This July, the first edition of Festival Mozart Nits d’Estiu ‎‎, will be held, one of the major new novelties of L’Auditori’s programme this ‎season. The festival is a unique opportunity to explore the work of the Salzburg ‎composer and his contemporaries, accompanied by the OBC, at two of Barcelona’s ‎leading music concert halls: L’Auditori and the Palau de la Música Catalana.‎

In addition to works by Mozart, Festival Mozart Nits d’Estiu, which will take place ‎‎from 1 to 15 July, will also offer audiences an insight into the music of two ‎leading examples of Catalan classicism, composers Carles Baguer and Ferran ‎Sor. Likewise, audiences will also be able to enjoy the music of Franz ‎Joseph Haydn and discover the extraordinary talent of Romantic ‎composer, Louise Farrenc. And all this comes with the added bonus of key experts ‎in these repertoires, conductors Laurence Equilbey, Andrea Marcon and Jonathan ‎Cohen, and acclaimed soloists clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer, pianist ‎Albert Cano and violinist Veronika Eberle.‎

The opening concert will be held on 1 July in Sala 1, Pau Casals , ‎with Italian conductor Andrea Marcon on the podium. It will feature ‎‎ works by Baguer and Mozart, and pianist Albert Cano ‎Smit, one of the most outstanding piano instrumentalists of his generation and first ‎prize winner of the prestigious Naumburg International Piano Competition in New York and ‎the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, which paved the way for his subsequent ‎début at Carnegie Hall and other major international concert halls. Cano Smit will be ‎performing Piano Concerto No. 21 by Mozart. The programme will also ‎include Symphony No. 2 by Carles Baguer, a Barcelona composer in the ‎style of Haydn, who introduced new European orchestral and stylistic innovations to ‎Barcelona in the late 18th century. The programme will be rounded off by ‎‎Symphony No. 39 by Mozart, the first of the last three symphonies by the ‎composer, written during the summer of 1788. ‎

The next concert will take place on 8 July, also at L’Auditori, with a visit by ‎one of today’s best-known clarinettists, the Austrian, Andreas ‎Ottensamer. A Deutsche Grammophon artist, Ottensamer will be making his début ‎at L’Auditori with one of the cornerstones of classic repertoires: the Clarinet ‎Concerto by Mozart. The programme, conducted by Jonathan ‎Cohen, will also include the overture from The Creation by Haydn, ‎Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter” by Mozart , the last work he composed, and ‎‎ Symphony No. 3 by the famous Barcelona guitarist and ‎‎composer Ferran Sor. ‎

‎Prestigious French conductor Laurence Equilbey will step onto the podium ‎for the closing concert of Festival Mozart Nits d’Estiu on 15 July, directing ‎the OBC at the Palau de la Música Catalana, accompanied ‎by violinist Veronika Eberle. Eberle will be returning to the OBC three ‎years after her last concert with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra to ‎perform Violin Concerto No. 5 by Mozart. The programme will also feature the ‎overture of the Marriage of Figaro by Mozart and Symphony No. 3 by ‎Louise Farrenc, a very well-known composer in France in the mid-19th century and ‎the only woman that century to hold a teaching post at the Paris ‎Conservatoire. Her three symphonies, which are unknown to most audiences, ‎made a key contribution to Romantic symphony music. With Equilbey’s visit, 8 ‎women will have conducted the OBC this season as part of a bid by L’Auditori to promote ‎female talent and sex equality in orchestral direction.‎

‎Festival Mozart Nits d’Estiu has already announced the programme for its ‎second edition, which will be held from 30 June to 16 July 2022. For the ‎second year running, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra will be joining forces with leading ‎performers and conductors of Mozart’s works, with three programmes from 30 ‎June to 16 July under the baton of Trevor Pinnock, Dani Espasa ‎and Laurence Equilbey, who will be returning to the festival. ‎

It will also count on three acclaimed soloists: cellist Kian Soltani, violinist Nicola ‎Benedetti and celebrated soprano Patricia Petibon, with music by Mozart, ‎Haydn, Farrenc, Baguer, Gluck and Thomas Adès.‎