【こぼれ話】オペラ劇場最初の客は植物　ロックダウン緩和進むスペイン

【バルセロナＡＦＰ＝時事】会場の照明が暗くなり、幕が上がり、演奏が始まる──スペイン・バルセロナ中心部にあるリセウ大劇場で通常通り公演が再開したことを示すのは、あとは客席だけ。この日、オペラハウスの座席を埋め尽くしていたのは、約2300本の植物だ。（写真はリセウ大劇場で、植物を前に演奏する弦楽四重奏団）
　リセウ大劇場は数か月間にわたり営業を停止していたが、ユニークな形で再開日を迎えた。舞台に音楽が響くのは３月中旬以来。弦楽四重奏団がジャコモ・プッチーニの「菊」の美しく軽快なメロディーを奏で、１階席、２階の特等席、升席の赤色の座席には２２９２本の植物が並んだ。青々とした緑が客席の柱や建材にあしらわれた華やかな金色と対照的だ。
　植物が座席に着くことは、ロックダウン（都市封鎖）下で自然が人々から居場所を取り戻したことのメタファーだという。
　コンサートの発案者は、コンセプチュアル・アーティストのエウヘニオ・アンプディア氏。ロックダウン下で都市の喧騒（けんそう）が静まって鳥のさえずりがよく聞こえるようになり、家の周りの植物がぐんぐんと成長したことから考えついた。コンサートによって、持続可能性や、自然との関係について考えてもらうことが狙いだという。
　アンプディア氏は報道陣に対し、「雑草が広がるようにリセウ大劇場を緑で占拠し、自然のあふれる場所にして、人がいないときでも生き生きとした所に変えてはどうだろうと思った」と語った。
　コンサートはリセウ大劇場のウェブサイトで生配信され、視聴者は自宅でも植物に音楽を聴かせることができた。
　公演終了後、植物は全て、この数か月間、新型ウイルスと最前線で闘っている医療従事者らに寄付された。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/24-13:08）

The lights dim, the curtain rises and the music begins -- all signs normal life has returned to Barcelona's Liceu opera house, were the seats not filled with some 2,300 plants.
After months of silence, the emblematic opera house located in central Barcelona decided to throw open its doors with a unique performance -- a metaphor for the months of lockdown when nature took back space from people.
Seated in the plush red seats of the stalls, the dress circle and the boxes were an eye-catching array of 2,292 ficus trees, palms and Swiss cheese plants, their verdant green contrasting with the ornate gold columns and mouldings of the auditorium.
On the stage, which has stood empty since mid-March, a string quartet played the beautiful lilting melodies of Puccini's Crisantemi -- or The Chrysanthemums.
The idea of the concert came to conceptual artist Eugenio Ampudia during the lockdown when the normal bustle of urban living was silenced, the sound of birdsong was much clearer and the plants around his house grew more vigorously.
The idea was to have people reflect on the concept of sustainability and their relationship with nature.
I thought why don't we go into the Liceu like weeds, take it over and let nature start growing everywhere and turn it into something alive even when there are no people, he told reporters.
It was like a visual poem, both a subtle metaphor but one which makes us smile, said the Liceu's artistic director Victor Garcia de Gomar.
The concert was streamed live on the theatre's website so those who wanted to could put it on for their own plants at home to hear.
We are at the end of an era and that means that we have to change certain paradigms, Ampudia said.
We don't live in the same world as 90 days ago, and this means we have to reflect on everything that we do.
I think that all these plants somehow know in their inner being, in their cells, their photosynthesis that they have been at this concert, he said.
After the concert, all the plants were to be donated to healthcare professionals who have worked on the frontline fighting the virus over the past few months.