Why is it important to involve local communities directly in the creation of an opera?

Liceu aims to produce a new opera every three years through community- driven processes, fostering collective participation to bring the genre closer to all audiences. Part of the LiceuApropa social program, it was created with the firm belief that art is a powerful tool for social transformation and personal growth, promoting inclusion and strengthening community bonds through culture.

Community creation ensures that the district is fully engaged throughout the artistic process—from dramaturgy, musical and choral performance, and technical production to communication—through an ongoing dialogue with professionals from various disciplines. The goal of this project is to bring together the professional opera world and the local community to create a new opera. It is important to directly involve local communities in the creation of an opera if we want to make the community feel that the artistic project belongs to them. It is the way to make each artistic project unique and extraordinary. The idiosyncrasy of each project is strongly linked to the community that represents it.

How could this project reshape the way opera is created and shared with new audiences?

The Gran Teatre del Liceu is an institution with more than 175 years of history. If there is one thing we have learned, it is to make opera, connecting ourselves in the international circuit, with professionalized and highly specialized collaborations that involve operatic co-productions with other opera houses in the world.

Now, for the second time, we want to demonstrate that another way of making opera is possible. One that opens up new forms of collaboration, participation and co-creation, involving non-professional agents or those far from the lyrical sector. Liceu pilot project goes beyond the creation of an opera with the district’s residents. It also represents a process of community mediation over three years, establishing collaborations around artistic creation and culture with organizations, facilities, and local residents. In this way, it aims to create spaces of interaction between the territory and the Liceu, allowing people to get to know the theatre up close and immerse themselves in operatic creation through attendance as an audience, activities, visits, and the LiceuApropa and LiceuAprèn programs (social and educative programs).

What kind of impact do you hope this will have on both participants and the wider community?

The community production initiative with the aim of contributing to the development of citizens’ cultural rights —equality, diversity, territorial rebalancing, and cultural democracy— as well as promoting equity in the participation and enjoyment of opera. Each process lasts three years, from its conception to its performance in the Grand Hall of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, becoming a significant challenge for the city and a step forward toward an institution sensitive to the realities of the 21st century.

This project seeks to generate a transversal transformation both inside and outside the Liceu, promoting processes of active participation and community synergies. One of its main pillars is the social cohesion of the territory through artistic creation, alongside the approach of opera to a diverse population and community involvement.

At the same time, it offers Liceu professionals an enriching and unique experience that strengthens the bond between art and society. With a strong commitment to community creation, the project gives a voice to the citizens of the area, highlighting their memory, multiculturalism, language, and sounds.

Active participation extends to all areas of creation: from musical and dramaturgical writing to choral, musical, and theatrical performance, as well as technical and scenic construction. This involvement makes the community the protagonist of an opera that reflects their identities and sociocultural contexts.