High School 2026-2027: big names and a bigger budget than ever

BarcelonaThe 2026-2027 season of the Gran Teatre del Liceu will begin with sopranos Anna Netrebko and Anna Pirozzi sharing the role of Aida in a production of Verdi's opera directed by Iranian artist Shirin Neshat. And the avalanche of great singers will not stop in a program that includes nine staged operas, four in concert version, four dance performances, and a dozen concerts and recitals. One of the concerts will be Verdi's Requiem (November 3 and 4) with Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, the big winner of the 2025-2026 season for her memorable debut as Isolde in Tristan und Isolde. Other prominent voices of the season are Asmik Grigorian (still with the memory of her sensational Manon Lescaut), Ermonela Jaho, Nina Stemme, Sondra Radvanovsky, Sara Blanch, Serena Sáenz, Lisette Oropesa, Nadine Sierra, Piotr Beczała, Brian Jadge, Roberto Alagna, Carles Pachon, Roger Padullés...

The revenue forecast for the 2026-2027 season is the highest in the history of the Liceu: 63.1 million euros, 5 million more than the previous season, and almost 20 million more than the 2016-2017 season. The contribution from public administrations remains at 48% (around 30 million) and patronage reaches 8.4 million euros. The Ministry of Culture contributes 43%, the Generalitat 42%, the Barcelona City Council 10%, and the Diputació de Barcelona 6%. "It is an important moment for the Liceu, and there is an expectation of growth," says Salvador Alemany, president of the Board of Trustees of the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Regarding expenses, the theater will allocate 17 million to the artistic part (2 million less than the previous season), 1.2 million to the educational proposal, and 1 million to the social contribution, which includes the production of the second community opera after the good reception of La gata perduda. This time, the Liceu, with the collaboration of the Sant Andreu district, will carry out La rosa dels set pètals, with music by Tomàs i Lucas Peire, musical direction by Manel Valdivieso, stage direction by Israel Solà, and libretto by Blanca Bardagil.

As announced a few weeks ago, one of the main operatic attractions is the start of the Wagnerian tetralogy with stage direction by Tobias Kratzer. Also noteworthy are two Liceu co-productions, Jenufa, by Janácek, according to Àlex Ollé; and La flauta màgica, by Mozart, by choreographer Marcos Morau, the founder of the company La Veronal, which premiered two years ago at the Rambla theater with the impactful ballet the impactful ballet Afanador. And pay attention to a quite special contemporary proposal: The exterminating angel, the opera by Thomas Adès inspired by the Luis Buñuel film, which will arrive at the Liceu in a production directed by Calixto Bieito.

From Italian theaters will come two operas by Puccini: La bohème with stage direction by Paolo Gavanezzi and Piero Maranghi, which premiered at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 2020, and Puccini's La fanciulla del West according to Valentina Carrasco, produced by the same theater in 2024. And in Milan two years ago, Adrian Noble's production of Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi premiered, which will arrive in Barcelona in the fall of 2026. In addition, there will be the return six years later of David McVicar's staging of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, which will be conducted this time by Jordi Savall. In total: two by Puccini, two by Mozart, and one each by Bellini, Wagner, Verdi, Janáček, and Adès. The price of staged operas varies across different ranges. For example, tickets for Aida, La bohème, Das Rheingold, La fanciulla del West, and The Magic Flute cost: 334, 267, 232, 193, 143, 106, 73, 25, and 15 euros. To see I Capuleti e i Montecchi, La clemenza di Tito, The Exterminating Angel, and Jenůfa: 303, 208, 189, 166, 123, 91, 63, 25, and 15 euros. There are also different offers and the Under 35 performances which cost 25 or 35 euros.

Heritage recovery

The operatic programming, but in concert version, proposes the heritage premiere of Schiava e Regina, by the Barcelona composer Lluïsa Casagemas (1873-1943), based on the piano score; Cançó d'amor i guerra, by Rafael Martínez Valls, on the centenary of its premiere; Les pêcheurs de perles, by Bizet, performed by Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre, and Il triomfo del tempo e del disinganno, by Händel, with Maestro Giovanni Antonini leading Il Giardino Armonico. There will also be a local production of a pocket-sized Lucia di Lammermoor to be performed at the Tinglados del Muelle.

In the realm of concerts and recitals, apart from Verdi's Rèquiem with Lise Davidsen, Freddie De Tommaso, Aigul Akhmetshina, and Christian van Horn, conducted by Nicola Luisotti ("The Requiem of the Century", according to the artistic director of the Liceu, Víctor Garcia de Gomar), there will be performances by Anna Netrebko, Brian Judge, and George Petean; by Ermonela Jaho, Jakub Józef Orlinski, and De Tommaso (the New Year's Eve Concert); by Sondra Radvanovsky with pianist Anthony Manoli; by Nadine Sierra accompanied by Bryan Wagorn, and one by Asmik Grigorian titled A diva is born which includes, among others, arias by Bizet and Puccini and songs by Lady Gaga. The symphonic section will offer unique proposals such as Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and with a film by Shirin Neshat, and John Cage's Ryoan-ji. The Japanese garden, with artistic intervention by Frederic Amat. And Jonathan Nott will conduct Britten's War Requiem.

The dance proposals are four: Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker by the Badisches Staatsballett Karlsruhe; Assembly Hall, by choreographer Crystal Pite and playwright Jonathon Young for the Kidd Pivot company; NumEros, by the National Dance Company, with pieces by Godani, Balanchine, and Forsythe, and the Grand Dance Gala produced by the Ballet de Catalunya.

The Liceu houses all this programming under the concept of "(de)sacralizing", "transiting between the solemnity of the rite and its contemporary revision".

The nine staged operas of the Liceu's 2026-2027 season

'Aida', by Giuseppe Verdi

Seventeen performances from September 23 to October 15

The season will begin with one of the great titles of the repertoire, in a production by the Liceu and the Paris National Opera. There will be two casts of contrasting Verdian solvency, led by Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov, and Anna Pirozzi and Piotr Beczała, respectively. There will also be alternation in the pit: Antonello Manacorda and Josep Gil. And all at the service of the staging that the Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat premiered in Salzburg in 2017 and later revised in Paris. As the chronicles detail, Neshat especially takes advantage of the ballet parts to show images of repression in Iran.

'I Capuleti e i Montecchi', by Vincenzo Bellini

Seven performances from October 30 to November 11

Bel canto with two contrasting bel canto singers: the American Lisette Oropesa and the Italian Raffaella Lupinacci, who debuts at the Liceu. Maestro Riccardo Frizza will conduct the orchestra in this production by the British Adrian Noble, premiered at La Scala in Milan in 2024.

'La clemenza di Tito', by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Four performances from November 25 to December 1

This production, with stage direction by David McVicar, which premiered at the Aix-en-Provence festival in 2011, was performed at the Liceu in early 2020, just before the covid-19 pandemic caused the lockdown. Philippe Auguin then conducted the Liceu Orchestra. The main novelty of the revival for the 2026-2027 season is that the orchestra will be Le Concert des Nations and the conductor, Jordi Savall. To the voices: Marianne Crebassa, Karine Deshayes and Jack Swanson, "one of the rising voices", as Garcia de Gomar says.

'La bohème', by Giacomo Puccini

Fifteen performances from December 30 to January 19

Various casts for this Bohème, with staging by Paolo Gavanezzi and Piero Maranghi and baton by Giacomo Sagripanti. As Mimì: Pretty Yende, Ermonela Jaho, and Carolina López Moreno (she debuted at the Liceu in a performance of Madama Butterfly in 2024 and in July 2026 will participate in Falstaff). As Rodolfo: Freddie De Tommaso, Pene Pati, Roberto Alagna, and Kang Wang. As Musetta: two of the great Catalan singers of the moment, Sara Blanch and Serena Sáenz. And as Marcello: Andrzej Filonczyk, Artur Rucinski, and Carles Pachon. Pay attention, therefore, to the subscription turns.

'Das Rheingold'

Six performances from February 7 to 21

Indeed, the Wagnerian gods return to the Liceu, which is co-producing with the Bavarian State Opera a new tetralogy of The Ring with stage direction by Tobias Kratzer, and under the baton of the new musical director of the Rambla theatre, Jonathan Nott. The reviews of the premiere of Das Rheingold in Munich explain that Kratzer makes the mundane world and the world of the gods coexist by blending contemporary and medieval aesthetics, everyday life and magic. "As in the Marvel universe, in The Rhinegold there is also strange magic in this world, a parallel universe to our present, with the technological devices and the psychology of our time, but traversed by magic", said the stage director when he presented the tetralogy in Barcelona at the end of February.

'La fanciulla del West', by Giacomo Puccini

Six performances from March 8 to March 24

Sondra Radvanovsky, always beloved at the Liceu, shares the spotlight of the season's second Puccini with Angelo Villari and Roman Burdenko. Many eyes will be on the staging proposal by Argentine Valentina Carrasco, a necessary accomplice of Àlex Ollé in productions seen at the Liceu such as Le Grand Macabre, Quartett, and the exceptional Tristan und Isolde from 2017. The orchestra will be conducted by Nicola Luisotti, who previously conducted La forza del destino at the Liceu with good results in 2024.

'The exterminating angel', by Thomas Adès

Six performances from April 15 to April 22

The Liceu's commitment to operas by living composers continues, if only by programming at least one title each year. The current season has been Philip Glass's Akhnaten, by Philip Glass. And the proposal for 2026-2027 will be this opera inspired by Luis Buñuel's distressing film The Exterminating Angel. The British Thomas Adès (London, 1971) premiered it in Salzburg in 2017. Later, Calixto Bieito directed the production that was performed in Paris and which will arrive at the Liceu next year. The cast includes Scottish tenor Nicky Spence (who will be Loge in Das Rheingold), American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo (whom you saw starring in Akhnaten, precisely) and American soprano Jacquelyn Stuker, among others. The Exterminating Angel is the first work by Adès to be programmed at the Liceu.

'Jenufa', by Leos Janáček

Six performances from May 8 to May 22

The artistic director of the Liceu, Víctor Garcia de Gomar, maintains his confidence in Janáček. After inaugurating the 2025-2026 season with The cunning little fox, he has entrusted Àlex Ollé with a new production of Jenufa, which is arguably one of the most anticipated premieres, also due to vocal excellence: the extraordinary Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian, celebrated at the Liceu for performances like the one in Manon Lescaut, and the Swedish soprano Nina Stemme, who has had little presence in the programming of the Rambla theater.

'The Magic Flute', by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Fifteen performances from July 5 to July 29

The 2026-2027 season will have a very special conclusion. Valencian choreographer Marcos Morau, founder of La Veronal and currently one of the most interesting stage directors in Europe, will have his say on The Magic Flute in a new production by the Liceu. The planned cast includes big names from current Catalan opera such as Sara Blanch, Serena Sáenz and Carles Pachon. And the baton will be wielded by maestro Josep Pons, honorary musical director of the Liceu. The uniqueness of The Magic Flute makes it a fertile territory for the creativity of Marcos Morau, who has already demonstrated his talent in works such as La mort i la primavera, the adaptation of Mercè Rodoreda's novel that he premiered at the Venice Biennale and at the TNC; Sonoma, which took him to the Avignon Festival, and Totentanz. Morgen ist die frage.