Preparing for the ‘La Gata Perduda’ showcase at Liceu
Susannah Fraser (UAB) – 5th November 2021
In October 2021, our technical partners Centrum Wiskunde (CWI) made their way from Amsterdam to meet with members of Vicomtech and UAB at Liceu opera house Barcelona ahead of the ‘La Gata Perduda’ (The Lost Cat) community opera showcase, due to take place in the grand foyer of Liceu on March 19th 2022.
The leaders of Work Package 2 made their way to Liceu to prepare for the implementation of the Traction toolset in the Barcelona community opera trial. Across several days of activities and meetings, members were given a backstage tour of the theatre and visited the grand foyer where the opera showcase will take place next year. They also met with the costume department who will be actively involved in the co-creation process, working alongside local design school Escola Massana.
A meeting was held between Liceu staff, community choir coordinators, participants and Catalan broadcaster TV3. In the meeting the La Gata Perduda professionals got a first glimpse of one of the choirs performing part of the opera for the first time.
A first glimpse of ‘La Gata Perduda’
Pablo Cesar (CWI) presented the Co-creation Space, a private social media tool developed by Traction which will allow the choirs and professionals to communicate about the community opera, share content and actively collaborate throughout the co-creation process. The showcase in March 2022 will serve as an opportunity to engage with the participants and to test and promote the Traction toolset functionality and on a grand scale ahead of its evaluation.
It will be the first time that all of the professionals involved in La Gata Perduda will visit and perform at Liceu together with the Raval community choirs, many of whom were sought via social entity Tot Raval; made up of around fifty social entities, schools, cultural institutions, trade associations and people linked to Raval who work in a network to improve social cohesion and quality of life in the neighborhood.
The La Gata Perduda libretto formed the basis of the community creation process, drawing upon interviews carried out by librettist Victoria Szpunberg, during which she spoke with people who live in Barcelona’s inner-city Raval district. In collaboration with Traction, composer Arnau Tordera, professionals at Liceu, and the Raval community choirs; La Gata Perduda will debut on the main stage of Liceu opera house in October 2022.
Those lucky enough to be in Barcelona this weekend will get a first glimpse of La Gata Perduda community choirs performing to the public during the 19th edition of ‘Festival Raval(s)’, a cultural festival created by members of the community.
Find out more about La Gata Perduda:
