19 June 2025

The 2025 Peace Concert raises over €60,000 at the Liceu for Red Cross humanitarian causes

The musical event at the Gran Teatre del Liceu was a collective call condemning all forms of conflict and violence, and a clamor for universal values.
Participating artists included Jakub Józef Orliński, Helen Charlston, Ofelia Sala, and conductors Maria Mauri, Daniel Mestre, Jordi Mora, Pedro Pardo, Josep Pons, Antoni Ros Marbà, and Daniel Tarrida.
From this year forward, this event will be held annually as an act of solidarity and peaceful resistance in the face of increasing armed conflicts and people affected by war worldwide.

Barcelona, June 3, 2025. The Peace Concert, which took place on June 2 and was organized by the Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation in collaboration with the Gran Teatre del Liceu, has raised over €60,000 through ticket sales and Row 0, all of which will go entirely to Red Cross humanitarian causes in Catalonia to support peacebuilding and repair worldwide.

This initiative, which began in 2022 as a response to the outbreak of armed conflict in Ukraine, will now be held annually in Barcelona by the Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation as an act of solidarity and peaceful resistance against the increase in conflicts worldwide. At that time, the final fundraising figure was very similar to this edition’s.

“Three years later, we have decided to continue with this concert so that it becomes a regular fixture. In addition to raising funds for the Red Cross, the act of pausing for a day and sitting in an auditorium like the Liceu to reflect on the current moment and on peace is also a necessary exercise,” stated Marc Busquets, artistic director of the Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation.

For his part, Josep Quitet, president of the Red Cross in Catalonia, emphasized that: “This great musical and charitable success of the Peace Concert would not have been possible without the full conviction and involvement of the Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation, and the collaboration of the Liceu and other public institutions, sponsors, and the more than 350 musicians who contributed altruistically. It has been a truly moving and emotional experience.”

More than 350 volunteer musicians

The concert began with El cant dels ocells, performed by cellist Candela Puigbò, an emblematic traditional Catalan melody that has become a symbol of peace and universal freedom, and continued with a carefully selected repertoire of works by great composers such as Vivaldi, Purcell, Händel, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Schumann, Gluck, and Ollé i Sabaté. A musical journey spanning centuries of history through pieces that appeal to universal concepts such as peace, freedom, and brotherhood among peoples, giving this concert profound human meaning.

In total, 350 musicians, 7 conductors, and 8 soloists participated in this concert. Singers Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor and ambassador for this edition, who made his Liceu debut), Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano), and Ofelia Sala (soprano) collaborated.

Additionally, conductors Maria Mauri, Daniel Mestre, Jordi Mora, Pedro Pardo, Josep Pons, Antoni Ros Marbà, and Daniel Tarrida participated by conducting the Orchestra and Choir for Peace, formed by volunteer musicians and singers from the country’s leading musical ensembles, such as the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and Catalonia National Orchestra (OBC), the Gran Teatre del Liceu Symphony Orchestra and Choir, the Orfeó Català, the Franz Schubert Filharmonia, the Byron Choir, among others.

As Helena Mora, president of the Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation, highlighted: “Victoria de los Ángeles was a deeply committed artist and, whenever possible, participated in benefit concerts. For the Foundation that bears her name, it is an honor to continue her legacy in this regard as well and to see that Music continues to help and convey to society a message of reflection and support for people. It is impressive to see a stage filled with people with the intention of transmitting this message and helping in the best way they know how.”

Thus, all musicians and singers have been involved altruistically, without receiving any compensation, so that the entire proceeds will go entirely to the humanitarian organization’s actions.

The Peace Concert has also been made possible thanks to the joint effort of cultural institutions that collaborate selflessly, assuming production costs, providing spaces, and contributing technical and human resources.

The event was also attended by Salvador Alemany, president of the Gran Teatre del Liceu; Jaume Duch, Minister of EU and Foreign Affairs of the Generalitat of Catalonia; María del Carmen García-Calvillo Moreno, Government Delegate in Barcelona; Andreu Felip, director of Territorial Services in Barcelona for the Department of Culture; Pedro Antonio Pizarro de Medina, general chief of the Civil Guard in Catalonia.

Audiovisual Resources

Acknowledgments

Assocació Franz Schubert, Bachcelona, Banda Sinfónica de Badalona, Conservatori del Liceu, Cor Atlàntida, Cor Byron, Cor Canta, Cor Capella Gramalla, Cor Gracià, Cor Madrigal, Cor Noctes, Cor veus blanques, Cor Victoria de los Ángeles, Coral Càrmina, Coral Polifònica de Barcelona, El cor canta, ESMUC, Festival Castell de Peralada, Franz Schubert Filharmonia, Fundació Ibermúsica, Fundació Pau Casals, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya (JONC), Kamerata Castellar, Les Arts Florissants, Orquestra i Cor del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (OBC), Orquestra Simfònica Victoria de los Ángeles, Palau de la Música Catalana, Orfeó Català, Orquestra de València Palau de la Música de València, Polifònica de Puig-Reig, Teatro Real de Madrid, Universitat de Barcelona, Vozes, Angencia Lyric Travel Solutions, Alma Hotels, Badia Advocats, Catalonia Hotels, Roll Over Beethoven.

Ara, El Periodico, Grupo Godó, Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, Radio 4, Radio Clásica, TRESC Cultura.

Pablo Assante, Josep Borràs, Jaume Cortacans, Mark Hastings, Maria Mauri, Daniel Mestre, Pedro Pardo, Alba Roca, Daniel Tarrida, Matthias Weinman.