Concert "War Requiem" by Benjamin Britten
20 June 2027 · 17:00
Gran Teatre del Liceu, el Raval, Ciutat Vella
Some works are not merely heard: they are breathed, suffered and finally become an act of collective memory. Benjamin Britten's War Requiem belongs to that rare group of creations which, since its birth in 1962, were conceived not simply to move audiences, but to open a lucid wound in the world's conscience. By presenting it at the Liceu, Jonathan Nott begins his tenure as principal conductor with an act of profound symbolism: a tribute to the power of music as a space for denunciation, compassion and hope. Nott, recognised for his analytical clarity and a sensitivity capable of uniting precision and transcendence, enters this monumental score with the conviction that Britten did not write a requiem for the dead, but for the living. His approach, always attentive to detail yet open to dramatic breathing, brings out the work's two souls: the solemn Latin liturgy —with its centuries-old resonance— and the devastating poems of Wilfred Owen, the young poet killed in the First World War. Between these poles unfolds a struggle that is not military but moral: the struggle to preserve humanity amid horror. The Liceu thus becomes a sonic temple in which three worlds converge: the massive…
Source: Ajuntament de Barcelona · checked on 8 September 2026