Dudamel, Juan Diego Flórez, and Nadine Sierra: a trio to praise the "work of art" of 'West Side Story' at the Liceu

The Gran Teatre del Liceu closes its season this week with a double feature in a symphonic version of West Side Story , the musical that premiered on Broadway in 1957 with music by Leonard Bernstein and first appeared on the big screen in 1961 in a celebrated film by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. Venezuelan maestro Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the orchestra and the duo of Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez and American soprano Nadine Sierra . “It’s a masterpiece, a work of art that, like wine, becomes richer and is so brilliant that it travels through time and adapts. It’s a timeless work that is experienced with the same passion in any circumstance,” Dudamel stated at the presentation on Monday.

With this double performance, scheduled for this Tuesday and Thursday, the Liceu brings the season to a close. Tickets are almost sold out for this contemporary Romeo and Juliet , which captures, in the words of the institution's general artistic director, "disagreement in a universal lyrical dimension." Coincidentally , the roles of the two rival youth gangs are reversed, with the Latino characters played by American singers (Sierra takes on the role of María ) and the American by a Latino (Flórez plays Tony ). " You realize how Bernstein orchestrated and how he mastered Latin music. He was a genius," said the Peruvian composer, who championed the symphonic version of the score as equal to the classical repertoire.

After being photographed in the theater's auditorium just before rehearsal, Dudamel revealed that the music of West Syde Story has accompanied him since he was a child, when he played it in his country's Simón Bolivar orchestra, and that the work has only recently transcended the immigration debate and reflects the reality of more than just one country. "We are experiencing a great global dilemma. It is more obvious in the United States now because it is at the forefront," he said, referring to Donald Trump's aggressive anti-immigration policy. "It's not a problem as such: it's what happens to María and Tony. They are fighting for their territory, and something terrible has to happen for them to realize that they are one and the same," says Dudamel, who participated in the orchestration of Steven Spielberg's 2021 version .

Fascinated by Bernstein, the Venezuelan conductor opted for the composer's symphonic version, which he composed in 1984, almost 30 years after writing the score. It was the first time he conducted it, and it featured José Carreras and Kiri Te Kanawa. The composer, in fact, championed the score's symphonic vision and considered it, the Liceu recalls, to be on par with the classical repertoire. "He plays with Latin jazz, seeks rhythm, colors, and gives the work light. He knew what he was writing. It's New York under construction. You hear all the machines..." said Dudamel, marveling at the score. "He's a unique character. He was an educator, pedagogue, composer, a marvelous showman . He had it all, and everything he did was a joy. When I pick up a Beethoven score, I converse with him. And Bernstein is more alive than ever."

After triumphing this season at the Liceu with La sonnambula and La traviata (also at the Teatro Real in Madrid), as well as a recital, Sierra explains that she returns to the Liceu feeling almost as if it were her home and happy to perform a work that is very familiar to her, having started with musical theater before opera. And she grew up with that music and those values. “To be honest, there are a lot of people in my country who don't know who Leonard Bernstein is. I was born in 1988, and those were my role models. Now when I come back, it seems that my role models are Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian (model and influencer ) and little else,” she stated, admitting her despair with the current world of social media and TikTok. “I hope the new generations have a renaissance through music so they can change the world. If not, they will have a very difficult time.”

In addition to Flórez and Sierra, the cast is completed by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard ( Anita , Maria's confidant), baritone Jarrett Ott ( Riff , leader of the Jets) and baritone Milan Perišic (in the role of Bernardo , leader of the Sharks). The concert also includes a spoken part because, as Flórez points out, the musical is largely composed of text. And, as Sierra adds, they also take on the roles of actors. Unlike in the opera, they will use microphones as a complementary aid, Dudamel points out, but not as if it were amplification for a pop concert. “Musicals are performed many times a week, and in opera, with the effort, you need more time to recover. For opera singers, microphones are like forbidden fruit,” Sierra joked, highlighting Flórez's perfect English with an American accent, which he explained he acquired while studying in Philadelphia. “The character of Tony is very difficult: it has high and low notes. I told Juan Diego he has to record it.”