L’AUDITORI

L'Auditori is the national institution in charge of spreading musical culture, with all its richness and plurality, in Barcelona, Catalonia and the world, through its own, stable and integrative project. L'Auditori is also home to the OBC Orchestra, the Municipal Band and the Music Museum. The fundamental pillars of the institution are innovation, excellence, social responsibility, education and the dissemination of musical heritage.

L'Auditori is a reference musical facility in southern Europe, integrating tradition in the context of musical modernity. It stands out in innovation, quality and collaborative initiative and has become a paradigmatic example of constant improvement of instruments in residence; of artistic and creative ambition. It is also a mandatory stop for artists on the great international circuit, a permanent dynamizer of the country's music scene and a European leader in educational projects and in bringing music closer to the most disadvantaged groups.

In 2007, L'Auditori was the first hall in Spain to be part of the European Concert Halls Organization (ECHO), an association that brings together the main European auditoriums. As a member, he collaborates in programs to promote new talent with the ECHO Rising Stars circuit. Also part of ECHO are such prestigious venues as the Barbican Center London, Cité de la musique –Philharmonie de Paris, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Kölner Philharmonie, Musikverein Wien, Palau de la Música Catalana, Philharmonie Luxembourg , Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Paris and the Wiener Konzerthaus.

L'Auditori has been home to the Barcelona and National Symphony Orchestra of Catalonia since 1999 and the Barcelona Municipal Band since 2007, two historical formations that play and have played a fundamental role in Barcelona's musical life since the century XIX

TRADITION AND MODERNITY

The l'Auditori has an early music season, which means the continuity of the Barcelona International Early Music Festival. In addition to the concerts dedicated to this music that take place in the halls of L'Auditori, since 2018 the Festival de Llums d'Antiga has been created, which extends the program to historic spaces in Barcelona such as the Capella de Santa Àgata, the El Pi Church or the Monastery of Sant Pau del Camp. As for the most cutting-edge current creation, L'Auditori programs the Sampler Series, where the main creators and newly created national and international ensembles take place. Chamber music also occupies a prominent place in L'Auditori's programming and, in particular, the Biennale de Quartets de Barcelona is of relevance, which is organized every two years with the complicity of the Casals Quartet and the participation of the great formations of the current panorama.

On the other hand, the dialogue between music and the performing arts occupies a space in L'Auditori's programming with the Escenes cycle, with concerts that include dance, video art, circus, clowning or theatre. The particularity of this cycle is that the companies or performers who star in it can produce these shows with the support of L'Auditori, which offers them its spaces to be able to conceive and rehearse them under the best conditions. The Sessions bring together jazz and roots concerts and the Sit Back cycle makes L'Auditori unique in the field of modern music with concerts that are programmed in collaboration with the main concert halls to accommodate more experimental proposals or acoustic character

EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL PROJECT

In addition to the usual programming, L'Auditori also has an Educational Project that has been a pioneer in Spain and is an absolute reference in the European field. Here, the educational concert does not seek to explain itself with words but through the music itself with an impressive staging and thematic projects that help to understand the world of music in all its range. The Educational Project goes beyond schools and is also aimed at families, who can enjoy these proposals during the weekend. In this sense, Cantània attracts more than 50,000 children and has promoted more than 150 concerts in 17 towns in Catalonia, in several Spanish cities, also in Portugal, Belgium and Germany.

L'Auditori has a social responsibility to bring music closer to everyone, even those who have more difficult access to this cultural experience, be they disabled, people with functional diversity or at risk of social exclusion. For this reason, he created the "Appropa Cultura" program, thanks to which these people have cheaper ticket prices and tailor-made activities, such as workshops, attendance at an OBC rehearsal or specific presentations . This program, which has been running for eleven years, has been extended to other facilities and locations in Catalonia and beyond.

MUSICAL HERITAGE

In the L'Auditori building we also find the Music Museum, which is a property of Barcelona City Council and which was integrated into the Consorci de l'Auditori i l'Orquestra in 2007. The collection of this museum started from the collection of instruments owned by the Folch i Torres family, to which was added that of master Josep Ricard i Mates, which was initially located in Casa Quadras under the direction of Romà Escalas . This museum also deals with the restoration of the instruments in its collection, so some of which are still playing in concert and on recording. The Music Museum has become a meeting place for researchers in organology and other academic fields thanks to the library, the Documentation Center, the media library, the collection of Alain Daniélou's recordings and the collection of pianola rolls that are part of this museum, which also has a series of concerts and a program of temporary exhibitions.

BUILDING

L'Auditori is a 42,000 square meter building designed by the architect Rafael Moneo (Pritzker Prize 1996). Inaugurated on March 22, 1999, L'Auditori is home to the Barcelona Municipal Band, the Barcelona and National Symphony Orchestra of Catalonia (OBC) and is also home to the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya and the Museum of Music, which makes it the main musical center of the city and the country.

The building combines sober external modernity with a symphony hall, Sala 1 Pau Casals, with a capacity for 2,200 spectators. It also has Hall 2 Oriol Martorell with 600 seats, Hall 3 Tete Montoliu with 400 seats and Hall 4 Alicia de Larrocha for 152 spectators. In the central entrance atrium to the building, Moneo projected the Lantern, a monumental glass cube that, suspended from the ceiling, is decorated with murals by the artist Pablo Palazuelo, The Lantern has been restored in 2022 .

Versatile, comfortable, with an aesthetic to suit all audiences, the l'Auditori is a space capable of hosting a wide variety of events. Find out here how to rent a space at L'Auditori: Space Rental.

HISTORY

In the context of the urban development that meant the celebration of the Olympic Games in Barcelona, L'Auditori was conceived in 1988 as a new cultural facility to match this new impulse in the city. On September 19, 1989, an agreement was signed between the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Barcelona City Council and the Ministry of Culture according to which the Generalitat and the City Council formed the Consorci de l'Auditori i l'Orquestra to jointly consolidate and promote the city orchestra. The architect Rafael Moneo was commissioned to design a building that would occupy an area of 42,000 m2 at Carrer Lepant number 150, at the confluence of the three largest and longest avenues in the city (Diagonal, Gran Via and the Meridiana), and next to the National Theater of Catalonia, the Glòries junction, the opening of Diagonal al Mar, the @22 district and Forum 2004. The total built area is 42,000 m2. In the central entrance atrium there is a monumental cubical glass lantern in the form of an impluvium, decorated with cut-out paintings by Pablo Palazuelo. The acoustic project was the work of engineer Higini Arau.

After ten years of construction, L'Auditori was inaugurated on March 22, 1999 with a concert in Sala 1 Pau Casals, which has a capacity for 2,200 people, and had the participation of the OBC directed by its headmaster at the time, Lawrence Foster. The symphonic work Fanfàrria by Joan Guinjoan was premiered and the pianist Alícia de Larrocha performed the Concerto breve by Xavier Montsalvatge. In that first concert, works by Richard Wagner, Manuel de Falla, Eduard Toldrà and Pau Casals were also included, whose work, "Glòria" del Pessebre brought a large number of choirs to the stage. That same day, the Multipurpose Room (later Room 3 Tete Montoliu) was also inaugurated with an image and sound show by the instrumental group Barcelona 216 directed by Ernest Martínez Izquierdo with works by Martin Matalon and Steve Reich. Sala 2 Oriol Martorell, with 600 seats, was inaugurated on October 9, 2006 by the Quartet Casals, who premiered the work Etüden nach Kreutzer by Jordi Cervelló, in addition to performing works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Maurice Ravel. In addition, L'Auditori has Sala 3 Tete Montoliu, with 400 seats, and Sala 4 Alicia de Larrocha with 152.

The artistic will of L'Auditori is the projection of all musical styles and their various manifestations: modern music, jazz, classical symphonic, chamber music, contemporary music, vocal, choral and early music. This range includes all the diversity of genres and periods, as well as new proposals. More than 500 concerts are scheduled annually aimed at all citizens, and with specific programs, such as the Educational Project or L'Auditori Apropa for children and family audiences and for the inclusion of all people. Above all, the requirement of the programming is quality and places this equipment among the best in Europe. In its programming, we also find collaboration with private musical entities, such as the Taller de Músics education center, the Joventuts Musicals de Catalunya federation, the International Foundation for Early Music promoted by the musician Jordi Savall or the International Competition by Maria Canals Piano. In addition to collaborations with the main promoters of concerts in the city, both in the field of classical and modern music, such as Sónar, Primavera Sound, Cruïlla, Ibercamera or BCN Clàssics, among others.