Liceu

The Gran Teatre del Liceu is the largest opera house in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, located on Las Ramblas in the center of the city.

The theater was opened on April 4, 1847, and reopened after a fire on 31 January 1994 in 1999.

Performances

Performances take place almost daily. The repertoire covers the entire spectrum from classical opera to operetta, Broadway Dance to contemporary concert music.

The first director of the Symphony Orchestra of the Opera was Marià Obiols. In the long history of the house here have famous conductors such as Albert Coates, Antal Doráti, Karl Elmendorff, Franco Faccio, Engelbert Humperdinck, Manuel de Falla, Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Keilberth, Erich Kleiber, Otto Klemperer, Hans Knappertsbusch, Franz Konwitschny, Clemens Krauss, Mark Gibson, Joan Lamote de Grignon, Joan Manén, Jaume Pahissa, Ottorino Respighi, Josep Sabater, Max von Schillings, Georges Sebastian, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Hans Swarovsky, Arturo Toscanini, Antonino Votto, Bruno Walter, Gerd Albrecht, Alexander Anissimov, Richard Bonynge, Sylvain Cambreling, Paolo Carignani, Frédéric Chaslin, Franz -Paul Decker, Romano Gandolfi, García Navarro, Lamberto Gardelli, Armando Gatto, Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez, Cristóbal Halffter, János Kulka, Peter Maag, Riccardo Muti, Woldemar Nelsson, Václav Neumann, Josep Pons, David Robertson, Antoni Ros Marbà, Julius Rudel, Pinchas Steinberg, Peter Schneider, Silvio Varviso and Sebastian Weigle worked. Current music director has since the season 2008/ 09 the German Michael Boder.

The reconstruction

After the fire disaster was decided that the Liceu " in the same place and as it was " to rebuild, but with the necessary improvements. A non-profit foundation was established, the " Fundació del Gran Teatre del Liceu " and the private carrier company abandoned despite internal resistances of individual co-owner of the real property of the public sector. The Foundation launched a large and successful fundraising campaign. Half of the reconstruction costs could be covered.

After 5 years ' Liceu a l' Exili " at different venues the house opened on 7 October 1999 its doors again. On the program was Turandot by Puccini, the work that would have played on 31 January 1994 to be. The facades and the Hall of Mirrors were preserved. The auditorium was rebuilt in the old style, but equipped in 1998-1999 with new paintings by the Catalan artist Perejaume. Stage and offices were modernized. Also, a new small hall was created and the rest rooms were expanded. As architects of the reconstruction project Ignasi de Solà -Morales acted, Xavier Fabré and Lluís Dilmé.

Facts and Figures

The great room has a capacity of 2,286 seats in theater style 360 m². It is also used as a banqueting hall, then find an area of ​​530 m² 350-530 people. Events can also be found in Salò dels Miralls (Spanish: Salón de los Espejos, dt: Mirror Salon, max 280 people. ), In the foyer and in the vestibule instead. Since its reopening in 1999, the house has an unusually elaborate stage technique that allows rapid and cost-effective exchange of the sets.

Visit

A tour of the Opera House concert outside the hours is possible. Guided tours are offered daily, this last about an hour. Unguided tours are also possible.