Help me choose an event.

[Bruckner is God]

So I will be in Barcelona for a long weekend with my mom. This is a treat to her and I thought it would be nice to include a concert.  There is not too much going on at the time we will be there, it is basically just two alternatives, and both are on the same night.
The first one is a concert with the Ardeo Quartet, playing Bartok and Schubert, and the second is a opera and flamenco performance. I cannot decide, so I ask you.. what would you choose? Thank you very much.

[Dax]

Whereas a string quartet playing Schubert and Bartok might be heard in many countries, the same might not be so true for flamenco.

When in Spain . . .

[Brian]

I agree with Dax. Also, everyone is different, but my mom would HATE listening to the Bartok quartets. (She does love Schubert. But she would choose flamenco.)

[ritter]

The question you make is not easy to answer, I'm afraid... Barcelona is most definetly not a main destination for flamenco (for that, Madrid and, of course, Andalusia offer much more), and the Ópera y Flamenco show appears to be a typical crossover concoction (even if it is choreographed by well-known flamenco dancer Rafael Amargo, and has been quite successful in the Catalan capital).

The Ardeo Quartet appears to be on the rise, and the program is appealing IMHO.

I add another component to the balance: the Ardeo performs in the modern L'Auditori, a fine venue designed by star-architect Rafael Moneo (but which is really not that different from numerous concert halls built in Europe over the past 20 years). Ópera y Flamenco, on the other hand, commutes between the non-descript Teatro Poliorama and that marvel of modernist architecture, the Palau de la Música Catalana (designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, and opened in 1908).

My advice (FWIW): if you catch the flamenco guys in the Palau, go for it. If not, I'd stay "mainstream" with the string quartet.

This is the interior of the Palau:

[Bruckner is God]

Thanks for the advices. I am leaning towards the SQ concert, as I hear there are better flamenco to be seen elsewhere in Barcelona, and the opera part of the Flamenco and Opera performance can be of very mixed quality.

[Mirror Image]

Flamenco all the way. Nothing against the quartets of Bartok or Schubert, but flamenco is just so cool.

[The new erato]

Bartok all the way. Probably the most interesting quartets ever written (depends on which one of course) but I would give up a lot to see a first rate quartet playing no 4 or 5.