End of the festival, major festival, with a truly luxurious Falstaff, which, moreover, we will surely never forget, because it is the last opera directed by Josep Pons as artistic director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu. Therefore, a heartfelt farewell to someone who for 14 seasons has given us many memorable evenings. One of them, without a doubt, this third performance, the second of the first cast of Giuseppe Verdi's last opera. He said he was writing it just for fun. His librettist, the indispensable Arrigo Boito, said that Requiem and the previous opera, Othello. Now we will not enter into the diatribe of rankings, which go against the essence of art, but it is no less true that it does not have the appeal of many others by the master of Busseto in everyone's memory. In any case, more or less commercial, what is not in doubt is that it is an indisputable masterpiece. A good proof is the production of the Teatro Real, of La Monnaie de Brussels, of the Opéra National de Bordeaux and of the Tokyo Nikkita Opera Foundation, directed by Laurent Pelly, which we were able to see in Madrid six seasons ago.It is, without a doubt, a real privilege to be able to enjoy it with the best possible Falstaff, Luca Salsi, and without forgetting that it is Ambroggio Maestri who is also responsible for interpreting the famous character, so celebrated that he makes an appearance in three of Shakespeare's plays, in the two of Henry IV and at The Merry Wives of Windsor, immortalized by Orson Welles in cinema. Although it is a character as comical as it is pathetic, the simplest thing would be to turn him into a caricature, but Pelly hits the right tone and his characteristics become a very accurate portrait with much more depth and substance than could be guessed at first glance. Salsi, immeasurable, from beginning to end, from head to toe, brilliant with the declaration of principles of the braggart, Honor! Thieves!, an explosion of contrasts with which the function opens. The bar, set very high. The others did not lower the level, such as Lucas Maechem's Fenton, with the same dose of stage presence as his “opponent”. Serena Sáenz's Nannetta and Carolina López Moreno's Alice, impeccable and with the grace that both characters need. All compensated, they all become the perfect complement to each other, but it must be said that Daniela Barcelona's Quickly had added value. With each intervention, she was funnier than the previous one. A choral work with an almost perfect distribution of protagonism and with a production in which everything was just right. As expected, Josep Pons, had already tidied up any possible small imbalance from the opening night, offering an impeccable reading of a score with a lot of harmonic diversity, which concludes with the presence of the choir, as minimal as it is effective.

Return to the Gran Teatre del Liceu Manon Lescaut, by Puccini, and it does so with a truly unbeatable headliner: the splendid Asmik Grigorian, whose production is directed by Àlex Ollé and conducted from the pit by Josep Pons. This is the second musical version of Antoine François Prévost's novel, which was originally titled The story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut, The maestro from Lucca achieved his first major public success. A success that the Ricordi management, apart from his boss and the boss, weren't entirely convinced about, since it was the same story that Jules Massenet had staged ten years earlier with considerable acclaim. Although there are still those who say that Manon There's only one, and they're not referring to the one we're discussing; undoubtedly, this one has already earned its place among those that haven't been left out of the major circuits. Manon The Grigorian chant is an added value, both in terms of the dramatic aspect, which is essential in this case, and the vocal aspect, with an excellent, flawless performance.

We could give many examples that confirm the truth of the title, but just the last three operas I've seen these past few days immediately dispel any doubt. First was the Gotterdämerung Wagner's opera, where it becomes clear that the tragic and central protagonist is Brünhilde. And she is none other than Senta, who heads the cast of The Flying Dutchmanwhich we were able to enjoy at the Principal Theatre of Ciudad. To round off the week, at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the one who carries the banner is the one who gives the work its title, The Mona Lisa. A composition, the only known one by Amilcare Ponchielli, yet still an indisputable masterpiece that requires six top-level voices to reach its full potential, as was the case in the production between the Liceu and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, with stage direction by Romain Gilbert. Based on a drama by Victor Hugo, Angelo, tyrant of Padoue, to which Arrigo Boito, author of the librettos for Verdi's last and among his most highly regarded operas, under the pseudonym Tobia Gorrio, moved to Venice. An aspect that Gilbert has configured with complete and absolute fidelity, adding a few touches of the conmedia dell'arte, with the inclusion of Harlequin, Pantalone and Columbine, in addition to some narrative liberties, such as, among others, the final appearance of The Blind Woman, by Violeta Urmana, who still retains many of her qualities and, above all, the skill to accurately depict the essential characteristics of the character.

The cunning Guineueta, By Leoš Janáček, it might have seemed like a minor opera to open a season, that of the Gran Teatre del Liceu. In Czech, less than two hours long, and without the less-than-high-profile voices that, moreover, will line the majority of the titles in it. But whoever thought this way is seriously mistaken, and for quite a few reasons. To begin with, Leoš Janáček's music, a collage of delightful and highly varied factors and circumstances, which make each moment entirely appropriate to what is happening on stage. And again, although it's not news, from Josep Pons's baton emerged all the colors of a score filled with thousands of nuances and details of a complex yet exquisite simplicity. Only one small, however, at some point in the soliloquy of the gamekeeper, the male protagonist, the fragment that the composer chose to play on the day of his funeral, performed by baritone Peter Mattei, was overshadowed by the orchestra. However, the chromatic explosion was an unattainable musical kaleidoscope that placed this great little opera in its rightful place.