Liceu Opera in Barcelona reopens, but exclusively for plants!

Barcelona's Liceu opera reopened its doors on Monday for the first time in over three months to hold a concert - exclusively for a quiet, leafy audience of nearly 2,300 house plants.

Organisers said the intention was to reflect on the absurdity of the human condition in the era of the coronavirus, which deprives people of their position as spectators.

"Nature advanced to occupy the spaces we snatched from it," executive producer Eugenio Ampudio said on stage at an afternoon rehearsal, where 2,292 nursery plants already occupied every seat before the evening concert. After the concert, to be live streamed on YouTube, the plants will be donated to frontline health workers.

The "Concert for the Biocene" was enabled by the end of Spain's state of emergency on Sunday. It was to feature a string quartet playing Italian composer Giacomo Puccini's "Chrysanthemum", chosen for its requiem-like sadness.

The Liceu said it hoped the show would reaffirm the value of art, music and nature and serve as a roadmap for returning to normal activity after the pandemic.

Spain has been one of the worst-affected nations, with 28,323 deaths and 246,272 cases of the COVID-19 disease so far.