More than 40 concerts in 26 stages by half a thousand artists who are among the best of the international scene and local talent. This would be the still photo of the 5th edition of the Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival 2024 which is celebrated from March 5 to 24 and not only in the Liceu, the Palau de la Música or the Auditorium, but in the rest of the city , with that free offer designed by Víctor Medem under the name Ciutat de Clàssica and which this year features artists such as the SenArts Wind Quintet (with musicians from the Liceu Symphony), the clarinetist Lorenzo Coppola or the cellist Arnau Rovira. Music in unthinkable places such as the viewpoint of the Glòries tower or the Gabriel García Márquez Library… and eight more spaces have been added to that this year.
Among them, the Picasso Museum, which had not yet had the pleasure, and which will open the Neoclassical room for the occasion, designed for listening. Also the Faculty of Pharmacy of the UB, with capacity for 700 people and whose architecture is already interesting. The library network is expanding, with the Montbau and the Montserrat Abelló. And the Ateneu La Bòbila and two basilicas are added: that of the Màrtirs Just i Pastor and the oratory of Sant Felip Neri, where the Montserrat Torrent organ is being completed.
This musical event that seeks to put Barcelona on the mental map of fellow European citizens, emerged in 2019 at the proposal of Barcelona Global, then directed by Mateo Hernández, who brought the Liceu, the Palau de la Música and L’Auditori to collaborate, counting on the complicity of the then Councilor for Tourism, Xavier Marcé, today Councilor for Culture and Creative Industries. Hence, this spring event with music has experienced a rise in category, since Marcé has not hesitated to take the matter into his portfolio –270,000 euros is the City Council’s contribution (200,000 for the large halls and 70,000 for the 23 free concerts) – and Mateo Hernández has also been appointed general director of Turisme de Barcelona.
“Support for the city’s international projection campaign is something that Culture had always done, so it is an act of normality to make that integrated and work from where it belongs,” noted the politician after the group photo on the roof of the Liceu.
The programming of the three large theaters looks in the context of the festival: the Liceu premieres The Messiah in Mozart’s version of Händel’s original in a montage by the capital Bob Wilson that in itself would be worth a visit to the city. L’Auditori, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in March, opens with a tour de force by cellist Alisa Weilerstein in Beethoven’s Sonatas for Cello and Piano and shows off the OBC in Brahms’s 4th and in Daphnis et Chloé , in addition to hosting the always-awaited Teodor Currentzis and Àdam Fischer within the Ibercamera season. The Palau includes an example of each of its cycles: the Quartet Casals in the chamber one and Jordi Savall with the Passion according to Saint John (the most international Catalans), plus the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, although not yet conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, who extends his break this season. Or Andrè Schuen’s recital or the season’s concert by the Franz Schubert Filharmonia.
For Mateu Hernández, “it is a gift for the city that the institutions agree and assume leadership. From Turisme de Barcelona the only thing we have to do is highlight what happens here. Because it is a complementary offer to the desire of any music lover to come to Barcelona. And you can also go to a library, a museum, Casa Batlló or a district to see extraordinary things with a unique story, such as Schönberg’s itinerary or that of the women composers proposed by the Ciutat de Clàssica. Proof that Barcelona’s offer for visitors is not false, but a city.”
Last year, the Spring Festival edition was echoed in international media by up to 50 publications in media such as Time Magazine, Tagesspiegel, Libération or The Good Life.
The Barcelona Obertura website, which was launched in 2022, went from 40,000 visitors to 167,000 in January 2024, registered mainly from England, Germany, France and the United States.
Free tickets to the Ciutat de Clàssica must be reserved in advance at oberturabarcelona.com/ciutat-de-classica from February 21 at 10 a.m. for the concerts that will be held from March 6 to 16. Those that go from 17 to 23 will be available from March 8 at 10 am. With this system, those responsible for the competition aim to guarantee attendance.
