Name: Le Grand Macabre
Start: 2011-11-19T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2011-12-01T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Gran Teatre del Liceu

Organization

Singer

Bernd Uhlig

No role specified

Werner Van Mechelen

Chris Merritt

Frode Olsen

Barbara Hannigan

Ning Liang

Brian Asawa

Martin Winkler

Ana Puche

Inés Moraleda

Francisco Vas

Conductor

Michael Boder

Stage director

Alex Ollé

Valentina Carrasco

Set designer

Alfons Flores

Costume designer

Lluc Castells

Lighting designer

Peter van Praet

Chorus master

José Luis Basso

Gran Teatre del Liceu

Le Grand Macabre

Barcelona

Spain

Sala Miralls

The Grand Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona presents György Ligeti's only opera "Le grand macabre" in a stunningly imaginative and highly theatrical staging of La Fura dels Baus, a production that has already enjoyed enormous success in Brussels, London and Rome and - like the British newspaper The Independent proclaimed - "can only be seen once a decade". Ligeti's (1923-2006) absurd-tragicomic masterpiece at the highest level mixes popular theatre, comics, pop art, cabaret, caricature and apocalypse with fascinating inventiveness. The orchestra is supplemented by "instruments" such as car horns and doorbells. Ligeti himself - one of the great composers of the late 20th century - described his work as "anti-anti-opera". The work, which premiered in Stockholm in 1978, is based on a play by Michel de Ghelderode (1898-1962) and is set in an imaginary land inspired by the famous Dutch painter Pieter Breughel the Elder: Nekrotzar, the Grand Macabre, heralds the end of the world at; but in a land ruled by Eros, alcohol and corruption, his plan to unleash the apocalypse bursts like a soap bubble. People continue to live their lives as they always have and are not intimidated by thoughts of death and the dark future... but in a land ruled by Eros, alcohol and corruption, his plan to unleash the apocalypse bursts like a soap bubble. People continue to live their lives as they always have and are not intimidated by thoughts of death and the dark future... but in a land ruled by Eros, alcohol and corruption, his plan to unleash the apocalypse bursts like a soap bubble. People continue to live their lives as they always have and are not intimidated by thoughts of death and the dark future...

The colorful score is performed masterfully by conductor Michael Boder and the orchestra and choir of the Liceu. The star cast includes Werner Van Mechelen as Nekrotzar, Chris Merritt as Piet the Pot, Barbara Hannigan as the head of the secret police and Brian Asawa as Prince Go-Go. "The result is great [...] Rarely has everything worked out so well" (El País), "an intoxicating and convincingly staged, surreal spectacle, simply breathtaking!" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).

Le Grand Macabre Ligeti

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