A huge ““Ohhhh” rose from the sand of San Sebastià beach when the first notes of the famous soundtrack of the film began to sound Harry potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The score of the boy wizard was preceded by the disturbing one of Shark -forever associated with the shark- or Superman’s. Thousands of people literally packed the sand in Barcelona and the promenade on Friday to listen to the concert by the Liceu Symphony Orchestra and Choir conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. The Venezuelan musician, director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, chose to dedicate a monograph to his friend and composer John Williams, of whom he said that we all associate his melodies with some moment in our lives.
With a powerful ability to attract people, Dudamel managed to make the beach too small – it was difficult to find a free palm of sand – and the “little madness” that he proposed of uniting Barcelona, beach and Williams worked like a charm. “Willians is 91 years old and is the person who has been nominated the most times, 52, and has received five Oscars. The music he has written is historic and we are going to make a wonderful journey of adventure, magic, terror and optimism,” he said just before starting the performance. The concert, with a dozen songs, did not forget ETto Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park either Star WarsThe cherry on the cake was put by two soloists: the cellist Pablo Ferrandez, that touched Memories of a Geisha and the violinist Maria Dueñas who performed Shindler’s list.
The musical initiative, which is already becoming a tradition, is part of the program Concerts on the beach The concert is organised every year by the three major music institutions in the city – the Liceu, the Palau de la Música and the Auditori – with two concerts on two consecutive days. This year, the project was part of the cultural programme of the America’s Cup and the investment was greater. A huge giant vault, located at the foot of the Hotel Vela, over a 400-square-metre stage, protected the musicians and their instruments. Several screens placed along the promenade replicated the concert. Armed with towels, sarongs, tupperware and refreshments, the attendees, Barcelona residents and also many tourists, sat on the sand to listen to the orchestra.
A regular in Barcelona, Dudamel has performed several times in Barcelona this year and has just brought his own special show to the Liceu Fidelio The concert was also performed by deaf-mute actors to bring the music of Beethoven, who was deaf, closer to those who cannot hear. The director wrote an open letter of thanks to the city weeks ago and this Thursday the mayor Jaume Collboni gave him the honorary title that considers him a friend of Barcelona. “I already was, but now I am officially a friend,” he joked during the concert in which he did not stop speaking (“I will believe in aliens if they are as tender as the one in ET”) and addressing the public. “It has been an infinite pleasure. I have never been able to conduct this music before. And now to conclude: Star Wars”, He said, and then several characters from the saga came out on stage playing with their swords. The concert was ending and people started to raise their phones to take videos and photos. The night ended with humor and just as it began: with the music of Superman and a violinist from the orchestra pretending to be the superhero. The concert was broadcast by Betevé and Channel 33.
30,000 people attended the OBC concert on Thursday, also on the same stage.
The response from the public was massive, as it was on Thursday when the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and the National Orchestra of Catalonia offered the first concert, which started when people were still swimming on the beach or doing paddle surfing. Indifferent, various gymnasts continued to do their acrobatics and pirouettes on the bars on the sand, a hand’s breadth from the stage, until the City Police ordered them to stop. On Friday, the area was already closed. Under the direction of the French Ludovic Morlot, director of the OBC, 2,000 artists, including musicians and singers, performed an extensive repertoire inspired by the Olympic hymns. The concert started with the Coronation Hymnby Georg Friedrich Händel and continued with several themes from the Carmina Buranaby Carl Orff. The conductor appeared on stage to announce that the opening of The Flying Dutchmanby Wagner, was dedicated to Barceloneta and that the fourth movement of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was a tribute to brotherhood.
What matters most is what happens closer to home. To make sure you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
KEEP READING
Along with mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham and baritone Josep Ramon Olivé, tenor Freddie De Tommaso and soprano Serena Sáenz, regulars at the Liceu, took part in this fourth movement. They then returned to sing arias from La Traviata and of TurandotThe concert ended with the performance of the song Barcelona, composed by Freddie Mercury for Montserrat Caballé on the occasion of the Games and sung by Sáenz and Arnau Tordera, vocalist of the group Obseses and author of the opera The Lost Cat.
You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya on Facebook and Xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter
