Christmas brings with it an intense classical music lineup in Barcelona with echoes in the rest of Catalonia, which is partly associated with the liturgical calendar and the new year. Led by the Palau de la Música Catalana, which this week presented its Christmas cycle, the offer suggests other initiatives to take into account, such as that of the Vienna Philharmonic ensemble, with a chamber version of the waltzes and polkas of Johann Strauss. The following is a guide for classic lovers or circumstantial fans.
The Madrigal Choir Group together with children's choirs from all over Catalonia and choirs from the neighborhood of the Sagrada Família or the music schools of the Eixample and Sant Andreu meet today (7 pm) in the Barcelona basilica which, once again, hosts a symphony-choral proposal of clear Christmas spirit. Accompanied by the Simfònica del Vallès (with Pere Lluís Biosca at the front) and Joan Seguí on the organ, they perform the Cantata de San Nicolás by Benjamin Britten, the suite Una nit Nadal by Rafel Ferrer and Fitó and El noi de la mare arranged by Bernat vivacious Oh, and a Christmas premiere by Antoni Ros-Marbà.
The foundation's traditional Nadal Concert, which is also held today, features soprano Maria Hinojosa as a guest, leading the soloists who won the Salvat Bach 2024 Scholarship. Pau Jorquera conducts the Bach Collegium Barcelona and the Cor Bruckner in Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart.
The Netherlands Bach Society directed by Alex Potter will capture the Christmas spirit in a majestic way with Bach's Magnificat, one of the peaks of the choral repertoire (the 20th). The next day the already announced Messiah by Händel will be performed by the Accentus choir and the Insula Orchestra of the French Laurence Equilbey, “one of the most respected choral directors in Europe”, in the words of Joan Oller, general director of the Palau.
Tomorrow, the modernist hall will have a recital by the baritone Josep-Ramon Olivé who, apart from singing love poems by Clara and Robert Schumann, will premiere a commission from the Palau to García Demestres. The premiere of Miquel Oliu by the pianist Miquel Villalba (day 18) with Bach or Debussy at the lectern is also on order. On the 16th it will be the Vespres d'Arnadí ensemble that occupies the Palau with Las cuatro estaciones de Vivaldi conducted from the violin by the Canadian Farran Sylvan James.
El hombre del tiempo from TV3 is this year the pop star guest of the traditional Sant Esteve concert that the Orfeó Català has been celebrating since 1913. For the fourth time, the theater has recourse to playwright Adrià Aubert, who directs 300 singers from this choral family on stage. The leitmotif is carols: from their popular origins and the later ecclesiastical sieve, to their contemporary expression. Arrangements by Elisenda Fábregas, guest composer of the Palau, or the medley Un ram de nadales, by Joan Vives and Sanfeliu, are premiered, and others by Salvador Mas, Baltasar Bibiloni or Albert Guinovart are sung. Music is also set to poets: Joan Maragall, Carme Cabús, Dolors Miquel. Another theme of the concert will be Christmas Eve, with Molina providing historical context to the winter solstice or explaining why we say that the Magi came from the East.
Xavier Puig takes the baton of the Vallesana orchestra in its traditional festival of polkas and waltzes by Central European authors: Strauss, Dvorák, Gounod, Tchaikovsky... (the 16th), a program that they carry out in a dozen cities in Catalonia. On the 17th they pay tribute to the film music of Enio Morricone and Nino Rota, and prepare for their Christmas Nutcracker on January 23 and 25, and January 6 and 7, with narration by Luis Posada and sand artist Borja González telling ephemerally the story of the toy soldier. The OSV continues to be the only orchestra in the territory that works on Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Three Kings Day: its Concert d'Any Nou (31st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th) will bring Isabel Rubio, finalist of the Berlin Philharmonic conducting competition 2021, which will address the optimistic waltzes and polkas of the Strauss family. “We wanted to contradict the president of the Vienna Philharmonic when he said that women are not prepared to conduct the New Year's concert,” says Jordi Cos, president of the OSV.
The Associació Messies Participatiut once again breaks records in number of voices as usual since it was established five years ago. L'Auditori de Barcelona (540) and Girona (200) host the massive feat of Händel's oratorio on the 15th and 16th. Jordi Casas conducts the Catalan Baroque orchestra and a group of soloists – Soledad Cardoso, Anna Tobella, Roger Padullés and Marc Pujol – joined by the Cor Francesc Valls and local children's choirs. Professors, professors, architects, lawyers... entire families – the youngest is an 11-year-old alto and the oldest is an 84-year-old bass – have rehearsed 50 hours with the preparatory directors and Casas himself.
A dozen musicians from the fabulous orchestra of the Austrian capital – cello Sebastian Bru, oboe Clemens Horak, flutist Wlater Auer... – will take the plane to Barcelona on January 2 after having played in the televised New Year's Concert New from the Musikverein. They come to offer in the Coliseum and in ensemble format that traditional program that Johann Strauss himself arranged for chamber ensemble. The idea arose a decade ago from the Albanian Shkelzen Doli, violinist of the group: take advantage of the few days they have free, especially in January and February, to provide a repertoire that is highly commercialized but from which only the Viennese can extract their particular sound. . They begin with the Overture to the operetta The Bat and the Waltz Where the Lemons Bloom... until concluding with the Blue Danube or the Radetzky March. On the 3rd they are at the Madrid Auditorium.
José R. Pascual-Vilaplana will conduct the Nadal Concert of the Barcelona Municipal Band this 17th with original music for wind orchestra from a century ago. A very festive repertoire that includes Celebration by Philip Sparke or the award-winning Fanfare and allegro by Clifton Williams, plus Fantasia for Christmas by Elliot del Borgo or the Catalan Nadales by Salvador Brotons. And a premiere by Theresa Martin, with narration by actress Carlota Olcina. Brotons will take over the Cap d'Any program on the 30th, with the Viennese rhythms of Von Suppé and Strauss.
On the eve of Christmas, a dozen musicians remember the beloved Barcelona composer who died in 2022 on the 18th. Enrique Bagería, Maria Canyigueral, Isabel Villanueva... will tackle works from Cervelló's vast repertoire in 150 minutes, with the emblematic La Caula or Dos moviments per a trio, by the Trio Freixas. L'Auditori also offers, on the 16th, the Marató Revolucions: five free concerts (from 12 to 6 p.m.) that vindicate those who made the revolution: Bach, Beethoven, Messiaen, Ligeti... Baltasar Samper and Gerhard. Today, by the way, the OBC Cambra summons the wind octet. And these days there is a generous offer for children.
Family audiences are also invited to the Gran Teatre with a classic such as El cuento de Navidad set to music by Guinovart (16 and 17), which the Petit Liceu has been programming for 7 years. This time with 53 voices from the Amics de la Unió Children's Voices-Choir. Josep Vila conducts the Coliseum Symphony and is joined by musicians from the Liceu Conservatory.
From today to Saturday the last three performances of Puccini's opera that has raised passions this December take place. The Liceu gives way next week to the great Canadian diva Sondra Radvanovsky who returns on the 18th to the Rambla in an unusual register for her and with which she shows the stylistic range of her expressive voice: from baroque opera arias to lieder, more some operatic encores led by “La mamma morta” (Andrea Chénier).
The author of The Trial left a diary, letters and a posthumous text whose fragments the Hungarian composer used in the 80s to create an intimate confession without a narrative thread for soprano and violin. On the 19th, Anna Prohaska and Isabelle Faust join forces to recreate these emotional landscapes of Kafka-Fragmente at the Liceu in an exercise of extreme expressiveness.
Strauss Festival Orchestra
