In June 2023, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Symphony Orchestra embarked on a decisive series of engagements within the artistic project led by Josep Pons since he became Music Director in 2012. The programme brought together some of the ensemble’s most demanding challenges while extending its presence beyond the opera pit, both in Catalonia and internationally.
The first major undertaking was Richard Wagner’s Parsifal, a monumental work lasting almost four and a half hours and requiring close to one hundred musicians, expanded string and brass sections, and meticulous work on the score’s exceptional harmonic, orchestral and dramatic complexity. Josep Pons emphasised that, despite its vast proportions, Wagner builds the work from short, constantly changing musical ideas, creating an immense mural from a succession of detailed miniatures.
Immediately afterwards, the orchestra made its debut at the Opéra Bastille in Paris with Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, starring Iréne Theorin and Bryn Terfel. Previously postponed because of the pandemic, the performance represented a historic milestone in the orchestra’s international development and an opportunity to present its distinctive sound at one of Europe’s leading opera houses.
The ensemble then embarked on a tour of Catalonia, performing in Lleida, Manresa and Sant Cugat del Vallès, followed by a large free concert on Bogatell Beach featuring Ravel’s Boléro and Dvořák’s New World Symphony. The tour programme also included Sílvia Pérez Cruz and Feliu Gasull, reinforcing the theatre’s commitment to bringing the orchestra to new audiences throughout the region.
In the following weeks, the Liceu Orchestra also took part in Barcelona’s Grec Festival, first in a production by Sasha Waltz & Guests and later in a concert devoted to Wagnerism at the Palau de la Música Catalana, conducted by Josep Pons. This succession of projects demonstrated the ensemble’s versatility and its ability to move between major opera, symphonic concerts, dance and public outreach initiatives.
After eleven years of work, Josep Pons estimated that approximately 80% of the orchestra’s renewal project had been completed, with progress in staffing stability, homogeneity of sound, recruitment, international activity, recordings and public visibility. The result was the emergence of a distinctive identity based on balance, elegance and expressiveness.