BARCELONA symphony orchestra
Founded in 1944 by conductor Eduard Toldrà, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC) is one of Spain’s leading symphony orchestras and a major musical presence in southern Europe. Over more than eight decades, the orchestra has pursued an ambitious artistic programme devoted to bringing the great symphonic repertoire to audiences, preserving and promoting Catalonia’s musical heritage, and championing contemporary creation. Deeply rooted in Barcelona and the cultural life of Catalonia, the OBC combines a strong artistic tradition, a clear drive to innovate, and a firm commitment to society through educational, inclusive and community projects.
As L’Auditori de Barcelona’s resident orchestra, the OBC entered a new artistic chapter in the 2022-2023 season under Ludovic Morlot, one of the most highly regarded figures on the international music scene, who took up the role of principal conductor. Over the course of its history, the orchestra has worked with some of the world’s foremost conductors, including Sergiu Celibidache, Valery Gergiev, Christopher Hogwood, Mariss Jansons, Jesús López Cobos, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Matthias Pintscher, Kazushi Ono and Kent Nagano, among many others.
The OBC regularly performs with soloists of the highest international calibre. In recent seasons, the orchestra has appeared with artists including Martha Argerich, Yuja Wang, Maria João Pires, Janine Jansen, Hilary Hahn, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Pinchas Zukerman, Steven Isserlis, Arcadi Volodos, Carolin Widmann and Vilde Frang, reflecting a programme that brings together some of the leading figures on the global music scene and fostering ongoing artistic exchanges with major musical centres around the world.
One of the cornerstones of the OBC’s artistic identity is its commitment to contemporary music. The orchestra has commissioned and premièred numerous works by some of today’s leading composers, including Thomas Adès, Olga Neuwirth, David Lang, Luca Francesconi, Lisa Streich, Cassandra Miller, Hèctor Parra, Joan Magrané, Bernat Vivancos, Ramon Humet, Benet Casablancas and Raquel García-Tomás, significantly enriching the contemporary symphonic repertoire while raising the international profile of Catalan musical creation.
In recent years, the OBC has pursued an ambitious international strategy, strengthening its artistic standing and expanding its digital presence. Thanks to this work, the orchestra has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Royal Albert Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and Stockholm’s historic Konserthuset. These international tours have helped to establish the OBC as a regular presence on the major European and international symphonic circuits.
Recording is another key strand of the orchestra’s strategy. Through L’Auditori’s digital platform, L’Auditori Play, the OBC offers access to an extensive catalogue of symphonic recordings for free. Notable projects include the complete recording of Maurice Ravel’s orchestral works under Ludovic Morlot. The collection has glowing rave reviews from the international music press, with Rondo Magazin writing that “rarely has Ravel sounded so magically enchanting and so subtly orchestral”, while Crescendo Magazine declared that the collection “will become an icon of modern music recordings”.
The OBC is also deeply engaged in rediscovering, performing and promoting Catalonia’s musical heritage. Its recordings of works by composers such as Robert Gerhard, Núria Giménez Comas, Hèctor Parra, Bernat Vivancos and Miquel Oliu, have made a major contribution to preserving, studying and raising awareness of their artistic legacy. The orchestra’s recording work also focuses on contemporary women composers with whom it has close artistic ties, including Betsy Jolas, Cassandra Miller, Gabriella Smith and Raquel García-Tomás, as a way of reaffirming its commitment to creative diversity, equal opportunities and championing new voices in symphonic music.
Alongside its concert activity, the OBC plays an important social and educational role through programmes for schools, families, young musicians and a wide range of communities, bringing symphonic music to new audiences and contributing to the cultural development of future generations. This commitment to public service is central to its mission as a national orchestra.
Today, more than eighty years after it was founded, the OBC continues to strengthen its position as a leading cultural institution, combining artistic excellence, public service, innovation, social commitment and an international outlook. From its home in Barcelona, the orchestra brings an open, contemporary and ambitious vision of twenty-first-century symphonic music to the world, while actively contributing to Catalonia’s cultural prestige on the international stage.
