As this year marks the centenary of Giacomo Puccini's death, it is safe to say that his operas are ageing well, based on the box office figures. This is probably due to both musical and dramatic factors. On the one hand, the expressive musical resources employed by the composer, without preparation or preamble, always stepping on the emotional accelerator and seeking impact, place his procedures in a terrain very close to that of mid-20th century film music. In fact, we could say that...

Three artists who integrated the “excess” in their art or in their lives, together with the renaissance goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, providing the character and the subject, the composer Hector Berlioz bringing the music, and Terry Gilliam, film and stage director, on the staging are the parents of the spectacular and captivating production that is taking place at Liceu and which most probably will be the big event of the season. The vigorous start with a...