opera

Alexina B.
Alexina B. (2020-2022)
Opera for five singers, girls’ choir, sinfonietta and electronics

PREMIERED on 18 March 2023, within the season 2022/23 of the Gran Teatre del Liceu. Further performances on the 20, 21 and 22 of March 2023.
Music and video by Raquel García-Tomás
Libretto by Irène Gayraud
Stage direction by Marta Pazos
ARTISTIC PROFILE
Set design: Max Glaenzel
Costume design: Silvia Delagneau
Lighting: Nuno Meira
Coreography: María Cabeza de Vaca
Video: Raquel García-Tomás
Sound: Sixto Cámara
Production: Gran Teatre del Liceu
CAST
ALEXINA BARBIN / ABEL BARBIN: Lídia Vinyes-Curtis
SARA: Alicia Amo
POLICEMAN / MADAME P. / ALEXINA'S MOTHER / SISTER MARIE DES ANGES: Elena Copons
DOCTOR GOUJON / THE DOCTOR / DOCTOR H. / THE ABBOT / MONSEIGNEUR / THE JUDGE: Xavier Sabata
YOUNG ALEXINA / LÉA / CONVENT PUPIL / BOARDING SCHOOL PUPIL: Mar Esteve
CONVENT PUPILS / BOARDING SCHOOL PUPILS: Cor Vivaldi–Petits Cantors de Catalunya (Òscar Boada, conductor of the choir)
Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu
Conductor: Ernest Martínez Izquierdo
Project carried out thanks to the Fundación BBVA's Leonardo Grant for Cultural Researchers and Creators, 2020
ABOUT
The opera 'Alexina B.' is inspired by the life of Herculine Barbin, also called Alexina B., an intersex person born in 1838 in France.
Alexina detailed her life in an extremely moving account written in 1868 called Mes souvenirs. At birth, she was designated as female and grew up exclusively among girls: at first, as a pupil in a religious school and later as a young teacher in a boarding school. In this latter position, she fell in love with Sara, one of her fellow teachers. This romance shone through some years and led her to affirm herself as a man. After several confessions to religious authorities and medical examinations, the law accepted her gender as masculine and officially recognised Alexina as a man, changing her identity to Abel Barbin. But this gender change did not bring him happiness and, in his loneliness, Abel Barbin ended up committing suicide.
It should be noted that, in a society in which heterosexuality seemed the only valid option, Alexina assumed that she was a man from the moment that she started having sexual relations with Sara. This fact led her, paradoxically, to lose Sara, as in their world –that of the boarding school– only women were admitted.
This is a story of the struggle for an identity which takes place between masculine and feminine. The violence of the religious and medical institutions, which could not accept a duality of sex or gender, should not make us forget the great power of decision and self-affirmation shown by Alexina, whose life is emblematic for today’s intersex community.

Per Precaució
Per Precaució (2020)
Monodrama for soprano and harp
Per Precaució (2020)
PREMIERED ONLINE at the YouTube channel of the GRAN TEATRE DEL LICEU
from 15 to 22 November 2020
to be World Premiered (live) within the season 2021/22
Music by Raquel García-Tomás
Libretto by Victòria Szpunberg
Stage director: Marc Rosich
Musical director: Francesc Prat
Set designer & Lighting designer: Laura Clos “Closca”
Costume designer: Núria Llunell
Director assistant: Jordi Pérez Solé
Maria Dolors Aldea, Soprano
José Antonio Domené, Harp
Produced by the Òpera de Butxaca i Nova Creació, in collaboration with the Gran Teatre del Liceu.
Per Precaució belongs to the collective opera project Sis Solos Soles
Six brand new operas are sung in 6 different parts of the opera house Liceu by 6 different women
A young woman steps into a bathtub and slowly sinks into the water for what may be her last bath; a mature female singer, avid for beauty, finds happiness only in the contents of a miserable refrigerator; an old woman fights against the inevitable by refusing to be taken into a home; a girl anxiously awaiting a phone call is afraid to leave the house lest she is left without network coverage; a young Danae, with a knife hidden in her clothes, returns to the basement where her father abused her; and a teenage YouTuber tells her followers that this is her last message before the end of the world.
SIS SOLOS SOLES is a New and Pocket Opera project which unites six monodramas for female voice and instrumentalist into a single performance. It was commissioned from six different librettist-composer teams. While exploring the bowels of a theatre, the audience discovers, through a sort of intimate confession, the tales underlying the different voices which are trapped in their respective home environments.

Je suis narcissiste
Je suis narcissiste (2018-2019)
Opera for two sopranos, tenor, baritone, sinfonietta and electronics
Je Suis Narcissiste (2018-19)
PREMIERED AT THE TEATRO ESPAÑOL (Madrid), within the season of the TEATRO REAL (Madrid). Further performances in Barcelona, at TEATRE LLIURE.
6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 March 2019
12, 13 and 14 April 2019
Music by Raquel García-Tomás
Libretto by Helena Tornero
Stage director: Marta Pazos
Musical director: Vinicius Kattah
Set designer: Fernando Ribeiro
Lighting designer: Nuno Meira
Choreographer: Amaya Galeote
Costume designer: Pier Paolo Álvaro
Sound engineer: Sixto Cámara
Clotilde: Elena Copons
Giovanni: Toni Marsol
Women: María Hinojosa
Men: Joan Ribalta
Produced by the Òpera de Butxaca i Nova Creació, in collaboration with the Teatro Real, the Teatro Español of Madrid and the Teatre Lliure of Barcelona.
STARTING POINT
It appears to be a more than opportune moment to talk about narcissim. This type of narcissism that inundates everything; that inflates our perception of ourselves and encourages us to do everything in grand style, even if we may have forgotten the reason why we are doing it. Based on black humour, making no concessions, Je suis narcissiste offers us a person who organises cultural events and who lives each day as though it were an obstacle course existing between herself and her happiness. The events overwhelm her and people leave her immersed in a sensation of loneliness. Couples, pets, bosses, artists or funeral home employees appear to be a lot more interested in talking than listening. Given such a fecund cultural medium, it proves sufficient that the reaction is triggered -in the form of a dead cat- for her complete emotional collapse. Exhausted, she arrives at the office of a psychiatrist who embraces all kinds of theories as eccentric as he himself. The two of them will travel together through an experience of transformation (or not).
AWARDS
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Alícia Awards 2019 (Catalan Academy of Music) – Interdiscipline Award.
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Ópera XXI Awards – Best initiative to promote opera: Òpera Butxaca i Nova Creació (OBNC), in its 25th anniversary and for the world premiere of Je suis narcissiste by Raquel García-Tomás.
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Premios de la Crítica de Amics del Liceu – Special mention
NOMINATIONS
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International Opera Awards 2020 – Best World Premiere
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Max Awards 2020 (Premios Max)
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Best Music Composition (Raquel García-Tomás)
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Best Lyrical Show (Ópera de Butxaca i Nova Creació)
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Best Costume Design (Pier Paolo Álvaro)
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disPLACE
disPLACE (2015)
Opera for soprano, bariton, viola, cello and electroacoustics
disPLACE (2015)
PREMIERED AT THE MUSIKTHEATERTAGE WIEN 2015
1, 5, 6, 8, 11. September 2015
Composed by Joan Magrané (1st part) and Raquel García-Tomás* (2nd part)
Llibretto: Helena Tornero
Staging: Peter Pawlik
Stage design: Alexandra Burgstallter
Light design: Harald Michlits
Dramaturgy: Georg Steker
With: Elena Copons, Sébastien Soules, Benedek Nagy, Ensemble PHACE
* Special thanks to composer H. Serrano for gratefully allowing the use of the recording of Elle est belle, eh ? by accordionist Oroitz Maiz.
A production by MUSIKTHEATERTAGE WIEN
in conjunction with Òpera de Butxaca i Nova Creació, Barcelona
PRESS RELEASE (by Helena Tornero)
"disPLACE is an opera by composers Raquel García-Tomás and Joan Magrané Figuera, with a libretto by the playwright Helena Tornero.
The creation is a production by the Musiktheatertage Wien Festival and Opera de Butxaca i Nova Creació de Barcelona, which commissioned the author to write a libretto about the issue of gentrification.
The request was to write two stories dealing with the same issue from two different perspectives, as each story was to be created for a different composer. The author decided to write two stories separated in time but connected by the place where they took place: a flat at the centre of Barcelona.
Gentrification is a problem affecting thousands of districts of cities all over the world, Barcelona city being one of the cases where the situation is getting worse due to real estate speculation, the Spanish mortgage laws, the social impact of the economic crisis and the contradictions caused by current tourism politics.
disPLACE was premiered on 1st September 2015 in Vienna at the Festival MusikTheaterTage Wien and performed until the 11th September. It was staged by the director Peter Pawlik and performed by the Catalan soprano, Elena Copons, the French baritone, Sébastien Soules and the musicians of the Ensemble PHACE."
Promotional video of 'disPLACE'
Year: 2015
Music and video by Raquel García-Tomás
Special thanks to photographer Germán Caballero for allowing the use of his photographic material.
Promotional video of 'disPLACE'
Year: 2016
Video by Raquel García-Tomás
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go, ÆNEAS, go!
go, ÆNEAS, go! (2014)
Collective opera for tenor, mezzo-soprano, clarinet/bass clarinet and cello)
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Sets: Ulrike Reinhard
Costume design: Christina Kämper
Characterization: Anne-Claire Meyer
Movement: Èlia Lopez
Performers:
Æneas: Joan Ribalta
Europe: Anna Alàs
Clarinet: Christian Vogel
Cello: Cèlia Torres
Promotional video of 'go, ÆNEAS, go!'
Year: 2014
Music by Raquel García-Tomás, Octavi Rumbau & Xavier Bonfill
Video by Raquel García-Tomás
Promotional video of 'go, ÆNEAS, go!'
Year: 2014
Music by Octavi Rumbau
Video by Raquel García-Tomás
go, ÆNEAS, go! (2014)
Awarded with the BERLINER OPERNPREIS 14 von NEUKÖLLNER OPER und GASAG
Composers: (in order of appearance) Raquel García-Tomás, Octavi Rumbau and Xavier Bonfill.
Libretto: Spin Off Collective, based on an original idea by Cristina Cordero.
Musical direction: Diego Martin Etxebarria
Stage direction: Jordi Pérez Solé (La mama)
Video: Raquel García-Tomás

DIDO reloaded
DIDO reloaded (2013)
Collective opera for soprano, mezzo-soprano, clarinet/bass clarinet and cello)
Promotional video of 'Dido & Æneas Reloaded'
Year: 2013 | Running Time: 2:12 min
Ouverture from 'Dido & Æneas Reloaded'
Music and video by Raquel García-Tomás
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DIDO reloaded (2013)
Composers: (order of appearance) Raquel García-Tomás, Octavi Rumbau, Xavier Bonfill and Joan Magrané
Libretto: Cristina Cordero after the 'Dido and Æneas' by Nahum Tate.
Music Direction: Joan Magrané / Stage direction: Jordi Pérez Solé
Costume design : Isabel Velasco
Lighting: Sylvia Kuchinow
Movement: Anna Romaní
Performers:
Dido: Maria Hinojosa, soprano
Belinda: Anna Alàs i Jové, mezzo
Clarinet: Víctor de la Rosa
Cello: Cèlia Torres
Press comunication: Neus Purtí
Production: Dietrich Grosse, OBNC Barcelona
Collaborating with: BCN216 i Mondigromax
Promotional video of 'Dido & Æneas Reloaded'
Year of production: 2013 | Running Time: 1:45 min
Music by Octavi Rumbau and Xavier Bonfill
Video by Raquel García-Tomás

LSP 3.1 ['La serva padrona' rifatta]
LSP 3.1 ['La serva padrona' rifatta] (2009-2010)
Opera for mezzo-soprano, jazz singer, mime and quintet (flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, keyboards, violin and cello)
Conductor: Raúl Patiño
Stage direction: Pol López
Artistic direction: Raquel García-Tomás
Staging, lighting, attrezzo and video: newDivision
Costume design: La Ke Kose (Mireia Nogueras)
Masks and make-up: La máscara de Pandora (Susana Conde)
'Son imbrogliato io già'
Year: 2010 | Running Time: 2:49 min
from LSP 3.1 ['La serva padrona' rifatta]
Video: newDivision
'A Serpina penserete'
Year: 2010 | Running Time: 5:01 min
from LSP 3.1 ['La serva padrona' rifatta]
Video: newDivision
'Questa è per me disgrazia'
Year: 2010 | Running Time: 5:00 min
from LSP 3.1 ['La serva padrona' rifatta]
Video: newDivision
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LSP 3.1 ['La serva padrona' rifatta] (2009-2010)
World premiere: 15 May 2010. Auditori Eduard Toldrà, CMMB,Barcelona. "Dissabte Concert" Concert Series.
Ensemble: La escafandra Opera Company.
• Characters:
Uberto: Celeste Alías (jazz singer)
Serpina: Marta Valero (mezzo-soprano)
Vespone: Pol López (mime)
• Ensemble:
Ophélie Derieux (Flute), Víctor de la Rosa (Bb Cl. and Bass Clarinet), Toni Costa (Keyboards), Víctor Pérez (Violin), Cèlia Torres (Cello)