Barcelona’s opera house reopened after a three-month closure due to lockdown measures with an exclusive concert for a green audience.

A string quartet performed Puccini’s 1890 movement Crisantemi (“Chrysanthemums”) to 2 292 plants, an idea from visual artist Eugenio Ampudia to examine our relationship with nature and the impact the lockdown has had on public spaces. The performance was also streamed live online.

“We thought that we had to share with our audiences all across the world this symbolic way of showing that we as an audience were deprived of being audiences. All of us were quite excited, a little bit nervous. It’s funny too, everybody had a smile during all the preparations. The simple act of making sound, having music back in the hall was a reaffirmation of life”, - said Víctor García de Gomar, the artistic director of the Liceu.