The Uceli Quartet perform for an audience made of plants during a concert created by Spanish artist Eugenio Ampudia and that will be later streamed to mark the reopening of the Liceu Grand Theatre in Barcelona on June 22, 2020 following a national lockdown to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. (LLUIS GENE / AFP)

BARCELONA - Barcelona’s Liceu opera house 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.

Opera 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

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 before the concert.

“Can we extend our empathy? Let’s begin with art and music, in a great theatre, by inviting nature in,” he said inside the eclectic, neo-classical venue that dates back to the 19th century and is one of Europe’s largest opera houses.

After the concert, which was live streamed here, the 2,292 nursery plants placed on every seat were to be donated to frontline health workers.

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Musicians rehearse at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain, June 22, 2020. (EMILIO MORENATTI / AP)

The Concert for the Biocene was made possible by the ending of Spain’s state of emergency on Sunday. It featured a string quartet playing Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s “Chrysanthemum”, chosen for its requiem-like sadness.

The Liceu observed all the usual rituals of a regular musical performance, with announcements given over loud speakers that the concert was about to begin.

Both before and after the six-minute performance, the four elegantly-dressed musicians respectfully bowed to the “audience”.

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 nations worst-affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with 28,323 deaths and 246,272 cases so far.