Castellucci makes people dance to Mozart's 'Requiem'

BarcelonaA priori, everything points to it being one of the shows of the year: a musical masterpiece, the Requiem by Mozart; an extraordinary musical director, the Italian Giovanni Antonini, founder of Il Giardino Armonico; and a highly renowned stage creator, the also Italian Romeo Castellucci, which premieres at the Liceu. All of this with the Orchestra and Choir of the Gran Teatro del Liceu, where there will be seven performances, from February 18 to 26 (on the 17th there will be a concert version performance for those under 35 at the Sagrada Família, which will be recorded by the Arte channel).

Dramaturgical intervention in strictly musical works is legitimate, although the results are not always sufficiently satisfactory. At the Liceu itself, both the War requiem by Britten intervened by Daniel Kramer and photographer Wolfgang Tillmans as The Messiah by Händel (revised by Mozart) with a stage design by Robert Wilson generated a division of opinions. On one extreme, those who consider that the staging belittles the sovereignty of music; on the other, those who defend that visual stimuli amplify the scope of the score.

The Requiem According to Castellucci, which premiered in Aix-en-Provence in 2019, it once again fuels the debate, because its intervention is not exactly modest; it incorporates a dramaturgy about the cycle of life that begins with an old woman in bed and goes back to celebrate life before death; it makes the heart dance dances inspired by different European folklores, it adds images about extinction and disappearance and, as is usual in his creations, there is a strong symbolic charge in each decision. "The scenography illustrates that as soon as life sprouts, its disappearance also approaches," says Silvia Costa, associate stage director.

"It's a show with extreme symbolism that leaves no one indifferent; you think for days and it provokes questions," explains Antonini, who defends the viewer's freedom of interpretation. "These days I was thinking about the musician Herbie Hancock, who in his autobiography explains that while he was making the soundtrack for Blow up He told Antonioni [the film's director] that he did not understand the scene of the tennis match without rackets. "You can interpret it as you wish," Antonioni replied.

This Requiem, which also includes other Mozart pieces such as the Music for a Masonic funeral, will have as soloists Anna Prohaska (who sang the song a few weeks ago) Dream requiem by Rufus Wainwright at the Palau de la Música), Marina Viotti, Levy Sekgapane and Nicola Ulivieri, but the great protagonist is the heart, which has had to adapt to the choreographic circumstances proposed by Castellucci. "It's a challenge," says Pablo Assante, who made his debut as director of the Cor del Liceu with the War requiem – The dances, although intended for non-professional dancers, require a very special physical form and training. Breathing is the basis of this song, and in this work one must learn to coordinate it with movement."

Castellucci-Pichon-Antonini

Giovanni Antonini takes on the musical direction of a production of the Requiem Mozart's opera, which was born in Aix-en-Provence in 2019 as a result of the collaboration between Romeo Castellucci (who has yet to continue Wagner's tetralogy) and the French musician Raphaël Pichon. By the way, the wonderful concert that Pichon and the Ensemble Pygmalion gave of the opera still resonates among the Barcelona public. Requiem Antonini is aware of this origin, and admits that at the Liceu it will sound different for obvious reasons: "Pichon does it with his orchestra of ancient instruments, and we do it with a modern symphony orchestra." About the Liceu orchestra, which Antonini conducts for the first time, he speaks wonders. "I have found musicians who have grown up with baroque music, and the work environment is extraordinary. My proposal moves away from the conventions of certain ways of interpreting the music." Requiem "We don't know when they became a tradition. We, on the other hand, go back to their origins," explains Antonini.