The symphonic tradition began before the Civil War with
the Pau Casals Orchestra. The Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i
Nacional de Catalunya [Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, the National
Orchestra of Catalonia] or OBC replaced it in the nineteen forties and
it currently plays host to one of the most important musical
institutions in the country: L’Auditori [The Auditorium].
The Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya
was founded in 1944 under the direction of the maestro Eduard Toldrà,
first under the name Orquestra Municipal de Barcelona [Municipal
Orchestra of Barcelona] and then that of Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona
[City of Barcelona Orchestra]. The Palau de la Música [Palace of Music]
was its headquarters for 55 years until it was transferred to l’Auditori
in 1999.
Rafael Ferrer succeeded Toldrà in 1962 and he was the musical
director until 1967. Since then, the OBC has had as its maestros Antoni
Ros Marbà, Salvador Mas, Franz-Paul Decker, Luis Antonio García Navarro
and Lawrence Foster, who became director in 2002. It was during the
latter directorship that the orchestra underwent one of the most
significant changes in its history, the change in headquarters, with the
opening of L’Auditori in 1999. The move was quite a challenge. On the
one hand, it was necessary to stabilize and increase the audience, part
of which decided to remain faithful to the Palau de la Mùsica. On the
other, the OBC would become the host of a new venue. The efforts proved
worthwhile. At present, the OBC has more than 10,000 subscribers, a
figure which puts it among the leading positions in the ranking of
European orchestras.
When Foster left in 2002, Ernest Martínez Izquierdo became the
musical director of the OBC. There was a new change of leadership in
2006, when Eiji Oue was appointed as the new director. In 2010 the OBC
placed its confidence in the young Pablo González.
Throughout its 60 years of history, the orchestra has programmed
numerous new productions and has made diverse recordings with the main
record labels. Its work has also received different awards. It has won
the Latin Grammy for the Best Classical Music Album on three occasions:
in 2000, with the CD ‘La Dolores’, in 2004 with the CD ‘Carmen Symphony’
and in 2006 with the CD ‘Rhapsody in Blue’. Highly-renowned conductors
and soloists have worked with the orchestra and, moreover, the OBC has
had continuous artistic activity abroad, with tours of different
countries in Europe, Asia and the United States.
The orchestra is committed to the promotion of classical and
contemporary music of all cultures and trends, giving special priority
to the diffusion of Catalan composers. Moreover, the orchestra has
created regular cycles in Lleida, Tarragona and Girona. At the same
time, it actively participates in several activities organized by
L’Auditori’s Education Service.
Another well-established orchestra in our country is the Municipal
Band of Barcelona. It was founded as a wind and percussion orchestra in
1886 and is the heir of an age-old tradition of musical groups which,
since the Middle Ages, has covered the solemn acts of the City Hall.
Between 1915 and 1939, the Municipal Band enjoyed one of its most
glorious epochs under the musical direction of Joan Lamote de Grignon,
who consolidated the group and made it better known among the
citizenship.
Since then, the Municipal Band has had a long history and will soon
celebrate its 125th anniversary. It has been based in different places
in the city and has been conducted by different batons. In its current
phase, it is the resident group in L’Auditori, where it puts on a
regular season of concerts. Since 2008, Salvador Brotons has been the
permanent conductor and, under his direction, the band has expanded its
repertoire with performances of newly-created works and has consolidated
its classical collection. It has also become better known as a result
of different concerts in Catalonia and Spain.
With more than 100 annual performances, it concentrates part of its
activity on L’Auditori but also plays in different districts of the
city, puts on auditions for schoolchildren, performs concerts in the
Grec Festival and takes part in official municipal acts. Its concert
activity includes new productions, thematic programmes and collaboration
with soloists and conductors, which keep up to date the musical
formation with the most tradition of the city.
A key to the consolidation of all these musical groups has been
L’Auditori, which opened its doors on 22 March 1999. The objective of
creating this public facility was to bring music and its values closer
to the citizenship as a whole. At the time of the opening, L’Auditori
consisted of Pau Casals Hall 1 and Tete Montoliu Hall 3. Later, in 2004,
it was enlarged with the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC)
[Higher School of Music of Catalonia], which further enriched the place
by providing new concepts such as education, research and musical
reflection. Oriol Martorell Hall 2 was opened in 2006 and, finally, the
Music Museum was incorporated into the building in 2007, thereby
allowing a redefinition of the objective of L’Auditori and consolidation
of the plurality of the music on offer. L’Auditori is currently
building Hall 4 for small format concerts and rehearsals.
The programming has also increased. The first period focussed on
adapting the OBC to the new venue and setting up L’Auditori Educa, which
has become an international point of reference in terms of the quality
on offer and the high number of participants. Since the first phase, its
growth and enlargement towards all the musical genres and formats has
been possible thanks to the availability of three fully-functional halls
but above all to the creation of new programmes (modern, chamber,
choir, jazz, ancient, world music, etc.) which have definitively
completed the offer of L’Auditori.
The future of L’Auditori is influenced by its will to continue
increasing its audiences, to make a commitment towards innovation, to
continue very closely linked to Catalan reality and to work on expanding
borders, something facilitated by its membership of the European
Concert Hall Organization (ECHO). The plurality of its music and the
diversity of its audiences show that it is an accessible and modern
place which offers quality programming. It is, in fact, the musical
setting with the highest audiences in the whole of Catalonia.