Benjamin in Portbou is a very special premiere: for the first time, the opera is presented in its entirety and fully orchestrated on stage. Antoni Ros-Marbà, who will conduct it at nearly 90 years old, thus crowns his career as a composer. The semi-staged version, directed by Anna Ponces with lighting by Playmodes, focuses on the concept of exile through light and shadow. The cast is led by tenor Peter Tantsits, joined by a notable ensemble of local voices.
Benjamin in Portbou is a premiere with many compelling aspects. First of all, it is a world premiere: the first time the opera will be performed in its entirety, orchestrated and sung in the ideal setting of a theater —until now, only small excerpts of the piano reduction were known, performed by Ros-Marbà in almost private gatherings with very limited audiences—, and this alone already sparks curiosity. What kind of opera is this work, which takes Catalonia as its starting point and carries a European character? What emotional impact will it have on the audience, and what place will it hold in the future history of the genre?
The curiosity for the new, the unknown, is an attractive element of the two scheduled performances, but even more so is the fact that it will be Antoni Ros-Marbà himself who brings his extraordinary career as a conductor to bear once again by stepping onto the podium at the Liceu to lead the orchestra. Although he is approaching 90 years of age, Ros-Marbà has not definitively retired from his main activity: just a few seasons ago, he conducted several programs with the OBC celebrating his remarkable career and his importance in Catalan and Spanish music, and he undoubtedly belongs to that elite category of maestros who will continue to conduct until their final breath. His decision to personally champion his own music is, therefore, another key element of the Benjamin in Portbou premiere: it will be an opera joining that very exclusive category of works conducted by their own composer.
The opera will be presented in a semi-staged version developed by stage director Anna Ponces, a close collaborator of the Liceu who not only coordinates, together with Àlex Ollé, the contemporary opera project Òh!pera, but has also directed various productions and revivals at the theater and other institutions. According to Ponces, this semi-staged format —which doesn’t feature a changing set design, but retains all the symbolism and physical expressiveness expected in a conventional performance— will allow the dramatic richness of the work to come through, thanks to the use of light created by an installation from Playmodes, the renowned interactive art studio founded in Girona by Eloi Maduell and Santi Vilanova over 15 years ago. The studio has participated in major international events focused on new technologies in artistic creation, such as Sónar and Lyon’s Fête des Lumières.
Playmodes will bring back its work Signes, which will immerse the stage in a hypnotic play of light. For Anna Ponces, the starting point of this staging is the concept of exile, flight, and refuge, which will be expressed through the tension between light and shadow described in several key moments of the libretto: when Walter Benjamin crosses the French border like a shadow, or the constant —and pivotal— presence of a symbolic figure meaningful to the writer, the Angelus Novus. Thus, it will be Playmodes' light that creates the stage spaces and highlights the tensions within the libretto, while also giving the opera a contemporary scenic framework without abandoning its modern essence.
The cast on stage will include American tenor Peter Tantsits in the leading role of Walter Benjamin —a role so central that he appears in every scene and has virtually no breaks—, joined by a fantastic ensemble of local voices: baritone Joan Martín-Royo (Gerhard Scholem), mezzos Laura Vila and Marta Valero (Dora Pollack Benjamin and Hannah Arendt, respectively), tenor David Alegret (Bertolt Brecht), soprano Elena Copons (Asja Lascis), coloratura soprano Serena Sáenz (Angelus Novus), and baritone Pau Armengol (Ernst Schoen).
The opera also features a role for a young soprano (Walter Benjamin’s daughter, performed by Ruth González), and two actors portraying the Hunchbacked Dwarf and Lisa Fittko: Lluís Marquès and Bea Segura. A cast that has worked with great dedication to bring to life the dream of Anthony Carroll Madigan, Antoni Ros-Marbà, and the Liceu: to finally premiere a long-awaited opera.