More sand surface and the possibility of displaying sarongs and lunch boxes while enjoying the music. This is how one of the great popular and democratic classical events returns to Barcelona, ​​that is, the symphonic event on the beach, which is presented for the first time under the umbrella of Barcelona Obertura and with the consequent economic contribution from the City Council through the tourist tax.
The experience was started in 2015 by the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (OBC) and, although the coronavirus pandemic made it necessary to stop what was beginning to be a tradition, now the idea returns with greater force -on the 20th and June 21- and L’Auditori having joined forces with the other two venues in the city: the Liceu and the Palau de la Música.
Thus, the Liceu Symphony, which had already been offering the notorious Òpera a la fresca, will also give its concert on the beach. And the choirs of the Palau de la Música will not go up on the outside stage this time, but they will bring music to those admitted to the Hospital del Mar and nursing homes.
The musical summer of classical music will thus begin on the 20th with the Orquestra del Liceu performing Ravel’s Boléro -in a nod to the collaboration it did with la Caixa in an advanced three-dimensional sound experience- and with Dvorák’s New World Symphony , both under the baton of the main director of the Gran Teatre, Josep Pons.
The next day it will be his counterpart at the OBC, Ludovic Morlot, who directs what in the Anglo-Saxon world is known as “a feel good program”, a program with tunes from the great repertoire, “that people recognize and can sing, and come home wanting to look for them on YouTube”, in the words of Robert Brufau, director of L’Auditori.
Thus, the OBC will begin with five of Dvorák’s Slavic Dances, which is undoubtedly the most iconic repertoire of the composer’s native Bohemia, followed by the symphonic poem El Moldava by Smetana and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capricho español. To then enter Bizet’s Farandole Suite and end with Eduard Toldrà ‘s Empúries.
The appointment with the sea will no longer be held, in any case, on the beach of Sant Sebastià , at the end of Barceloneta, but on the breadth of Bogatell. And without previously arranged seats, with which everyone can bring their own or lie down on the sand to live the experience.
This event -which is unique in the world facing the sea- will be broadcast by BTV, which will deploy five cameras and a mobile unit in order to offer it live. And as of September 1 it will be available on the CaixaForum platform, with Fundació ‘la Caixa’ being a strategic partner in this endeavor to bring symphonic music closer to a diverse and broad audience for whom the temples of classical music seem far away and elitist.
An orbital stage 20 meters wide by 16 meters deep will be installed on the Bogatell spike looking towards Marbella. With an amplification system that will have repeaters every 200 meters, so that the sound reaches a capacity that is calculated for 10,000 people.