On 12 March in Darmstadt, the composer Agustí Charles premiered his opera “LByron, un estiu sense estiu“ (LByron, a year without a summer), commissioned by Darmstadt’s Staatstheater and scheduled for the 2010/2011 season. In Spain it will be premiered at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona on 25, 27 and 28 June 2011, with the participation of the choir of the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Orquesta BCN216. In Germany, on the other hand, it will be performed on nine occasions over the coming months. Both the Liceu Theatre and the Teatros del Canal are involved in this production, which will also be staged in Madrid. Marc Rosich's libretto sets the action in Europe after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. While he was losing on the battlefield, the Tambora volcano in the Pacific Ocean erupted, releasing a cloud of toxic ash that covered the entire planet and perturbed the order of the seasons. The cloud, accompanied by violent storms, reached Geneva in the summer of 1816, leaving an unusual group of English exiles trapped in their summer home: Lord Byron, Percy B. Shelley, his lover Mary, Mary’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont, and Dr John Polidori. A gathering in the middle of a "year without a summer", which gave rise to two of the most important texts in Gothic literature: Frankenstein and The Vampire. Orchestra, choir and voices construct an all-enveloping sound space that situates the listener at the centre of the opera, on the stage, which also serves as an important instrument, with even the percussion located in the hall itself, and including subtle amplification that enables the public to delve into the subconscious of the characters and deduce their obsessions. Source: docenotas.com