The artistic team headed by L’Auditori’s director, Robert Brufau, is going one step further in its efforts to promote outstanding emerging voices from international circuits. “Talent, restlessness, honesty and creativity are all attributes that Gardolińska is building into artistic proposals, earning her recognition for some of the most ambitious initiatives internationally. On her last visit, Marta Gardolińska captivated the orchestra with her impeccable technique and use of gesture and her surprising control over the delicate mesh of voices in the extremely demanding score that is The Boy’s Magic Horn by Mahler. This is a bid by L’Auditori and the OBC to embark on a future commitment to new leadership by artists who are helping the arts to advance, without turning their backs on the social realities of today’s world”.


Marta Gardolińska
For her part, Gardolińska commented: “I am very much looking forward to my musical journey with the wonderful musicians, Music Director, Ludovic Morlot, and the whole team of the OBC in beautiful Barcelona. From my very first rehearsal with the orchestra, there was a very special and highly focused atmosphere, featuring generous music-making and fluid communication and I am sure that this will allow us to create many special musical moments together in the coming seasons. One of the things that I most appreciate about this opportunity is the open and inventive approach to curating programmes that I share with the OBC programming team. It allows me to make some bold repertoire choices and bring some music from my native Poland , and also to get to know the output of some Catalan composers. All of these exciting projects are enhanced by the prospect of spending some more time sharing music with the people of Barcelona, which is one of my favourite cities!”

Marta Gardolińska first conducted the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra in the 2019-20 season, with a programme headed by Mahler’s The Boy’s Magic Horn, accompanied by tenor Ian Bostridge and soprano Dorothea Röschmann. She received high praise from the public and critics alike for the concert, which is available in the à la carte section of L’Auditori Digital at .


Marta Gardolińska leading the OBC during her debut in April 2021.
Polish conductor Marta Gardolińska attracted international attention as the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Young Conductor in Association (2018-2020). During the 2019-2020 season, she made a very successful United States debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she now collaborates regularly. Furthermore, as from this season, Gardolińska is the musical director of the Lorraine National Opera.


This season the Polish conductor will make her debut with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Toulouse Capitole National Orchestra and the Bordeaux National Opera. She will also be conducting leading British ensembles for the first time, such as the London and Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

In the 2020-2021 season, she made her debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra, the Lorraine National Orchestra and the Paris Chamber Orchestra, among others. She also conducted the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra again and the Tonkünstler Orchestra at Musikverein in Vienna.

In 2019, Gardolińska made her debut with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Edinburgh Festival. Other recent appearances include concerts with the Wiener Concert-Verein at Musikverein in Vienna and her return to Warsaw to conduct the young musicians of the Culture Orchestra at the Philharmonic Hall.

Among the numerous awards that she has received, she was awarded an honourable mention and the special orchestral prize at the Witold Lutoslawski Competition for Young Conductors (Poland, 2016), and third prize and the special orchestral prize at the Felix Mendelssohn International Conducting Competition (Greece, 2016). She was also a runner-up at the First Hong Kong International Conducting Competition (2018). In 2016, Gardolińska was awarded the Outstanding Pole in Austria title and, during the 2017-2018 season, she was made an associate fellow of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship, founded by Marin Alsop.