L’Auditori and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra would like to express their condolences ‎for the loss of the great soprano Montserrat Caballé by looking back at the relationship that ‎bound them to the singer for almost four decades. ‎

Her debut with the OBC was in 1973, when the ensemble was still called the Barcelona City ‎Orchestra. It was at the Palau de la Música Catalana, where the Orchestra was based, and she ‎performed Pau Casals’ El Pessebre under the baton of Enric Casals.‎

The following year, in 1974, the Orchestra and the diva were reunited by the music of Richard ‎Strauss, with a programme of the German composer’s lieder conducted by maestro Kurt ‎Wöss. ‎

Two important events took place in the 1990s, when Caballé and the Orchestra joined forces ‎in two special outdoor concerts. The first of these was the La Mercè concert in 1991, which ‎was held in Barcelona Cathedral square and conducted by Luis Antonio García Navarro, the ‎principal conductor at the time.‎

Two years later, in 1993, as part of the Jacobean Year (St. James Holy Year) events, the ‎soprano and the Orchestra, at that time conducted by Paul Decker, performed at the Praza ‎do Obradoiro square in Santiago de Compostela. The last collaboration between Caballé and ‎the OBC was in January 2007, with a French music programme at L’Auditori. This was the only ‎time the soprano sang in this hall and in one of the Orchestra’s seasonal concerts.‎