ALISA WEILERSTEIN, DANIELE GATTI, KIRILL GERSTEIN, PATRICIA KOPATCHINSKAJA, ÁDÁM FISCHER, JEAN-GUIHEN QUEYRAS, EUN SUN KIM, DENIS KOZHUKHIN, JORDI SAVALL, NICHOLAS COLLON, YULIANNA AVDEEVA, AUGUSTIN HADELICH, MARTA GARDOLIŃSKA, ANDRÉS OROZCO-ESTRADA, LUCAS DEBARGUE, CUARTETO CASALS, VIVICA GENAUX, JUANJO MENA, ANTOINE TAMESTIT, HAGEN QUARTET, JAMES EHNES, LUCIE HORSCH, FLEUR BARRON, MATTHIAS PINTSCHER, ETHAN IVERSON, MARIUS NESET, FRED FRITH, AND MANY MORE
L’Auditori is now proposing a two-theme diptych, articulated through over 500 concerts ranging from major symphonies to new music. One of these tackles the dichotomy of “Power or Revolt” (2023-2024 season), while the other is “Against Nature” (2024-2025 season), all of which are concepts that invite reflection on the enormous challenges facing society in the 21st century.
This new season, “Power or Revolt”, features a programme that explores the themes of human relationships, struggle, class differences, competition and the monopoly of violence. Other subjects touched on during the season include the ways in which modern-day states are organised, nationalism, identity, memory and dialogue, exile and migration, tradition and modernity, counterculture and the dominant codes and values, the monarchy, the church and laicism, and order and freedom.
25 YEARS OF L’AUDITORI
OVER 10,000 CONCERTS
L’Auditori will be celebrating its 25th anniversary during the 2023-2024 season. Over the past 25 years, L’Auditori has staged a total of 10,520 concerts attended by 8,567,441 people, reflecting L’Auditori’s mission to endorse the idea of access to music for everyone, and which aims to carry on forging links with the general public.
A CELEBRATION OF CATALONIA’S MUSICAL HERITAGE
Another of the important events scheduled as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations relates to the unwavering and indefatigable dissemination of Catalonia’s musical heritage. Thus, in an unprecedented move, Ludovic Morlot, principal conductor of the OBC, will be including in each one of his concerts (and without exception) works by our country’s leading composers, such as Baltasar Samper, Frederic Mompou, Josep Soler, Jordi Cervelló, Xavier Montsalvatge, Eduard Toldrà and Joan Lamote de Grignon. Furthermore, the institution’s inaugural concert will include a performance of Joan Guinjoan’s Fanfàrria to open the season, evoking memories of that historic concert when the work was premiered in Sala 1.
CREATIVE WORK: THE CURRENT SCENE
This quarter-century celebration will come to embody a multifaceted, manifestly collaborative snapshot of music creation in our country. Thus, in addition to its efforts to promote our heritage, L’Auditori aims to shine a light on the true protagonists, the artificers responsible for creating new works of music that will guarantee the future of contemporary classical music: Josep Maria Guix, Oriol Saladrigues, Núria Giménez Comas, Joan Magrané, Octavi Rumbau, Raquel García-Tomás, Salvador Brotons and Hèctor Parra. All of the above have received commissions that will be premiered over the course of the coming season.
BARCELONA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (OBC)
CELEBRATING THE GREAT SYMPHONIES
L’Auditori was created 25 years ago as a grand symphony hall. In the 2023-2024 season, the OBC – under the baton of its principal conductor Ludovic Morlot (while also continuing with Marta Gardolińska as principal guest conductor) – will be showcasing the great symphonies of all time. This goal is not only the raison d’être of the orchestra itself, it also establishes Sala 1 Pau Casals as a lodestar for the music-loving public.”
The season will include many of the great symphonic masterworks, such as Beethoven’s “Eroica, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique”, Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony, Haydn’s Creation, Verdi’s Requiem and Brahms’ Fourth Symphony.
GUEST ARTISTS
The OBC will be inviting as guest artists some of the most important figures from today’s international circuit. Big names such as violinists James Ehnes, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Augustin Hadelich, cellists Alisa Weilerstein, Narek Hakhnazaryan and Jean-Guihen Queyras, pianists Kirill Gerstein, Lucas Debargue and Denis Kozhukhin, and top conductors such as Nicholas Collon, chief conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Eun Sun Kim, Music Director of the San Francisco Opera. Also appearing will be other conductors better known to L’Auditori audiences (though no less noteworthy), including Juanjo Mena and Matthias Pintscher.
One of the high points of the season will be a special concert featuring Danielle Gatti conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. This is only one of the many unmissable upcoming appearances by leading conductors such as Ádám Fischer and Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
NEW OBC RECORDINGS
MAURICE RAVEL - THE COMPLETE ORCHESTRAL WORKS
In the 2023-2024 season, the OBC and Ludovic Morlot are launching an outstanding project to record all of Maurice Ravel’s orchestral works on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Six CDs of orchestral music by Maurice Ravel will be released on L’Auditori’s new label between now and the end of 2025, recorded at L’Auditori with leading English musical producer Mike George.
These recordings have been prompted by the Ravel Edition project, an initiative by an international group of musicologists and well-known artists, all of whom are recognised experts in Ravel’s works, and who have formed a reading committee to pool their experience and knowledge. Ludovic Morlot is one of the members of this committee, along with artists such as François-Xavier Roth, George Benjamin and Cristian Măcelaru.
CATALAN MUSIC AND FEMALE COMPOSERS
The OBC’s new recording strategy on the new L’Auditori label will be in evidence in the 2023-24 season, the result of a carefully considered change leading to three distinct series of recordings: Catalan music, female composers, and the complete orchestral works of Ravel, as already mentioned.
The Catalan music series, which already includes an album of songs for voice and orchestra by Robert Gerhard, will also feature a recording of symphonic works by Ricard Lamote de Grignon. Two albums dedicated to the music of Bernat Vivancos and Hèctor Parra will also be released, directed by Ludovic Morlot, plus a number of digital recordings of works commissioned from composers Miquel Oliu, Pablo Carrascosa Llopis, Joan Magrané, Luis Codera Puzo and Octavi Rumbau, premiered by the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra.
The series featuring the work of female composers, launched with the release of orchestral music by Núria Giménez-Comas and Sofía Martínez, will include a digital single by Canadian composer Cassandra Miller, and an album focusing on the work of Raquel García-Tomás, which will be recorded during the 2023-24 season.
BARCELONA SYMPHONIC BAND
MASTERPIECES IN THE ORIGINAL REPERTOIRE FOR BAND
The Barcelona Symphonic Band, under the baton of its principal conductor, José R. Pascual-Vilaplana, will be performing some of the great original masterworks for concert bands, ranging from Ida Gotkovsky’s Concerto pour Grand Orchestre d’Harmonie to Symphony No. 1 “The Lord of the Rings” by Johan de Meij, the subject of the Band’s Retrat d’Artista for the 23-24 season, and Joan de l’Ós by Ricard Lamote de Grignon, not forgetting James Barnes’ wonderful Ninth Symphony or Percy Grainger’s The Power of Rome.
The Band will also be performing exceptional interpretations of some of the best-known symphonies, such as Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, John Rutter’s Magnificat, Holst’s The Planets and Stravinsky’s Firebird. The BMB will also perform world premieres such as Albert Guinovart’s Simfonia Gaudí, as well as collaborating with some of the great soloists on the circuit (such as Judith Jáuregui) and featuring Paquito D’Rivera, one of the leading figures in the world of Latin jazz, as their guest in what will be an unforgettable opening concert.
RECORDINGS
The Barcelona Symphonic Band is one of the leading permanent wind ensembles on the international scene. Since 2021, working with conductor José R. Pascual-Vilaplana, the Barcelona Symphonic Band has undertaken a recording project supervised by German producer Markus Heiland. It includes major works in the repertoire for band, featuring international composers such as Philip Sparke, Franco Cesarini and Bert Appermont, heritage pieces, with recordings of works by composers Miguel Asins Arbó, Carles Suriñach and Amando Blanquer Ponsoda, and newly commissioned work by contemporary composers such as Fayos-Jordán, Xavier Pagès-Corella, Albert Guinovart and Salvador Brotons. This reference collection of band music will be recorded on L’Auditori’s own label over the next few seasons
CHAMBER MUSIC
INTOCABLES
The chamber music programme includes the presentation of a new cycle – Intocables – which brings together four exceptional soloists who will be making guest appearances with the OBC as well as performing chamber concerts. These will take the form of snapshots of the artists by which L’Auditori selects several big names from the international circuit who will be visiting Barcelona at different times.
Among the leading artists in this first edition is pianist Denis Kozhukhin, who will be performing Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with the OBC and grand sonatas by Liszt and Schubert. Also performing will be the cellist Alisa Weilerstein, who will play Prokofiev’s virtuoso Symphony-Concerto, dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, and will also perform the amazing feat of playing Beethoven’s entire repertoire of cello sonatas in one single concert. As if that were not enough, violinist Sergei Dogadin and cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan will perform Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, respectively. In a separate concert, they will jointly tackle two of the most bravura works for this combination of instruments – Ravel’s Sonata and Kodály’s Duo. Last but not least, the cherry on the cake will be a concert of works by Haydn and Beethoven by the legendary Hagen Quartet.
COMPLETE SHOSTAKOVICH STRING QUARTETS BY CUARTETO CASALS
L’Auditori is also planning another historic achievement: staging performances of all of Shostakovich’s string quartets featuring Cuarteto Casals. Six unmissable evenings over the course of the 25th anniversary season, as part of the theme “Power or Revolt”.
CHAMBER MUSIC MARATHON: REVOLUCIONS
The chamber music marathon scheduled for December 2023 based on the concept of “Revolucions” presents a number of pieces with an emphasis on heritage works and support for local musicians. The artists appearing will include Albert Cano Smit, Roger Padullés and Tomeu Moll-Mas, Trio Fortuny, the Azahar Ensemble and the pianist Javier Laso.
EARLY MUSIC
EL SO ORIGINAL
Resident artist Jordi Savall and his universal project So Original will be playing works by two renowned composers, Haydn and Vivaldi, as well as other works that explore the season’s particular themes. One of these focuses on the sea, as a medium of exchange and cultural dialogue, while the other (which is highly relevant to our present time) deals with war and peace. The early music season will also include such sublime works as Handel’s opera Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, in which Dani Espasa leads an outstanding ensemble that will feature the mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux.
FESTIVAL LLUMS D’ANTIGA
The Festival Llums d’Antiga will be presenting two contrasting concerts by the Ensemble O Vos Omnes, L’Auditori’s resident choir: Bach’s six motets, which will be performed at the inaugural concert, and Carmina Chromatica, a stimulating programme of madrigals and motets by Mateo Flecha, Nicola Vicentino and Orlande de Lassus. Forma Antiqva will present Antoni de Literes’ Baroque opera Los elementos (The Elements), with an outstanding cast. The festival is completed by a programme featuring El Gran Teatro del Mundo dedicated to the milieu of Jean-Baptiste Lully, mediaeval music specialists the Sollazzo Ensemble, and virtuoso recorder player Lucie Horsch.
NEW WORK
FESTIVAL SUBSÒNIC
True to its pledge to bring music in all its forms to increasingly diverse and discerning audiences, L’Auditori regularly presents works of new music. Consequently, the coming season will see the inauguration of the new Subsònic festival, a multidisciplinary event that explores the experience of music beyond sound.
Topics covered include set design, video creation, lighting and sound installations. Music conceived as a vehicle, in which the latest technological resources are used to develop five ideas whereby various disciplines converge in one single artistic creation. Subsònic welcomes such diverse artists as the mediaeval music ensemble Sollazzo, the electronic music duo b1n0, the visual artists’ collective Cube, the new music ensembles Frames Percussion, Synergy Vocals, Contrechamps, CrossingLines, the dance company Mal Pelo, the early music vocal group Cantoria and the French sculptor-performer Olivier de Sagazan.
By way of an inauguration for the festival there will be a performance of Steve Reich’s iconic work Music for 18 musicians, which has not been performed in Barcelona since 2011, the year it was heard for the first time in the Catalan capital, and also in L’Auditori.
SAMPLER SÈRIES AND FESTIVAL MIXTUR
As for the world of new music, L’Auditori has also made a firm commitment to work more closely with Festival Mixtur, in which it will be presenting three workshops where audiences can hear classic works ranging from György Ligeti with the Quartetto Maurice to premieres of pieces by Joan Magrané, Ramon Humet and Hèctor Parra, and featuring such diverse artists as the Ensemble O Vos Omnes, countertenor Carlos Mena and the actor Pere Arquillué.
Other works in the Sampler Sèries include Focus Gerard Griséy performing Frames, the GIO Symphonia and the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) Symphonic Band, which will be presenting – for the first time in Barcelona – two supreme works of French spectralism: Le Temps et l’Écume and the monumental Les Espaces Acoustiques, featuring the violist Jonathan Brown as soloist.
JAZZ & POP
SESSIONS
ETHAN IVERSON TRIO, MARIUS NESET QUINTET, AVISHAI COHEN TRIO, HENRY NOW, MARCO MEZQUIDA TRIO, MAGÍ SERRA, ARNAU OBIOLS, NÚRIA ANDORRÀ, BARCELONA ART ORCHESTRA, GORKA BENÍTEZ TRIO, ÒSCAR LATORRE, MARTÍN LEITON QUARTET, OMAC AND ANNA FERRER, ALBA CARETA GROUP, LOS FUMEROS
SIT BACK
Nils Frahm, Nico Roig, Oso Leone, Belda & Sanjosex, Maestro Espada, Colleen, Amaia Miranda, Ernest Crusats
ESCENES
LA SULLIVAN (MIREIA CALAFELL, POL GUASCH, BERTA SUBIRATS), CIA MIQUEL BARCELONA, BELÉN BARENYS AND BERTA PRIETO
museu de la música
MUCH MORE THAN JUST A KEY COLLECTION
On the subject of exhibitions, and continuing with its goal of becoming a centre for reflecting and thinking about music, the Museu de la Música is organising two major exhibitions focusing on two revolutions that transformed the world of music: sound recording and the emergence of polyphony.
The exhibition “Escoltar amb les Mans. Suports obsolets, missatges efímers” (Listening with hands. Obsolete supports, ephemeral messages) highlights the way in which different analogue sound recording techniques have influenced both the experience of listening and that of music creation. This exhibition investigates the limitations of conservation and the consistency of material supports in the case of things ephemeral, and it will be open to the public until December.
In March, the Museum presents “Time Regained”, a projection of the ideas of the art historian Aby Warburg and his Atlas Mnemosyne (which he devised in an attempt to explain the history of the memory of European civilisation through images) into the world of early music and the revolutions that facilitated the emergence of new ways of conceiving music. This project, devised by Björn Schmelzer (the man behind Graindelavoix) and Margarida Garcia, examines the validity of some of the breakdowns and breakthroughs that have helped to shape what we today consider as “music”.
TRÀNSITS
Cultural diversity through music will also be placed centre stage in the form of a second edition of Trànsits, which will focus on the liturgical rites and ceremonies of the various religious communities existing in Barcelona, in which music is a central feature.
This season – and taking the example of ceremonies and rituals affected by the forces of power and revolt, we will be celebrating Reformation Day with the Lutheran community, who sing a liturgy that includes several Bach cantatas. We will also be transported to the other side of the Mediterranean by the Gnawa community, who will invite us to take part in a lila or purification ritual in which sound and music are central features. Trànsits will also explore key events in the liturgical calendars of other communities, such as the Murids from Senegal and the Filipino diaspora in Barcelona.
EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
One of L’Auditori’s flagship projects, and a European benchmark, is its ongoing series of activities for children, embracing the diversity of the music its concerts feature. In addition to the projects that have made it a success, such as "Handel & Friends", "Ma Me Mi... Mozart!" and "Monstres", there will be a brand new show by the BMB called "Bandàstic", based on the world of the clown, with music ranging from classical to contemporary, encouraging children to appreciate its humour, poetry and emotions, under the musical direction of José R. Pascual-Vilaplana with stage management by Guillem Albà.
