Manon Lescaut It always works if this opera is presented in a production that perfectly captures its essence: an apotheosis of melodrama, like virtually the entirety of Puccini's catalog. In the last twenty years, the Liceu has presented three different productions of Puccini's third opera, based on the novel The History of the Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut of theabbot Prévost. A story also inspired by the operas of Auber, Massenet, and Henze. Now, Puccini's version has returned to the Rambla. A production of the Frankfurt Opera, with stage direction by Àlex Ollé and part of his usual team: set designer Alfons Flores, costume designer Lluc Castells and lighting designer Joachim Klein.

The recent announcement of Juanjo Mena's retirement from concert halls and auditoriums due to a cruel and irreversible illness added interest to the OBC's weekend concert. Attending it as a farewell to one of the great conductors of our time felt like a moral obligation. And we were there.

Johann Sebastian Bach And George Frideric Handel had many things in common: they were German, Protestant, born in the same year, and both went blind at the end of their lives, operated on for cataracts... by the same surgeon.

I confess: I was dreading this recital by Juan Diego Flórez. But, little by little, the Peruvian tenor convinced me of two things: he was genuinely eager to sing, and he gave it his all. That said, the Peruvian tenor has a foolproof trick: he never deviates from the script. Having said that, it's perfectly understandable that the first part, with its undeniable technical difficulty, was the highlight of the evening.

Ours is an increasingly noisy world. Information bombs and shrapnel bombs rain down. Utterly ineffective high-ranking officials contradict each other about the old world order and submission to downright psychopathic governments, when what is needed is peace, silence, rest, and, above all, music that makes time seem to stand still. It's an illusion, based on the premise that music is, precisely, an art of time.

The BCN Clàssics season is progressing smoothly, cruising along at a steady pace. Its commitment to the great repertoire ensures a loyal audience; the soloists are top-notch, and the orchestral ensembles and their respective conductors are more or less equally impressive. Monday's concert reaffirmed this, with Slavic colors courtesy of Mussorgsky and Khachaturian, and two well-known works, amidst which we discovered something truly wonderful. Violin Concerto of Khatxaturian.

On paper, the program for the weekend concert at L'Auditori looked interesting. And judging by the results, the interest was total. Let's start, however, with the second part: given the budgeted value of the former military service, it was obvious that the OBC must have a lot of experience with a work like the Symphony No. 1 in B-flat, Op. 38 Schumann's. And it's true that the overall performance was good, but it's in that repertoire where—I think—our orchestra sometimes reveals an inertia that only the most authoritative conductors can break. And this is not the case with the Lithuanian Giedre Slekyte, a professional conductor who seemed to bow to the status quo without shaking the orchestra's routine foundations. Nothing to say. But nothing to highlight from a second half that was just passable.

Amilcare Ponchielli's most famous opera is hardly defensible. Leaving aside the intensity of some arias, The Mona Lisa It lacks the dramatic appeal necessary for a staging that transcends the most blatant historicism. Arrigo Boito's pretentious libretto, disguised under the pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio, offers nothing more.

No, indeed, this isn't a critique. Or is it? Could it be, given the context of the honoree? Let's take it step by step.

On October 23 of last year, Philippe Herreweghe gave a Beethoven concert in front of the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées. Then I wrote One of the strategies I use when writing reviews from the Palau de la Música is to observe Beethoven's expression, perched to one side of the stage: if he smiles, it means the concert went well or very well. And on that occasion, I commented that he had only half-smiled.

Teodoro Currentzis's presence in Barcelona is a regular occurrence, especially thanks to Ibercamera. Therefore, any musical event featuring one of the most sought-after conductors on the international scene is welcome. However, Monday's concert was perhaps the "easiest" of those offered by the Greek-born conductor, compared to the superb ensemble MusicaAeterna. "Easier" because, although Richard Wagner is a highly complex composer, his orchestral passages (preludes, vanes, or numbers that link the scenes of many of his musical dramas) hold immense appeal for a wide audience.

The mysteries of the human voice are endless paths, lost in a thousand and one trails of what Gerard Mortier called "sensualization of the soul." I was thinking this on Monday, while Bruno de Sá sang several arias from Baroque opera on the stage of the Palau de la Música, alongside Ensemble 1700, conducted by Dorothee Oberlinger. Both the ensemble and the conductor are quite versatile, both in instrumental pieces and vocal accompaniment, including Oberlinger's virtuosity on the recorder.

A true virtuoso of the flute, Emmanuel Pahud (a student of Jean-Pierre Rampal), lends his talents to Mozart's first concerto—and, in fact, the only one originally written for the instrument. The Swiss musician explores the piece's discourse and makes it his own with impeccable execution and admirable artistry. cantabile The second movement was distinguished by its well-connected phrases and a sensitivity devoid of affectation and sentimentality. It was pure Mozartian discourse, unaffected yet free of the philological flourishes that can sometimes render original pieces unrecognizable. Well supported by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, expertly conducted by François-Xavier Roth, Pahud closed the first half of the concert, setting the bar very high.

Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, ​​January 12, 2026. 11:05 p.m. Lise Davidsen tackles the opening bars of Mild und leise, he Liebestod with which Wagner closes the opera Tristan and IsoldeIt's the crowning moment of a musically historic night at the Rambla theater: the birth of a new Isolde, following in the footsteps of Flagstad, Nilsson, Behrens, and Meier. The throne of Wagnerian soprano is now undoubtedly occupied by a young Norwegian woman (38 years old), who is returning to the stage for the first time since giving birth to twins. It is an honor and a privilege that he has chosen our theater For that comeback and for the debut of a role she will soon sing at the Metropolitan Opera, the anticipation was palpable, with an extraordinary group of journalists and music critics from all over the world present at the Liceu. And Davidsen not only did not disappoint, but gave it her all: hers is an expressive, committed, musically perfect, technically immaculate Isolde, and also possesses a full, compact, and exquisitely beautiful voice. Phrases like Der Mutter Rat gemahnt mi recht in the first act or does so sustained in pianissimo over the Lust! The concluding number that closes the opera will remain in the memory of many, especially those who, standing, repeatedly cheered a dreamlike performance.

To get the concerts of The harmonic inspiration by Vivaldi corresponding to the cycle of The Four Seasons That they sound like something new means many things. First, that the Venetian composer's pieces are timeless and allow for many readings and rereadings. And second, that for this to happen, talent, imagination, great technical ability, and a willingness to work are essential. This combination came together in Arnadí's Vísperas, once again under the enthusiastic leadership of Dani Espasa. And also, of course, with the prodigious performance of the soloist, violinist Farran Sylvan James.

There are characters you think will never die. Simply because you've seen them your whole life. This is the case with... Jordi RochDr. Roch, who died this Monday at the age of 94, is remembered from the very first concerts I attended as a child. I knew who he was from seeing his picture in newspapers and magazines. Dr. Roch (he was a medical doctor and practiced until his retirement) always made his presence known. Not out of vanity or to show off, but because his presence as a spectator revealed a contagious passion for music. Later, I came to know and befriend a witty, intelligent, and inquisitive man, an excellent conversationalist who was always eager to discover or rediscover things that greatly interested him, and who shared them with the affability and generosity that always characterized him.

It was on everyone's lips that the Catalonia Opera Foundation It made history by adding its first Wagner to its extensive list of programmed titles, spanning more than forty years. And, although Der fliegende Holländer It draws heavily on German Romanticism of the first third of the 19th century, and the Nibelungs are still a distant memory. Wagner always demands an extra artistic effort, which in this case he hasn't quite achieved. It's not that this spectacle has foundered, but sadly it hasn't reached its full potential, if we may use the nautical metaphors that precede the fourth opera in Wagner's catalogue.

For the fifth time, the Gran Teatre del Liceu is reviving Mario Gas's production of The elisir of love, by Gaetano Donizetti, one of the most iconic shows of the house. When it was first performed –in the midst of post-fire exile and at the Teatre Victòria–, the production had already been seen at the Grec (1983) and, ten years later, at the Peralada Festival, until in 2005 it took to the stage of the Rambla.

I have to confess my skepticism when I set foot in the Palau on Thursday night. I arrived with the preconceived notion that I would hear a good concert, thanks to the Tokyo Philharmonic's high, even excellent, technical level. And little else: the usual stereotype of Asian coldness.

Attending a Martha Argerich concert or recital is like visiting a friend you see only occasionally. And you know they'll never let you down, because they're the kind of person who always puts artistic truth first.