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Anything you can do I can do higher, louder, longer Barcelona
Gran Teatre del Liceu
02/18/2026 -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492: “Giunse alfin il momento...Deh, vieni non tardar” [1]
Jacques Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann: “Scintille, diamant” [2]
Giacomo Puccini: La rondine: “Che il bel sogno di Doretta” [1] – La bohème: “Quando me’n vo” [1]
Hector Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust, opus 24: “Devant la maison” [2]
Charles Gounod: Roméo et Juliette: “Dieux ! Quel frisson court dans mes veines...Amour, ranime mon courage” [1]
Gioachino Rossini: Guillaume Tell: “Sois immobile” [2]
Gustave Charpentier: Louise: “Depuis le jour” [1]
Giuseppe Verdi:Rigoletto: Duet (Gilda & Rigoletto), Act II [1, 2] – Nabucco: “Dio di Giuda!” [2] – La traviata: Duet (Violetta & Germont), Act II [1, 2]
Gaetano Donizetti:L’elisir d’amore: “Prendi, per me sei libero...Il mio rigor dimentica” [1] – Don Pasquale: “Quel guardo il cavaliere...So anch’io la virtù magica”
Vincenzo Bellini: I puritani: “Ah! per sempre” [2]
Jules Massenet:Thaïs: “Méditation”
Nadine Sierra [1] (soprano), Ludovic Tézier [2] (baritone), Véronique Werklé (piano)
V. Werklé, N. Sierra, L. Tézier (© Montserrat Boix)
As Nadine Sierra walked out onto the stage of the Liceu, over two thousand people sighed and fell in love. The cocktail dress, (gold and silver sequined tulle over white silk), the strappy heels, (Louboutin?), and best of all the smile. Or is that The Smile? People in the far reaches of the theatre, almost hanging from the ceiling – and in the Liceu that really is possible, there’s a seat in every nook and cranny – palpably melted under the sheer wattage of Sierra’s radiant beam.
It is just as well that Sierra can follow it up with a stunning soprano. From the opening notes of pianist Véronique Werklé’s crisp introduction, Sierra launched into Susanna’s Act IV aria from Figaro with style. Her recitative immediately drew us in to the dramatic situation, the aria was poised. Even in recital she works the stage, her performance full of movement and vivacity.
A hard act to follow, but baritone Ludovic Tézier is no slouch and took his place by the piano, suave in black tie. He chose “Scintille, diamant” from Offenbach’s Hoffmann to launch his evening. One realises the full magnificence of his voice when unburdened by orchestra. It is massive – smooth and rich.
And so the concert progressed, with the singers taking turns on the platform. Sierra impressed with volume herself, her Poison Aria from Roméo et Juliette starting with the imploration “Dieu !” that rang thrillingly around the auditorium. As she faced them, the audience in the stage boxes must have felt their wigs lift! Was this the same soprano who melted us as Puccini’s Magda (Rondine) and sparkled in her Donizetti arias? Perhaps best of all was her “Depuis le jour” from Louise, taken incredibly slowly and displaying Sierra’s immaculate legato. It’s a tricky aria in concert as without dramatic context there are so many pauses where the soprano has to engage us without singing, the pianist bearing the brunt of the work. Sierra was a beacon of calm; languorous and in love (...and more of that later...).
Tézier displayed wit and humour with lightness of touch (La Damnation de Faust) and thundered alarmingly as Nabucco, a recent new role for him. Perhaps his finest moment was in his aria from I puritani, with its long phrasing and elegant cadenza. Pianist Werklé really displayed her skill in the introduction to the aria, full of grace.
Sierra and Tézier joined forces for two Verdi duets from Rigoletto and Traviata, both essentially father/daughter relationships outlined with care by the singers. Here, there artistry came to the fore over vocal thrills as the emotional tussles moved back and forth between the characters in each duet.
Werklé had her own moment in the spotlight with a very fine “Méditation” from Thaïs, much appreciated by the audience. She worked well with both singers who obvious appreciated her support, Sierra touching Werklé’s shoulder in thanks each time she left the stage.
And then some encores. By this point Sierra, sizzling in a dramatic scarlet column, (think Madame X), thanked the audience for its loving support and then proudly announced that her partner Marc André would join her onstage. Two thousand hearts broke as André walked out. He is a double bass player and together they performed “Bésame mucho”, with him plucking then bowing the bass and her sustaining a sultry vocal line. The duo sizzled, the audience sighed yet again. Tézier’s riposte was a real rarity, the baritone aria from Leoncavallo’s Zazà, “Zazà, piccola zingara”, short and gracious. Then a final duet, Mozart’s “Là ci darem la mano”, the very definition of smooth, and eventually an ecstatic audience let the performers leave the stage. A wonderful evening of generous excess.
Francis Muzzu
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