Dudamel and the Orfeó Català, the idyll continues through Europe

Barcelona"It is one more step in the internationalization of the Orfeó Català," said Joaquim Uriach, president of the Associació Orfeó Català and the Fundació Orfeó Català-Palau de la Música Catalana, on Saturday. The phrase, reported by the ACN, came in light of the New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Gustavo Dudamel which was held at the Philharmonie de Paris and in which the Orfeó Català, the Girls' Choir, and singers from the Children's Choir participated. It is the first of a tour that will visit L'Auditori in Barcelona this Monday to inaugurate the BCN Clàssics season, and which will then continue to the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid (October 13), the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg (October 19), and the Musikverein in Vienna (October 22).

In a program that includes Symphony No. 5, by Sergei Prokofiev, and the European premiere of Invisible house, by the Canadian composer Zosha Di Castri, the Orfeó Català choirs take part in On the Transmigration of Souls, by John Adams, a work composed in 2002 as a tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks in New York, and which was a commission from the New York Philharmonic itself. "It has been a very enriching experience, because it is a repertoire very different from what we are used to," explains Xavier Puig, director of the Orfeó Català, to ARA, who "highly" recommends listening to "this very emotional work" live because it is "a very transcendent experience." "In Paris, the entire audience left deeply moved by this memorial to the victims of the 2001 attack, in which the victims' relatives participate in a pre-recorded audio. And this combination of the recording and live music is very moving and becomes a very profound experience," adds Puig.

This new collaboration between the Orfeó Català and Dudamel comes after the success of the concerts in Los Angeles in February during the Venezuelan conductor's farewell as head of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. That experience in which they performed the Missa solemnis by Beethoven, immediately gave rise to this new collaboration, now with Dudamel as artistic director of the New York Philharmonic. The orchestra changes, but the idyll continues, now in Europe. "After the Los Angeles concert it felt like we had reached the summit, but more projects keep coming our way because of the level of the Orfeó and the choirs," celebrates Uriach. "I am very proud of the concentration they have maintained on this work, which is not technically difficult but does require a lot of concentration," says Puig. "And they have had an exemplary attitude, very professional, sharing the stage with one of the best orchestras in the world."

For the Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández Almodóvar, present at the concert in Paris, this tour with Dudamel "is a sign of the excellence of choirs that are vocational" and that explain Catalan culture very well, which mixes without distinction "popular or grassroots culture and high culture".

In addition to the concerts with the Orfeó Català, the New York Philharmonic's European tour also includes other concerts with a program consisting of Symphony No. 5, by Gustav Mahler, and Imágenes mestizas, by Tania León, and stops in Madrid, Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna.