Macbeth

The iconographic universe of Plensa in Verdi's masterpiece

"The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures. 'Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil!"
William Shakespeare (Macbeth, Act II, Scene II)

Verdi's love affair with Shakespeare began with Macbeth, which he considered “one of the greatest human creations". He revered the Bard's works and this was the first opera he based on them. His aim was to turn his tragedy into “something out of the ordinary”. For Jaume Plensa, capturing Verdi and Shakespeare's Macbeth was a youthful dream so when Gerard Mortier asked him at Salzburg what opera he would like to direct, he did not hesitate. He has had to wait 25 years for the dream to come true.

When the witches foretell that Macbeth will be the next king of Scotland, Lady Macbeth gives destiny a hand by murdering the present King. But the witches' prophecies turn Macbeth into the bloody assassin of friends and rivals until, alone and furious, he faces his last battle and dies. A team of singers who combine dramatic intensity with vocal authority take on the roles of the honest general driven to murder and deceit and his boundlessly ambitious wife.

One of the most fascinating sentences in the entire work — “Sleep no more” — shows us that Macbeth, besides becoming a killer, deprives himself of the possibility of sleeping peacefully for the rest of his life. Jaume Plensa, who has been haunted by these words since childhood, will set his entire iconographic universe in movement, creating a powerful aesthetic and ritual presence that makes the ideal setting for this sombre, theatrical tragedy, full of diabolical energy, performed to music masterfully conducted by Maestro Josep Pons.

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In collaboration with:

Macbeth
Melodramma in four acts. Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei
World premieres:14/3/1847 at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence (first version) and 21/4/1865 at the Théâtre Lyrique de Paris (second version)
Barcelona premiere: 1/7/1848 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu
Last Liceu performance: 23/10/2016
Total number of Liceu performances: 117 

• Mezzosoprano Ekaterina Semenchuk will made her debut at the Liceu singing Lady Macbeth, replacing Anna Pirozzi, who due to schedule problems will not be able to participate in this production.

• Soprano Alexandrina Pendatchanska will made her debut at the Liceu singing Lady Macbeth, replacing Ekaterina Sannikova.

• Baritone Željko Lučić will sing the part of Macbeth, replacing Carlos Álvarez, due to health reasons.