre Fortuny, "a girl who said she was from Ràdio Reus, but it was never possible to know if she really was, interviewed us, and it couldn't be broadcast because it had a lot of background noise." However, the director admits that he does not keep the audio of the original interview. "It was a cassette that got lost in one of the many moves I made. It was inside a box along with an earring from Caballé, from her debut at Carnegie Hall, which also disappeared," he explained.

"On the day of the tribute, I wanted to use the interview in which she asked me to pay tribute to her, and since it couldn't be broadcast because there was a lot of background noise, I called Carlos Latre and told him I needed someone like him but a woman. He sent me Judit Martín, who came to the Liceu and recorded Caballé's voice from that part of the interview," Pasqual recounted. The director assures that he explained this to the Liceu and asked permission from the soprano's family, who, according to his version, authorized him to make the recording. Pasqual maintains that Montserrat Caballé would have been fine with this imitation. Regarding why Judit Martin never got paid for the work she did, Pasqual shrugs off responsibility and says that this was a matter for the production of the tribute.

Following the controversy, Lluís Pasqual will not be present in the programming for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Teatre Lliure, of which he was one of the founders and also director (between 2011 and 2018). As confirmed to La tarda de Catalunya Ràdio Julio Manrique, the current director of the theatre, it has been decided not to count on him. "For two years we had built a project with Pasqual's direction at the theatre. It was not an easy process. When the controversy broke out, we expressed our concern to him. He downplayed the issue and reduced it to a mere gossip matter", he explained.