Ryoan-ji

Synopsis/Details

Ryoan-ji – The Japanese Garden by John Cage and Frederic Amat | Concerts & Recitals

Cage and Amat engage in dialogue at the Liceu with Ryoan-ji, a meditation between sound, silence and matter

“In silence there is always something that responds,” wrote John Cage, and it is precisely this secret, imperceptible yet persistent response that takes shape in Ryoan-ji, one of his most refined and meditative works. Inspired by the stone garden of Kyoto — a space where time evaporates and the gaze dissolves into stillness — Cage creates music that does not move forward, but breathes. A constellation of scattered sounds, almost mineral in nature, that seems to arise from the air itself, as if it were the murmur of an ancient world revealed only to those who know how to listen.

In this presentation at the Liceu, the piece acquires an unusual visual dimension thanks to the intervention of Frederic Amat, an artist who has long known how to engage with Cage’s thought through the poetic substance of colour and form. His staging, far from seeking to illustrate or literally translate the Zen landscape, becomes an organic extension of the sound: textures that evoke sediments, pigments that seem to emerge from the depths of a submerged garden, and lines that breathe with the same restraint as the music. Amat does not dress the stage, but transforms it into a ritual presence in which figures and elements move through an inner space where every gesture is a small revelation.

In Ryoan-ji, the instruments draw circles and irregular trajectories, like the trails that an invisible hand traces on the sand. This sonic calligraphy finds its mirror in Amat’s work: an aesthetic that combines the roughness of matter with the subtle light of movement. The scene is thus transformed into a contemplative landscape, a microcosm in which the eye and the ear learn to free themselves from excess in order to inhabit purity.

What Cage proposes is a new way of listening; what Amat adds to it is a new way of seeing. Between the two of them, the piece becomes a bridge between East and West, between the visible world and what remains suspended, between the tiny gesture and the infinite idea. Cage at the Liceu: a dialogue of transparencies, a garden without stones, a meditation in movement, a sonic and visual landscape that invites us to enter the active silence from which all true artistic experience is born. If Cage sowed silence, Amat makes light germinate.

Cast

Dancer and performer: Hikaru Kawasaki

Space and lighting: Cube.bz

Visual artist and concept: Frederic Amat

Soloists of the Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu

Venue

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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Ryoan-ji

Origins: From 1837 to 1847

The building on the Rambla

The creation of the Consortium

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