Overview

• The ceremony, the first at the Gran Teatre del Liceu since 2017, drew over 2,000 guests, including President Salvador Illa and other senior officials.
• Princess Leonor praised laureates for choosing “the difficult path” with an ethic of well-done work while King Felipe VI thanked the foundation for its role in strengthening ties between Catalonia and the rest of Spain.
• Six awards recognized projects in medicine, sustainable architecture, mathematics and energy research, from low-cost neonatal incubators to AI tools for cancer detection.
• Under Hansel Cereza’s artistic direction and an original score by Aday Cartagena, the gala opened with a two-piano performance by Alba Ventura and Gonzalo Villarroel and wove multimedia water motifs throughout.
• Around 100 ANC demonstrators slipped past a Mossos d’Esquadra cordon at Plaça de Sant Jaume to protest outside the Liceu, underscoring enduring political tensions in Catalonia.