The classic faces 2022 with optimism despite the variants of the covid

Unlike pop and rock, the classical circuit has maintained activity in Spain despite the pandemic, but the different regulations in European countries affected international tours. Quarantines and travel restrictions prevented normal activity. Few international orchestras came to Spain, hence the Spanish tour that the acclaimed Gergiev Mariinsky Theater Orchestra offered almost a year ago, in the first pandemic winter. This 2022, faithful to his appointment at the Auditori, he will challenge covid-19 again on February 1 with a performance that will include ‘A life of a hero’, by Strauss and the ‘Piano Concerto no. 2 ‘, by Brahms, with Nelson Goerner.

This October, November and until the beginning of December, international activity recovered and tours were made. In early December, however, with the omicron variant, everything changed. And the limitation of the capacity to 70% does not help to square the numbers either. “There is no other option but to adapt to the situation,” says Joan Oller, from the Palau de la Música, trying to see how to reposition the suspended concerts. “But we must not lose the north: we must not saturate the market,” warns the general director of the institution, thinking about the necessary coordination between rooms to space out the actions. Gardiner’s Orchester Révolutionnaire et Romantique had to cancel the concert scheduled at the Palau on December 16 dedicated to Berlioz’s’ L ‘enfance du Christ’ due to several cases of covid in the formation. “That concert will not recover but Gardiner maintains his presence in the season in June with the Bach project,” explains Oller in reference to the director’s concert with the Coro Monteverdi and the English Baroque Soloists. Despite the latest cancellations, important events this winter such as the ‘Mass in B minor’ by Bach by the Balthasar Neumann Chor & Ensemble conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock on the 29th and the concert of Maria João Pires and the Gulbenkian Orchestra on February 15 with the ‘Piano Concerto no. 2 ‘by Chopin.

New dates are being sought for two star concerts at the Palau this beginning of the year, that of the La Scala Philharmonic, directed by Riccardo Chailly, whose Spanish tour has been suspended because of the covid -the Milanese opera registered 70 cases of covid , 10 of them among the musicians- and for the concert of the Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia conducted by Antonio Pappano. “We try to recover all the concerts”, explains Llorens Caballero from Ibermúsica, the main and oldest promoter of classical concerts in Spain. “When you want to offer the same program with the same soloist, director and formation, it is difficult to find a date”. And he puts as an example the concert that the cellist Yo-Yo-Ma was supposed to have done in May 2021 with the pianist Kathryn Stott which will finally be held, if all goes well, in October 2022.

Right now the International Festival of the Canary Islands about to start is what worries Caballero the most. The Philharmonic Orchestra is scheduled for the 12th and 13th of this month and on the 17th, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, but given the situation, anything can happen. At the moment the concerts are still on, but taking into account the contagious nature of the last variant, until the very day of the performance one cannot be sure of anything. “We count on that from March the situation will normalize but nobody has any certainty”, admits Caballero.

The Liceu will postpone until the next season, 22-23, the exchange of its orchestra with that of the Paris opera. The French orchestra canceled its visit due to a contagion shortly before coming to Barcelona and the Liceu chose to reschedule the performance of the formation led by Josep Pons scheduled for this Sunday in the French capital.

“We like to imagine that 2022 will be a good year. We have started the 175th anniversary celebrations and we will continue with them next season with great proposals,” says Valentí Oviedo, general manager of the coliseum. “The public is responding. We have seen it with ‘Rigoletto’, ‘The Nutcracker’ and the Camarena recital. The public wants to come,” he says. In his opinion, “2022 will be much better than 2021.” The Liceu at least has foreseen it by rescheduling in May the version of ‘Gisèle’ by Akram Khan for the English National Ballet. And in terms of opera, acclaimed productions with first-rate protagonists stand out. ‘Wozzeck’, by Alban Berg, directed by William Kentridge in May, ‘The Magic Flute’, by Mozart, with a version by McVicar in June and in July the ‘Norma’, by Bellini, with an impressive staging by Álex Ollé, already premiered in London.

It is not easy, however, to relocate “with immediacy” the productions that the covid took ahead such as that long-awaited world premiere of ‘Lohengrin’ with a staging by Katharina Wagner. “Everything that we could not release will be recovered in future seasons,” explains Oviedo without specifying any date.

From the Auditori, Robert Brufau is also optimistic for 2022. The OBC tour in Hamburg and Northern Europe continues. “All the actors involved are aware of the fragility of the current situation but we are confident that by the end of April, when the trip is scheduled, we will be better than now,” he says. In the Auditori the activity has normalized this season. “We have returned to the great symphonism”, highlights Brufau.

The expansion of the stage has allowed the miracle of having the entire orchestra while maintaining safety distances. This January, from the 21st, awaits you the first program run by Ludovic Morlot after his appointment as the new owner of the OBC. It will feature French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and will offer the national premiere of ‘Letters from Bachville’, by composer Betsy Jolas. This winter the OBC will offer 10 programs in 22 concerts with great repertoire titles such as ‘Scheherezade’ by Rimski-Korsakov, ‘The Rite of Spring’, by Stravinsky or ‘Don Quixote’, by Strauss. And for the first time will have him Festival Rachmaninov where the OBC, together with the fantastic Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin, will offer the composer’s four piano concerts over two weekends. All a poetry.

Related news

For now, the only thing that has fallen is the choral music concert dedicated to Manuel Oltra that the Ensemble O Vos Omnes was going to offer this January 9 due to cases of Covid-19 among the members of the formation. A new date is being sought for this season.