The singers Xabier Anduaga and Pretty Yende will offer at the Gran Teatre del Liceu a first-class bel canto evening with the opera gala on Sunday, 19 April. Together they will perform opera excerpts from the Italian and French repertoire, with arias and duets by Donizetti, Gounod and Massenet, in an event of vocal virtuosity and great expressiveness.
The Gran Teatre del Liceu hosts on Sunday, 19 April at 6 p.m. a gala concert featuring two of the most outstanding voices on today’s operatic scene: soprano Pretty Yende and tenor Xabier Anduaga. The recital offers a journey through some of the most brilliant pages of the bel canto repertoire, with a program that combines vocal virtuosity, expressiveness and stage chemistry.
The first part focuses on Italian and French bel canto, with arias and duets by Gaetano Donizetti. Iconic pieces from Don Pasquale, La fille du régiment and L’elisir d’amore are paired with the “Méditation” from Thaïs by Jules Massenet and “Je veux vivre” from Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod. Dramatic intensity will arrive with scenes from Lucia di Lammermoor and a new duet from La fille du régiment, forming a first section of great expressive richness.
In the second part, the program opens to other areas of the lyric repertoire, with Giuseppe Verdi as its central axis. Xabier Anduaga will perform scenes from La traviata and Rigoletto, while Pretty Yende will sing Giuditta by Franz Lehár and the csárdás from Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss. The recital also includes moments of shared lyricism, such as the duet “Parigi, o cara” and “È il sol dell’anima”, as well as the intermezzo from Manon Lescaut by Giacomo Puccini in a piano-only version.
This gala offers a unique opportunity to enjoy two international careers at their peak, in a format that highlights both individual virtuosity and the musical dialogue between the two artists. An evening that reaffirms the relevance and emotional power of the bel canto repertoire, in a Liceu understood as a space of vocal excellence and shared experience.
Xabier Anduaga and Pretty Yende, two great national voices with international projection
The career of Xabier Anduaga, one of the tenors with the greatest international projection today, has been acclaimed in the world’s most prestigious opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Opéra de Paris, the Opera di Roma, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona itself.
The 2025/26 season is marked by his highly anticipated debut in the title role of Werther at the Gran Teatre del Liceu on 4 May 2026. He was also the protagonist of the Theatre’s first New Year’s concert.
At the Liceu, audiences have also enjoyed Anduaga’s virtuosity in the role of Alfredo Germont in La traviata by Verdi and alongside Nadine Sierra as Elvino in La sonnambula by Bellini, two of the major highlights of last season that left a lasting impression on the Liceu audience.
Previously, he performed the role of Ernesto in Don Pasquale by Donizetti and made his debut at the Theatre in the recital production Del dolor a la esperanza, both during the 2020–2021 season.
In addition to his striking stage presence, Anduaga has received, among other accolades, the 2021 International Opera Award for Best Young Singer, the 2021 Ópera XXI Award for Best Young Artist, the 2021 Ópera Actual Award and the El ojo crítico de RNE Award.
For her part, Pretty Yende is today one of the most internationally renowned sopranos, with a career that has taken her to the world’s most prestigious stages. Yende has built an international career that has led her to participate in such notable events as the concert at Notre-Dame de Paris and the historic Westminster ceremony for the coronation of King Charles III of England.
Pretty Yende made her debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona during the 2011/12 season in the concert Una altra nit de Montserrat Caballé, and made her stage debut with Don Pasquale by Donizetti in 2014/15. This season, Liceu audiences have enjoyed Yende’s virtuosity in her emblematic portrayal of Adina in L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti, alongside Javier Camarena. She also performed as Violeta Valéry in La traviata by Verdi in the 2020/2021 season. Previously, her last appearance at the Barcelona venue had been in the opera I puritani by Bellini during the 2018/19 season.
Throughout her career, Yende has sung in the world’s most iconic opera houses, including the Opéra national de Paris, The Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Royal Opera House in London, the Deutsche Oper and the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Opernhaus Zürich and the LA Opera in Los Angeles, among many others. Her recent engagements include such acclaimed works as L’elisir d’amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Benvenuto Cellini, La fille du régiment, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Roméo et Juliette, I puritani, Les pêcheurs de perles, Manon, Le Comte Ory, La traviata, Don Pasquale and La sonnambula.
In addition to her stage career, Yende has made her mark in the recording world with the albums A Journey and Dreams, released under the Sony Classical label, where she has demonstrated her ability to move audiences through classical music.
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