…a landmark event in Spanish music... Levante (Justo Romero)
Francisco Coll’s Enemigo del pueblo is a triumph at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, premiering on 5 November for a run of three performances conducted by the composer.
The Spanish-language opera – Coll’s first evening length stage work – adapts Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, with a text by Àlex Rigola, who also directed the world premiere production; it transfers to Teatro Real in February 2026, with Coll conducting. Enemigo del pueblo was commissioned by Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía and Teatro Real – the first new opera ever commissioned by Valencia and marking their 25th anniversary.
Cast in two acts and lasting around 80 minutes, it tells the story of a local Doctor who discovers corruption and malfeasance in a spa town, with far-reaching personal and political consequences. Baritone José Antonio López sang the Doctor, Marta Fontanals-Simmons his daughter Marta, and tenor Moisés Marín the town Mayor. Soprano Brenda Rae and baritone Isaac Galán played Petra and Mario.
Impressive. Breathtaking. Brilliant. The incandescent genius of Coll permeates every moment, note, and word of Enemigo del pueblo, a masterful opera….Avant-garde, certainly, but also passionately rooted in Spanish music…perhaps the most complete opera to emerge in the 21st century in the realm of Spanish-language music…Coll's talent approaches the operatic sensibility of geniuses like Verdi and Puccini, but also that of Debussy…Everything was outstanding…a landmark event not only in the twenty-year history of the Palau de Les Arts, but also in Spanish music…meticulous and expansive orchestration of a score brimming with effects of all kinds and energetic contrasts and dynamics: from the most lyrical melody to the most poignant and piercing rhythms and accents.
Levante (Justo Romero) 6 November 2025
…a rich score full of contrasts, where the most lyrical moments are accompanied by more introspective melodies, and the most tense and confrontational situations by music full of power, volume, and intensity…Coll shines especially in the symphonic passages that divide the various scenes and acts…the composer's skilful hand reveals a palette of orchestral colours of great beauty… a magnificent work…the applause and cheers are well-deserved…Rigola deserves double praise. First, for his libretto, which respects, while condensing and summarizing, the essence of Ibsen's work…As the director, he opted for a timelessness that suits the play perfectly.
Platea (Javier del Olivo) 6 November 2025
Coll had the support of a small but highly skilled group of soloists who grasped the concept perfectly and, even in the supporting roles—almost as demanding as the leads—met their challenges with remarkable ease.…highly developed harmonic structure, an extraordinarily rich use of the orchestral and choral colours, and, above all, a profound and highly mature dramatic sense, through which Coll masterfully portrayed the progressive emotional hardening of the characters…The entire musical discourse was accompanied on stage by a slow, twilight transformation of the space—Àlex Rigola's understated yet effective approach—which ultimately became bathed in a deep red during the second act.
Scherzo (Jesús Castañer) 6 November 2025
The best thing about it all is Coll's extraordinary music…The opera opens with a bullfighting pasodoble in 7/8 time, as clumsy as it is shrill and grotesque…the opera is punctuated from beginning to end by exquisite orchestral interludes, brimming with explosive gestures and syncopated melodies, magnificently orchestrated…Coll reserves for the final scene a melancholic duet between the Doctor and Petra, another of the most beautiful moments in the work, which includes a tribute to Robert Schumann…
El País (Pablo L. Rodríguez) 6 November 2025
Coll's music is equally disconcerting and fascinating…a fascinating mastery of musical narration and the articulation of dramatic tension…The work moves between a kind of neofolklorism and neo-verismo and radiates contemporaneity…as conductor of his own work, Francisco Coll was clear, precise, diligent, and inspired…[the orchestra] stamped their feet in approval from the pit. A rare occurrence, even for great conductors here… The team of singers lent their full talent…José Antonio López was the star as the Doctor, delivering a charismatic and vocally powerful performance. Moisés Marín was his counterpart as the Mayor, tackling the devilishly high notes with confidence and brilliance.
Opera Actual (César Rus) 6 November 2025
The Valencian music scene is experiencing a golden age with important milestones…One of these is the emergence of the dazzling figure of Francisco Coll…a work written with a modern, experimental, and uncompromising approach…Coll captivates us…a further deepening of his increasingly recognizable personal musical language, while simultaneously marking another step forward in his dramatic maturity and the harmonic complexity of the orchestra.
ABC (Joaquín Guzmán) 17 November 2025
…A vigorous and brilliant opening…The dense, sometimes microscopic, and meticulously detailed writing serves to unfold the plot…The characters speak through song…a rhythmic and discursive fabric that blends seamlessly with the orchestra… Its approach, more cinematic than that of a conventional opera, seeks a narrative continuum, as if the sound camera were gliding among the characters, recording every breath or thought…Coll rises as one of the most important voices of the present.
Ritmo (Joan Gómez Alemany) 7 November 2025
…complex music with simple roots…a score of timbral and formal richness with features of Spanish folk music…
El Diario (Manuel Muñoz) 6 November 2025
Enemigo del pueblo brought the Les Arts audience to its feet…The score is luminous and Mediterranean in tone, like the set design and the sound achieved by the orchestra…
Bachtrack (Daniel Martínez Babilon) 12 November 2025