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.

Everything points to a historic milestone. The Gran Teatre del Liceu premieres its own production on Monday, January 12th at 6:30 pm. Tristan and IsoldeWagner's opera that marked "a point of no return," as the Liceu's artistic director, Víctor Garcia de Gomar, recalled this Thursday at a press conference. A world premiere, then, and with a stellar cast that has attracted journalists from international media outlets such as The Guardian and Le FigaroNorwegian Lise Davidsen, the finest soprano of her generation, will debut in the role of Isolde. "It's a role that all the singers I admire have sung," admits Davidsen. Also a Wagnerian at heart, American tenor Clay Hilley, who sang a few months ago Tannhäuser In Vienna, he will sing Tristan, a role he has tackled some fifteen times. "It's the most depressing role in opera, and the first time I sang it was in 2022," recalls Hilley, who doesn't forget the demands of Wagner's work: "There's no margin for error; any deviation is fatal. A lot of preparation is necessary, and no socializing for 48 hours beforehand. And no alcohol."

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.

Amadeu Fabregat was, in the 1970s, a pioneer of Catalan literature in the Valencian Community. Two of his titles are legendary: Fresh Meat: Young Valencian Poetry and the novel –or whatever it was– Rehearsal for the approach to "Fallas Folles Fetes Foc"With these two depth charges—especially the second, which won the Andròmina de Octubre Prize—Fabregat made a name for himself in Valencia at the end of the Franco regime, where all aesthetic daring, all political extremism, and all cultural snobbery were lavishly celebrated.