Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner had many things in common and many convergent points between them. But also many divergent ones. Uniting them with the Rhine river as a common link is a good idea, because the fluvial knife that cuts a good part of Germany was the primary motive for Schumann's third (chronologically fourth and last) symphony, while Wagner begins the cycle The Ring of the Nibelung with a prologue (Das Rheingold), the first scene of which takes place precisely at the bottom of the aforementioned river. In the case of the concert at the Palau de la Música, however, it was the final scene of the first day (Die Walküre) that occupied the second part.However, and unfortunately, what could have been a splendid end-of-season party for Palau 100 was left unfinished. We expected a lot from an orchestra that has set the bar very high in other concerts and recordings, with or without the baton of the one who on Wednesday occupied the podium in the modernist auditorium: an Iván Fischer somewhat disheveled, without many ideas and who led a Renana with an uncertain start and a finish without pain or glory. And the peculiar arrangement of the strings (first violins and cellos on the left, violas and second violins on the right, and double basses at the back) did not have the imaginative flair that many of us expected in service of Schumann's magnificent symphony.And the second part disappointed due to the woody voice of Hanno Müller-Brachmann, a singer with more than sufficient volume and projection but with changing colors, scarce expressiveness, and zero authority in the role of Wotan, who demands more roundness and vocal presence. Fortunately, soprano Ingela Brimberg's Brünnhilde had the sufficient metal that the Valkyrie demands, in a finale of the act that is a cocktail of feelings between father and daughter before she ends up asleep on a rock surrounded by fire.Nor did the orchestra here seem particularly involved in terms of narrativity and theatricality, despite the good level of the different sections (especially the velvety strings and the punchy brass), but without Fischer's direction adding much to it.By the way, it would be appreciated if a scene like this, long and dense, had the corresponding subtitles, so that Wagner's text would be understandable to everyone. Also for the Wagnerians who, in Barcelona, are legion.

"As soon as the storm calms down, I will sacrifice myself," proclaimed this Thursday, with a serene voice, the Turk Adnan Özer (Tekirdag, 1957) at the beginning of the 41st International Poetry Festival of Barcelona in an almost full Palau de la Música.

Like water that springs forth, Maria del Mar Bonet, does not stop. After six decades dedicated to music, poetry, and stages, she returns with the album L'aigua no cansa (Blau/Discmedi, 2026), new songs in homage to the Mediterranean, popular tradition, and poetry. The album will be presented on May 23rd at the Palau de la Música as part of the Guitar BCN program, the starting point of a tour that will include a stop at the Olympia in Paris on October 11th.The album's title is no accident. "The Majorcan poet Pare Rafael Ginard used to say that popular music was like water that never tires," Bonet explains at Espai Mallorca in Barcelona. An image he has made his own and which underpins everything, with the help of Toni Pastor as producer. For the singer, "all the songs have meaning" and were made possible thanks to the lute, castanets, and dobro played by seven Majorcan musicians.

"Peace is the guiding thread of the 2026-2027 season," says Joaquim Uriach, president of the Fundació Orfeó Català-Palau de la Música Catalana. "Music has a very powerful social and civic function; it creates a space for meeting, listening, and mutual understanding. It must be a place of refuge, of solace, and of hope," he adds. To illustrate this purpose, Uriach cites three names that will have special relevance in the Palau de la Música's calendar: Pau Casals, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johann Sebastian Bach, all three pillars of a "very ambitious" season with its own programming that includes 212 concerts, in addition to 157 family and school concerts. Some of these are part of the main cycle offerings presented a few weeks ago, and others were made public this Monday at a press conference by Joan Oller and Mercedes Conde, the institution's general director and associate artistic director, respectively.

We have said and written on other occasions, when faced with well-known and over-interpreted repertoire works, that it is surprising that they can still say new things from the always ambiguous concept of interpretation. But yes, it is possible: and if in January Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" seemed freshly baked in the hands of Vespres d'Arnadí), now – thanks to the violinistic voice of Janine Jansen, supported by the Camerata Salzburg – the four famous concerts of the Venetian musician have sounded as new. In this case, thanks to the precise and imaginative virtuosity of the Austrian string ensemble and the contagious enthusiasm of the Dutch violinist, integrated into the ensemble and with a permanent, enthusiastic dialogue far removed from the individualism of a diva embracing her 1715 Stradivarius.The precise attacks, the timbral intensity, and the measured improvised passages have brought new light to works that, beyond their advertising use, are masterpieces of musical craftsmanship. And so they sounded on the stage of a Palau de la Música packed to the rafters – even to the organ galleries – and with the burden of a mobile phone that, impertinently, wanted to have its say at the end of La tardor.The evening, however, was not limited to Vivaldi and his most iconic work, but rather to a review of the concept of concerto grosso, typical of the Baroque, but which in the 20th and 21st centuries can also find its place within chamber music: Nino Rota and his Concert per l’archi opened the show, with the mellow strings of the Camerata Salzburg led by a Gregory Ahss always attentive to his stage companions, and with precise gestures to mark accents in the service of a delightful work.The Palau premiered the Piccolo concerto grosso, op. 87 by the Franco-Swiss Richard Dubugnon (1968), present in the hall and who has dedicated the piece to Janine Jansen. The successful and effective use of staccati revealed Jansen's virtuosity and her rapport with Ahss's violin, along with Firmian Lerner's viola and Stefano Guarino's cello, and throughout twenty minutes of good music. The almost jazzy passages of the first movement, with their syncopated rhythms, brought to light the expressive uniqueness of the instrumental ensemble, with a masterful performance from its members.

Hardly half the Palau was filled on Monday night to host one of the best recitals of this season so far: the one starring Piotr Beczała and pianist Sarah Tysman. Few people but a cozy atmosphere, of utmost attention and maximum respect, without mobiles or coughing fits and with total devotion to what was happening on stage.At this point, and with more than thirty years of career, the Polish tenor does not have to prove anything to anyone. Simply, he continues to be one of the best lyric singers of his generation, with a career as coherent as it is brilliant, as serious as it is well chosen. And this success in the choice also extended to the repertoire selected on the occasion we are dealing with.Like a King Midas, the beautiful but inconsequential songs of Mieczyslaw Karlowicz became pure filigree with Beczala's fresh voice, thanks to simply admirable technical mastery and sensitivity. All before giving way to a brilliant page by the also Polish Stanislaw Moniuszko extracted from the opera The Haunted Manor. Half-voices and semi-high notes resolved with sinuous nuances also took hold of Dvorák's four "Gypsy Songs", before closing the first part with the aria of the prince from Smetana's Rusalka by the Czech composer.Second Russian part with seven precious songs by Tchaikovsky, during which the French pianist Sarah Tysman showed much more sensitivity, setting aside the help in Beczala's small memory lapse at the end of Rachmaninoff's Vesennie vody which officially closed the evening, which previously had another of its highlights with the very famous Kuda, kuda from Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin.Beczala showed himself at all times committed to what he had in hand, sensitive, dedicated and a very good communicator, aware that this was neither an easy nor a common repertoire for the Barcelona public. But he knew how to use all the resources of his art – which are not few – to master the stage. And to top it off, two encores with a Hispanic flavor such as No puede ser from La tabernera del puerto, by Pablo Sorozábal, and the song Granada, both with impeccable pronunciation. And as if that were not enough, the always effective Non ti scordar di me by Ernesto De’Curtis. A golden clasp to an equally golden night for the annals of the Palau de la Música.

The Palau de la Música has unveiled its flagship concert series for the 2026-27 season, featuring a total of 23 scheduled concerts, plus 8 special concerts and 4 performances of Beethoven's complete symphonies, commemorating the bicentenary of the Bonn genius's death. The opening concert, to be held on September 28, will be a tribute to Pau Casals, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of his birth and linked to the season's central theme: peace. Conducted by Xavier Puig, it will bring together cellist Pablo Ferrández, the Casals Quartet, the Montserrat Choir, the Orfeó Català, and the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, along with top-tier Catalan soloists. The Palau 100 series will offer 13 concerts, featuring renowned orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; promising young conductors on the international music scene such as Klaus Mäkelä, Tarmo Peltokoski, Rafael Payare, Raphaël Pichon, and Lorenzo Viotti; as well as established and renowned conductors returning to the modernist stage, including Simon Rattle, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding, and Esa-Pek. The series will also bring together outstanding soloists such as violinists Julia Fischer, Isabelle Faust, and Lisa Batiashvili; cellists Daniel Müller-Scott, Gautier Capuçon and Jean-Gihen Queyras, and pianists Kirill Gerstein, Leif Ove Andsnes, Javier Perianes, Martin Helmchen and András Schiff, as well as the most iconic voices of sopranos Sabine Devielhe and Emőke Bará Reinoud van Mechelen.

Ours is an increasingly noisy world. Information bombs and shrapnel bombs rain down. Utterly ineffective high-ranking officials contradict each other about the old world order and submission to downright psychopathic governments, when what is needed is peace, silence, rest, and, above all, music that makes time seem to stand still. It's an illusion, based on the premise that music is, precisely, an art of time.

The BCN Clàssics season is progressing smoothly, cruising along at a steady pace. Its commitment to the great repertoire ensures a loyal audience; the soloists are top-notch, and the orchestral ensembles and their respective conductors are more or less equally impressive. Monday's concert reaffirmed this, with Slavic colors courtesy of Mussorgsky and Khachaturian, and two well-known works, amidst which we discovered something truly wonderful. Violin Concerto of Khatxaturian.

The Orfeó Català and the Chamber Choir of the Palau de la Música have culminated his time with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Triumphantly, once again with the audience on their feet and with even more euphoria. "Gustavo Dudamel is euphoric with the Orfeó Català," stated the general director of the Palau de la Música, Joan Oller, after the last of the concerts in Walt Disney Concert Hall. Dudamel has found the heart to make the Solemn MassAnd they are expected to resume their collaboration in the coming years, perhaps with the New York Philharmonic, of which Dudamel will be principal conductor starting this fall. But, for now, Oller isn't revealing any further details about future projects with the Venezuelan conductor. "The relationship with Gustavo was already very good, and now he's seen that we've responded by coming to Los Angeles well-prepared, with everything in place, and I think that's why he's so euphoric these days," Oller explains.

Enriching children's cognitive development with music is fundamental for both experts. Gemma Canadell, director of the Educational Service at the Palau de la Música, and Pau Llonch, musician, economist, and member of Versemblant, a cooperative with an educational project based on music and art, discuss this topic in Rehearsal Room about what music to choose for boys and girls in the Palau videopodcast Between Mozart and Bad Bunny. Rehearsal Room For this occasion, they have chosen Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's KV 265 variations, probably one of the first pieces children hear at school.

On October 23 of last year, Philippe Herreweghe gave a Beethoven concert in front of the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées. Then I wrote One of the strategies I use when writing reviews from the Palau de la Música is to observe Beethoven's expression, perched to one side of the stage: if he smiles, it means the concert went well or very well. And on that occasion, I commented that he had only half-smiled.

A true virtuoso of the flute, Emmanuel Pahud (a student of Jean-Pierre Rampal), lends his talents to Mozart's first concerto—and, in fact, the only one originally written for the instrument. The Swiss musician explores the piece's discourse and makes it his own with impeccable execution and admirable artistry. cantabile The second movement was distinguished by its well-connected phrases and a sensitivity devoid of affectation and sentimentality. It was pure Mozartian discourse, unaffected yet free of the philological flourishes that can sometimes render original pieces unrecognizable. Well supported by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, expertly conducted by François-Xavier Roth, Pahud closed the first half of the concert, setting the bar very high.

The ARA had only been walking for a few months when, on March 12, 2011, the Italian director Riccardo Muti staged an act of cultural resistance at the Rome Opera House during a performance of the opera Nabuccoby Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). Berlusconi, then Italian prime minister, had announced a drastic cut in the culture budget. The Roman public was furious with Berlusconi, and at the end of Go, thoughtThe heart of the Hebrew slaves in the third act called out against the prime minister. Muti emerged from the orchestra pit and invited the audience to sing. Go, thought Let's reclaim together the value of culture.

"This is the place to be; what happens here matters to the world," declared Joan Oller, the general director of the Palau de la Música Catalana, from the magnificent Elbphilharmonie building in Hamburg, by the river. The auditorium, which resembles a gigantic ship anchored in Elbe, is considered one of the finest concert halls in Europe. This Friday, the iconic venue hosted a sold-out concert: in the main hall, with an audience of 2,100, the Barcelona Symphony and National Orchestra of Catalonia performed, while in the smaller hall, Tarta Relena, winner of the 2025 National Culture Prize, took the stage. Shortly before the concerts, more than a hundred Germans gathered in the Elbphilharmonie's inner courtyard. This was just one small part of a week in which the Auditori di Barcelona, ​​the Palau de la Música Catalana, and the Institut Ramon Llull presented a sonic map of Catalonia in various German cities.

I have to confess my skepticism when I set foot in the Palau on Thursday night. I arrived with the preconceived notion that I would hear a good concert, thanks to the Tokyo Philharmonic's high, even excellent, technical level. And little else: the usual stereotype of Asian coldness.

Attending a Martha Argerich concert or recital is like visiting a friend you see only occasionally. And you know they'll never let you down, because they're the kind of person who always puts artistic truth first.

I confess: I arrived late and missed Albert Guinovart's Dalí-esque piece (The Secret LifeBut my companion, who arrived on time, showered me with praise.

I don't think I've ever confessed the strategy I use when writing my reviews of concerts at the Palau de la Música. It's very simple: just look at the bust of Beethoven perched on the right wall of the stage and observe his expression. If he remains serious (or downright angry), it means things haven't gone well. If, on the other hand, he smiles, a good review is in order because it means the maestro from Bonn enjoyed the concert. Things get more complicated if the evening includes his music, and that was the case with Thursday's concert.

The music of Gabriela Ortiz (Mexico City, 1964) beats to the rhythm of tradition and the avant-garde. It unites European classical training with the combined legacy of European and American music that has flowed through Mexico since the 16th century. And, daring by nature, she openly engages with different formats. A few weeks ago, she debuted as a guest composer at the Palau de la Música when the GIO Symphonia and Frames Percussion performed. Neon AltarThe cycle continues this Friday with the concert of the Cosmos Quartet and the flautist Alejandro Escuer, who will perform Exiles. Later on, various works by Gabriela Ortiz will be part of programs as diverse as those of the Attaca Quartet, Frames Percussion, pianist Noelia Rodiles, the Vallés Symphony Orchestra with trumpeter Pacho Flores, and violinist María Dueñas and pianist Aleksandr Malofeev. In addition, on March 21, the Cor de Cambra will premiere Bird Woman, a special commission from the Palacio de la Música in which Ortiz is inspired by Woman, bird and comet by Joan Miró.