The Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of Catalonia (; ) is a

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

based in

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a pop ...

. Since April 1999, the Orchestra has had its headquarters at

L'Auditori L'Auditori () is a modern building of 42,000 square metres designed by the architect Rafael Moneo, opened on 22 March 1999, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is in the centre of the new pole of urban development of Plaça de les Glòries, wh ...

. Prior to that, from its foundation to 1998, the orchestra was resident at the

Palau de la Música Catalana Palau de la Música Catalana (, ) is a concert hall in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed in the Catalan ''modernisme, modernista'' style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for Orfeó Català, a ...

History

In addition to the Orquestra Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu, founded in 1847 and devoted to

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

and

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, Barcelona has had several symphonic orchestras since 1888. From 1910 to 1924, a private-based Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona gave its concerts in the Teatre Eldorado, led by

Joan Lamote de Grignon Joan Lamote de Grignon i Bocquet (; 7 July 1872 – 11 March 1949) was a Catalan Spanish pianist, composer and orchestra director. Life Joan Lamote de Grignon was born and died in Barcelona, the son of parents of French descent, Lluis Lamote d ...

. After it, the city's principal orchestra was the Orquestra Pau Casals (1920–1936), conducted by

Pau Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

(1936–1939), both the orchestra and society were banned and Casals went into exile in France. In 1944, a new Barcelona civic orchestra – the current Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona – was founded with the name of Barcelona Municipal Orchestra, created by the City Council (Ajuntament de Barcelona) and promoted by the Catalan conductor and composer

Eduard Toldrà Eduard Toldrà Soler (; Vilanova i la Geltrú 7 April 1895 – Barcelona, 31 May 1962) was a Spanish Catalan composer and conductor. Toldrà played an important role in the Culture of Barcelona. In 1944 he founded the Barcelona Symphony Orch ...

. Toldrà, through his leadership, helped to consolidate the orchestra's presence very early in the cultural life of the city. Barcelona has since had a regular cycle of symphonic concerts with the collaboration of the main national and foreign performers and with the aim to make classical music reach the greater public and especially to spread the work of Catalan composers. After Toldrà's death in 1962, Rafael Ferrer became the head of the orchestra until 1967, when

Antoni Ros-Marbà Antoni Ros-Marbà (; born 1937 in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat) is a Spanish people, Spanish conducting, conductor and composer from Catalonia. He began his musical education at the Conservatori Superior de Música de Barcelona. He studied conducting ...

succeeded him. From this moment, it received the name of Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona (City of Barcelona Orchestra, or OCB) until the constitution of the Consortium made up of the

Government of Catalonia The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...

and Barcelona City Hall, in the 1994–95 season, which gave it the current name of Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of Catalonia), known as OBC. In 1994–1995 season a Consortium made up of the

and Barcelona City Council was constituted. In September 2015,

Kazushi Ōno (born 1960) is a Japanese conductor. He is currently music director of the Brussels Philharmonic and of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of New National Theatre Tokyo. Biography Ōno studied at the Tokyo Nation ...

became principal conductor of the OBC, with an initial contract of three years. Ōno concluded his tenure as OBC principal conductor at the close of the 2021-2022 season. In November 2021, the OBC announced the appointment of

Ludovic Morlot Ludovic Morlot (born 11 December 1973) is a French conductor. Early years Morlot was born in Lyon on 11 December 1973. As a youth, he trained as a violinist. He later attended the Royal Academy of Music, and began his studies in conducting in Lo ...

as its next principal conductor, effective with the 2022-2023 season, with an initial contract of four seasons. The OBC has made recordings for such labels as

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Auvidis Auvidis was a record label founded in 1976 by Louis Bricard. Along with its subsidiaries, it was acquired in 1998 by Naïve Records. During its existence, Auvidis acquired a number of subsidiary labels, such as Unidisc; the traditional and world ...

, Koch,

Claves Claves (; ) are a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of short, wooden sticks about 20–25 centimeters (8–10 inches) long and about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in diameter. Although traditionally made of wood (typically rosewood, ebony ...

and

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records, which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about ...

Music directors / principal conductors

* Eduard Toldrà (1944–1962) * Rafael Ferrer (1962–1967) *

(1967–1978) * Salvador Mas (1978–1981) *

(1981–1986) *

Franz-Paul Decker Franz-Paul Decker (26 June 1923 – 19 May 2014) was a German-born conductor. Life Decker was born in Cologne, Germany, where he studied at the Hochschule für Musik with Philip Jarnach and Eugen Papst. He made his conducting debut at the ag ...

(1986–1991) * Antonio García Navarro (1991–1993) *

Lawrence Foster Lawrence Foster (born October 23, 1941) is an American conductor of Romanian ancestry. Early life Foster was born in Los Angeles, California, to Romanian parents. His father died when Foster was three years old. He was later adopted by his step ...

(1996–2002) * Ernest Martínez Izquierdo (2002–2005) *

Eiji Oue is a Japanese conductor. Biography Oue began his conducting studies with Hideo Saito of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. In 1978, Seiji Ozawa invited him to spend the summer studying at the Tanglewood Music Center. There he met Leonard Bern ...

(2006–2010) *

Pablo González Bernardo Pablo is a masculine given name, the Spanish form of the name Paul. People * Pablo Acha (born 1996), Spanish archer * Pablo Alarcón (born 1946), Argentine actor * Pablo Alborán (born 1989), Spanish singer * Pablo Aimar (born 1979), Argentine ...

(2010–2015) *

(2015–2022) *

(2022–present)

Premières performed

As the city's main orchestra, the OBC has performed many world

première A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the wikt:debut, debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. Play (theatre), play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a Performing arts#Performers, performer in that work. History R ...

s of musical compositions, including the following: * 1948

Xavier Montsalvatge Xavier Montsalvatge i Bassols (; 11 March 1912 – 7 May 2002) was a Spanish composer and music critic. He was one of the most influential figures in Catalan music during the latter half of the 20th century. Biography Life Montsalvatge was bor ...

's ''Simfonia mediterrània'' (Mediterranean Symphony). * 1952

Jaume Pahissa Jaume Pahissa i Jo (also Jaime; October 8, 1880 – October 27, 1969, in Buenos Aires, Argentina) was a Spanish-born composer and musicologist. His students included Ana Serrano Redonnet. The personal papers of Jaume Pahissa are preserved in the ...

's ''El camí'' (The way). * 1960 Xavier Montsalvatge's ''Càntic espiritual''. * 1961

Frederic Mompou Frederic Mompou Dencausse (), or Federico Mompou (16 April 1893 – 30 June 1987), was a Spanish composer and pianist. Life Early years Mompou was born in Barcelona to the lawyer Frederic Mompou and his wife, Josefina Dencausse, who was of ...

's ''Variacions sobre un tema de Chopin'' for orchestra. * 1963 Xavier Montsalvatge's ''Desintegració morfològica de la xacona de J. S. Bach'' (Morphological disintegration of J.S. Bach's chaconne), and other of the composer's works. * 1964

Joaquim Homs Joaquim Homs i Oller (; 21 or 22 August 1906 – 9 September 2003) was a Spanish composer. Homs was born in Barcelona, and studied cello until 1922. Afterwards, he educated himself in composition before studying on and off with others from ...

' ''Invention for orchestra''; other Homs works have had their premieres by OBC: ''Presències'' (1967), ''Brief symphony'' (1972), ''Nonet'' (1979)... * 1974 Josep Soler's opera-oratorio ''Oedipus et Iocasta'' (many Soler works have been first performed by the OBC). * 1997

Salvador Brotons Salvador Brotons (Barcelona, July 17, 1959) is a Catalan composer, conductor, and flautist. He is the conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in Vancouver, Washington and, since the 2022-2023 season, has also been the principal conductor of ...

' oratorio ''Stabat Mater''

References

External links

Official Catalan-language homepage of the OBC

Official English-language homepage of the OBC
{{Authority control Orchestras in Barcelona

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

1944 establishments in Spain Musical groups established in the 1940s Spanish symphony orchestras