Orfeó Català

The Orfeó Català is one of the country’s leading amateur choirs. The choir has over 130 years of history, and was founded in 1891 by Lluís Millet and Amadeu Vives to share choral repertoire from Catalonia and around the world, with the utmost artistic standards. Pablo Larraz is the current choir director, while Pau Casan is the choir pianist. Simon Halsey has a close relationship with the choir as the key guest conductor and ambassador for Palau choirs. The Orfeó Català is based at the Palau de la Música Catalana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Orfeó Català has performed some of the most recognisable works in choral repertoire, starring the first-ever performances in Spain of important works such as Bach’s Mass in B minor and Haydn’s The Seasons. The choir has been led by a range of internationally renowned conductors: Richard Strauss, Camille Saint-Saëns, Pau Casals, Zubin Mehta, Frans Brüggen, Mstislav Rostropovich, Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel, Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Kirill Petrenko and Thomas Hengelbrock, to name just a few.

Recent years have included performances of Considering Matthew Shepard by Craig Hella Johnson, in which the Orfeó Català starred in the European première under the baton of Simon Halsey; Beethoven’s oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, with the Palau Cor de Cambra and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel; the centenary celebration of the first performance in Spain of the St. Matthew Passion, with soloists from the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Orquestra Simfònica Camera Musicae and the Orfeó Català children’s choir, the Cor Infantil, all conducted by maestro Simon Halsey; and Oltra mar by Kaija Saariaho, together with the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya and under the baton of Anna Maria Helsing. Also noteworthy are concerts with the Bamberg Symphony, performing the Berliner Messe by Arvo Pärt under the baton of Jakub Hrůša; concerts with the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, conducted by Marzena Diakun and performing Music in Common Time by Caroline Shaw; and concerts with the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, in the début première of Variations on ‘El cant dels ocells’. Fantasy for choir and organ, composed and conducted by Jörg Widmann.

In terms of international appearances, stand-out performances include the choir’s 2022 concert at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris, singing Puccini’s Messa di Gloria alongside the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg under the baton of Gustavo Gimeno; and the choir’s performances alongside the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2023, conducted by Kirill Petrenko, in a historic four-concert run: at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, and at Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, with a rendition of Mozart’s Coronation Mass. The choir has also given performances at the Konzerthaus in Vienna and the Calouste Gulbenkian concert hall in Lisbon; toured Italy with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Daniele Gatti; and given performances in London on three occasions: in 2015 at the Royal Festival Hall, and in 2017 and 2019 at the Royal Albert Hall for the Proms, alongside the Cor Jove, the London Symphony Chorus and the London Symphony Orchestra, performing a rendition of William Walton’s oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. The choir toured China in 2018, and in 2019 the Orfeó Català went on tour with Gustavo Dudamel and the Munich Philharmonic, together with the Palau Cor de Cambra, performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.