Orfeó Català

One of the most prestigious and historically significant vocational choirs in the country

The choir

Orfeó Català is one of the country’s leading amateur choirs. Founded more than 125 years ago, in 1891, by Lluís Millet and Amadeu Vives, its purpose was to showcase the Catalan and international choral repertoires, and to ensure the excellence of its performances. Presently, Pablo Larraz is the main conductor, Montse Meneses is the second conductor, and Pau Casan is the pianist. Simon Halsey is still connected to the choir as principal guest conductor and ambassador of Palau de la Música’s choirs. Orfeó Català is based in Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Biography

Orfeó Català has performed many of the most significant works within the choral repertoire, including national premieres of such masterpieces as Bach’s Mass in B minor and Haydn’s The Seasons. The choir has sung under the batons of internationally renowned conductors including R. Strauss, C. Saint-Saëns, P. Casals, Z. Mehta, F. Brüggen, M. Rostropovich, Ch. Dutoit, L. Maazel, D. Barenboim, S. Rattle, and G. Dudamel, among others. In recent years, the choir has made its debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Gulbenkian Hall in Lisbon, it has toured Italy with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, conducted by D. Gatti, and it has performed in London on three occasions: in 2015 at the Royal Festival Hall, and in 2017 and 2019 at the Royal Albert Hall, for The Proms. In October 2017, Orfeó Català performed the European premiere of Considering Matthew Shepard by Craig Hella Johnson, conducted by Simon Halsey.

One of the choir’s most important international commitments was a tour of China in October 2018, as a guest of the Shanghai International Arts Festival, performing four concerts in three cities. During the summer of 2019 (June-July), Orfeó Català toured with Gustavo Dudamel and the Münchner Philharmoniker, together with the Palau’s Cor de Cambra, performing Mahler’s Symphony No.2 at the Palau de la Música Catalana, Madrid, Palma, and Munich. In August 2019, the choir made a second appearance at The Proms in London, together with the Cor Jove de l’Orfeó Català, the London Symphony Chorus, and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, to perform William Walton’s oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast.

The 2019-20 season featured a new performance of Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at the Palau de la Música Catalana. At the start of the 2020-21 season, Orfeó Català, together with the Cor de Cambra del Palau, starred in a new collaboration with Gustavo Dudamel, whom, at the head of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, conducted Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Palau de la Música Catalana. In July 2021, Orfeó Català celebrated the centennial of the national premiere of St. Matthew Passion with two extraordinary concerts, with soloists from the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Orquestra Simfònica Camera Musicae, and the Cor Infantil de l’Orfeó Català, all under the baton of Simon Halsey. During the COVID-19 crisis, Orfeó Català continued running rehearsals and performing concerts without a break.

The 2021-22 season featured the performance of Oltra mar by Kaija Saariaho, together with the OBC, conducted by Anna Maria Helsing at the Palau, and the international tour of Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the Orchestre Philharmonie Luxembourg, conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, at the Palau de la Música Catalana, as well as the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris, and the Philharmonie Luxembourg, with the choir making its debut at these prestigious concert halls.

The 2022-23 season featured a tour with the Berliner Philharmoniker (April-May 2023), conducted by Kirill Petrenko, in Berlin (Berliner Philharmonie), Barcelona (Sagrada Família), and Madrid (Teatro Real), with a programme dedicated to W. A. Mozart, and performances of Arvo Pärt’s Berliner Messe at the Palau de la Música Catalana with the Bamberg Symphony, conducted by Jakub Hrůša; of Caroline Shaw’s Music in common time with the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, conducted by Marzena Diakun, and with the OBC, with the first performance of a work only for choir by Jörg Widmann, conducted by the composer himself.

The highlights of this 2023-24 season include in November 2023 the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the National Orchestra of Lyon, conducted by Nikolaj Znaider, at Barcelona and Madrid Auditoriums. In February 2024, on the 13th and 14th, the Orfeó Català will perform in Palau 100 a German Requiem by Brahms and Symphony no. 2, “Lobgesang” by Mendelssohn, respectively, with the Balthasar Neumann Chor & Orchester, conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock. Then, the Orfeó and the Hengelbrock ensembles will perform these works in Hamburg: Brahms' work at the Laeiszhalle (17th) and Mendelssohn's work at the Elbphilharmonie (18th). Finally, the concert of the Orfeó Català and the Choirs of the Escola Choral with works by Ola Gjeilo, with the same composer on the piano, in July 2024.

With the support of

Artistic team

Pablo Larraz

Principal conductor

Pablo Larraz Dalmases began studying music in his hometown of Jaca. In Barcelona, he studied music teaching at the UAB, graduated in piano from the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona under Professor Carme Poch, studied choral conducting at the Catalonia College of Music (ESMUC) under the tutelage of Josep Vila, Johan Duijck and Xavier Puig, and was tutored in historical singing by tenor Lambert Climent. Larraz has taught music in primary schools and has conducted children’s and youth choirs, including El Virolet at the association Lluïsos de Gràcia, the Cor Jove at the Girona Conservatory (he was a founding member, and conducted the choir from 2013-2019) and the Cor Albada of the Agrupació Cor Madrigal (2007-2013). He has also worked with several adult choirs, highlights of which include the Cor de Cambra of the Diputació de Girona (2008-2019). In the 2019-20 season he was appointed principal conductor for the Orfeó Català, where he had previously been assistant conductor and coordinator and responsible for the singers’ vocal and musical training. During the 2022-23 season, he conducted the Orfeó Català, the Cor Jove youth choir, and directed the Choral School. Larraz was recently appointed as music director for the Orfeó Gracienc.

He can regularly be found at choral singing workshops throughout Catalonia. He has been a member of the technical team of the Catalan Federation of Youth Choirs (CJC) and has been part of the teaching team on the choral conducting courses run by the Catalan Choir Federation for the past three years. Larraz has also sung with the Palau Cor de Cambra, Coro Barroco de Andalucía, Cor Francesc Valls and Musica Rerservata. In 2014 he won the Bach scholarship, cementing his position as a leading soloist specialising in baroque repertoire.

Montserrat Meneses Sendrós

Associate Director of the Orfeó Català

Born in Vendrell (1973), Montserrat Maneses Sendrós is a choir director and music educator. She studied at the Escola Municipal de Música Pau Casals in Vendrell and at the conservatories of Tarragona and Badalona. She trained as a choir director under the guidance of teachers Manel Cabero, Josep Prats, Josep Vila, Mireia Barrera, Pierre Cao, Laszlo Heltay, and Johan Duijck.

She has conducted various choirs throughout the country, including Joves Veus and the Orfeó del Vendrell, Coral Allegro and Coral Genciana in Barcelona, Coral Regina in Manlleu, and the Cor de Cambra of the Girona Provincial Government.

On the pedagogical side, she is a professor of choral singing at the EMMPAC in Vendrell, has been a professor of choral conducting at SCIC and FCEC, and an associate professor at the Rovira i Virgili University. She has taught courses and workshops on choral conducting and choral singing pedagogy throughout the region.

For ten years, she was the co-director of the Cantània program at the Auditori de Barcelona, and for the past fifteen years, she has been the co-director and artistic director of the Canta Gran program, a project co-produced by L'Auditori and the Barcelona City Council, which recently received the Anselm Clavé Award for the best social transformation project.

Currently, she directs the Cor Zóngora and the Cor Veus Blanques of the EMMPAC in Vendrell, both of which she founded, the Coral Cantiga in Barcelona, and serves as the associate director of the Orfeó Català.

Pau Casan

Pianist for the Orfeó Català and the Children's Choir of the Orfeó Català

Born in Barcelona, Pau Casan studied piano with C. Agustí, M. Drets and professor M. Farré at the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona, where he graduated with first class honours and an honourable mention. He went on to complete postgraduate studies with G. Fergus-Thompson and R. Vignoles at the Royal College of Music in London, via a scholarship from Fundació Agustí Pedro i Pons. Casan has attended masterclasses with A. de Larrocha, N. Bonet, M. Hastings, R. Fernández-Aguirre, P. Badura-Skoda and J. Nin-Culmell, among others.

He won first prize at the 23rd Joan Massià Competition, as well as third prize at the 33rd Catalonia Young Performers Competition, and the prize for best pianist at the 22nd City of Berga Awards, in the category of vocal/lied chamber performance.

He has given concerts as a soloist in Barcelona, Reus, San Sebastián, Bogotá and London. As an accompanist, he has performed in Spain, France, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, the United Kingdom, Colombia and China, specialising in collaboration with choral singers and soloists.

Casan currently combines his concert performances with teaching at the Liceu Conservatory. He regularly plays at the Gran Teatre del Liceu as a répétiteur and is the official pianist for the Tenor Viñas Competition. Since 2010, he has been the pianist for the Orfeó Català Cor Infantil Children’s Choir, while he has accompanied the Orfeó Català since 2021.

Repertoire

The Orfeó Català is a symphonic choir. Its concert programme alternates performances of vocal-orchestral repertoires with those of choral music, including an important role for Catalan traditional and classical music. The Orfeó Català has a vast, rich musical repertoire, highlights of which include the following:

Magnificat by J. S. Bach
The Seasons by J. F. Haydn
Requiem by Mozart
Te Deum by Bruckner
Symphony no. 2 by Mahler
A German Requiem by Brahms
Requiem by Verdi
Requiem by Dvořák
Mass in C major by Beethoven
Cant espiritual by Montsalvatge
Alexander Nevsky by Prokófiev
Ninth Symphony by Beethoven
Mass by Rheinberger
Requiem by Bruckner
Utrecht Te Deum by Haendel

Contact and booking

Maria Ibarz
tel.: + 34 93 295 72 30
[email protected]