Barcelona's Liceu opera house reopens for performance to an audience of potted plants

Barcelona's Liceu opera house reopens for performance to an audience of potted plants
Copyright AP Photo
By Michael Daventry
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The capacity audience of 2,292 plants is the idea of visual artist Eugenio Ampudia, who wanted to explore people's relationship with nature during the lockdown

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When you can't fill your opera house with people, why not use potted plants instead?

That was the view taken by the Liceu, Barcelona's opera house, which reopened after a three-month closure due to lockdown measures with an exclusive concert for a green audience.

A string quartet performed Puccini’s 1890 movement Crisantemi ("Chrysanthemums") to 2,292 plants, an idea from visual artist Eugenio Ampudia to examine our relationship with nature and the impact the lockdown has had on public spaces.

The performance was also streamed live online.

"We thought that we had to share with our audiences all across the world this symbolic way of showing that we as an audience were deprived of being audiences," Víctor García de Gomar, the artistic director of the Liceu, told Euronews.

"All of us were quite excited, a little bit nervous. It's funny too, everybody had a smile during all the preparations.

"The simple act of making sound, having music back in the hall was a reaffirmation of life."

Coronavirus restrictions have meant that public events like concerts and theatre productions have been strictly off-limits in Spain.

But de Gomar said a human audience will return to the Liceu for the first official performance in September.

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