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© Gran Teatre del Liceu
Oh to Believe in Another World
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October 2024 | ||||||
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Symphonic Cycle of the Gran Teatre del Liceu
“I depicted Stalin in my next symphony, the Tenth. I wrote it just after Stalin's death, and no one has yet guessed what the symphony is about. It's about Stalin and the Stalin years. The second part, the scherzo, is a kind of musical portrait of Stalin. Of course, there are many other things in it, but this is the basis” – D. Shostakovich (Testimony. The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich. As told to and edited by Solomon Volkov, Ed. Aguilar, 1991)
William Kentridge is one of the most charismatic visual artists of the present; capable of making subtle but very sharp critiques in the form of a warning from sharp charcoal, he returns to the Liceu after his successful production of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck. We will once again enjoy his prophetic visions in which he pursues the dream of a fairer world through the animated film he has created for Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10.
Kentridge's cinematic aesthetics are based on the history of the medium itself, from stop-motion animation to early special effects. Drawing, particularly the dynamic of erasing and redrawing, has been a central element of his numerous works in the fields of animation and film, where layers of meaning develop only during the process of their creation.
After his stage production of Shostakovich's The Nose for the Metropolitan in New York, he returns to the composer to produce this animation set in a seemingly abandoned Soviet museum made of cardboard and placed on a table in an artist's studio. A tour of the various rooms of the museum, which include a community theater room, a public swimming pool, and a quarry surrounded by figures such as Mayakovsky, his lover Lilya Brik, Trotsky, Shostakovich as a student, his pupil Elmira Nasirova, Stalin, and Lenin. Puppets in an environment where they must be understood as collages.
Far from the idea of making Shostakovich a soundtrack for the film, but to bring in this session the complicated relationship between the composer and the state of the Soviet Union, four decades are presented in perspective: from the days of the 1917 Revolution to Stalin's death in 1953, passing through Lenin's death, Mayakovsky's suicide, or Trotsky's assassination. A time that, against all odds, Shostakovich was able to survive.
Josep Pons, an expert on the Russian composer, will lead the Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu to show us the secrets of this colossal score.
Program and cast
Approximate duration: 55 min
Art sheet
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF THE GREAT THEATER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL
PRINCIPAL
Joseph Pons
Gran Teatre del Liceu
Barcelona's opera house, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, was founded on the Rambla in 1847 and has continued over the years to fulfil its role as a culture and arts centre and one of the symbols of the city.
Today it is publicly-owned (by the Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council, Barcelona Provincial Council and the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte) and administered by the Fundació del Gran Teatre del Liceu which, in addition to the aforementioned bodies, incorporates the Patronage Council and the Societat del Gran Teatre del Liceu (the old society of owners).
Origins: From 1837 to 1847
The Liceu evolved out of the Sociedad Dramática de Aficionados (Society of theatre-lovers) set up in 1837 at the instigation of Manuel Gibert in the former convent of Montsió by members of the National Militia, an organization of armed citizens with liberal leanings.
Barcelona's economy and population were growing fast at the time and the city needed a music conservatory. This led to the conversion of the Sociedad Dramática into the Liceo Filármonico Dramático Barcelonés de S.M. la Reina Isabel II (Barcelona Dramatic and Philharmonic Lyceum of HM Queen Isabel II). In addition to its theatrical activities, the new organization cultivated Italian-style singing and music.
The building on the Rambla
The original building was solemnly opened on 4 April 1847. The plans had been drawn up by Miquel Garriga i Roca, subsequently assisted by Josep Oriol Mestres. The project was funded by selling shares, which meant that many of the boxes and seats were to be privately owned. The shareholders formed the Societat del Gran Teatre del Liceu, known as the “Societat de Propietaris” (Society of Owners), which was in sole charge of running the Gran Teatre del Liceu from 1855 onwards, after it was legally separated from the Conservatori del Gran Teatre del Liceu.
The theatre was operated by impresarios who were given a concession to stage a specific number of productions in exchange for the proceeds from the sale of tickets not reserved for the Societat itself. This system was to endure until 1980.
The creation of the Consortium
By the last quarter of the 20th century this management system was no longer viable. In 1980, to avert the danger of the disappearance of an institution of such worldwide cultural renown, the Generalitat Catalonia's first government in modern times – set up a consortium, the Consorci del Gran Teatre del Liceu, which also incorporated Barcelona City Council and the Societat del Gran Teatre del Liceu. Barcelona Provincial Council joined the Consortium in 1985, followed by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in 1986. From then on the Consortium took over operation of the theatre.
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