The best wedding gift is a cake by Marta Pazos

BarcelonaThere is a desire to play in the mischievous gaze of the Galician stage director Marta Pazos. More than provoking, she seeks to surprise. "Laughter originates in the unexpected," she recalls at a press conference regarding the new production of Le nozze di Figaro (1786), the first masterpiece by the tandem formed by Mozart and the poet Lorenzo Da Ponte. The production, directed by Pazos and with Giovanni Antonini leading the orchestra, will have fourteen performances from June 4 to 21. "I am having a great time in this production by Marta that surprised us so much at first," assures the soprano from El Montsià, Sara Blanch, Susanna in a first cast shared with the Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni (Figaro), the Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva (Cherubino), the Italian baritone Andrè Schuen (Count Almaviva), and the Guatemalan soprano Adriana González (Countess Almaviva), among others. "I have sung the role of Figaro many times, and I have found a very fresh production, with a very new approach," exclaims Pisaroni, who is performing in substitution of baritone Konstantin Krimmel, who is out due to a foot injury. Everyone agrees: they are having a lot of fun. "And I hope it will be a success," says Schuen, who is finally debuting at the Liceu in an operatic role after having given many lied recitals around the country. after having given many lied recitals around the country.

one of the great voices of the country, who has just starred in one of the great voices of the country, who has just starred in Pelléas et Mélisande, by Debussy, at La Scala in Milan. The soprano from Darmós offers one of the keys to Le nozze di Figaro, which surely works in favor of Pazos's production: the importance of the text and of theatrical interpretation.

Marta Pazos received the proposal to stage Le nozze di Figaro just after the premiere at the Liceu of Alexina B., the opera by Raquel García-Tomás (1964), by Susan Sontag, in which the American philosopher studied the aesthetic Pazos says she seeks amusement, surprise, but, as is usual with the Galician director, she reaches stage conclusions after carefully examining intellectual concepts that she translates into solutions that are as daring as they are understandable. In this case, she admits that she took as a reference the essay "Notes on Camp" (1964) by Susan Sontag, in which the American philosopher studied camp aesthetics. "The essence of camp is the love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration", said Sontag. And Pazos extends this idea to "construct a festive, exuberant, and profoundly critical stage space of social hierarchies", precisely because beneath this camp appearance, Le nozze di Figaro hides "a rigid power structure that the characters try to challenge". It is not surprising that Mozart encountered Viennese censorship.

A masterpiece full of miracles

Giovanni Antonini, the conductor of Il Giardino Armonico, returns to the Liceu a year after conducting the Requiem by Mozart staged by Romeo Castellucci. A true Mozartian, Antonini first conducted Le nozze di FigaroA true Mozartean, Antonini conducted for the first time The first cast of Le nozze di Figaro, on June 5, 8, 10, 13, 15, 18, and 21, includes Sara Blanch (Susanna), Luca Pisaroni (Figaro), Julia Lezhneva (Cherubino), Andrè Schuen (Count d'Almaviva), Adriana González (Countess d'Almaviva), and Alejandro López (Bartolo). The second cast, on June 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17, and 19, features Anna Prohaska (Susanna), Alejandro Baliñas (Figaro), Mercedes Gancedo (Cherubino), Samuel Hasselhorn (Count d'Almaviva), Anett Fritsch (Countess d'Almaviva), and Roberto Scandiuzzi (Bartolo). And participating in both casts are Mireia Pintó (Marcellina), Roger Padullés (Basilio), Moisés Marín (Don Curzio), Lucía García (Barbarina), and Luis López Navarro (Antonio).