Tchaikovsky, Handel and Vivaldi fill the Palau de la Música Catalana with music this Christmas

The Nutcrackerfrom Tchaikovsky, the passage of time with The Four Seasons ofVivaldiand Handel's sacred fervor with The Messiah stand out among the twelve concerts programmed by Christmas at the PalauFrom December 16th to January 11th, the Palau de la Música Catalana once again includes new musical offerings for all audiences in its Christmas season to welcome the holiday season.

The Palau de la Música once again fills the air with music to welcome Christmas. With a wide repertoire of carols, waltzes, symphonic tales, Baroque music, and film scores, the modernist hall will once again be adorned to delight music lovers and enthusiasts.

The magic of a classic like The Nutcracker, Performed by the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, with Luis Posada (the voice actor who dubs Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp) as narrator and sand art by Borja González, the performance premieres on Christmas Eve and will have three more performances during January (December 25th and 3rd). The popular work by Vivaldi The Four Seasons With Vísperas de Arnadí and violinist Farran Sylvan James, the concert will delight audiences with four more performances (December 20 and 22, and January 10 and 11); and Messiah and its celebrated Hallelujah, also conducted by Vísperas de Arnadí leading the Granollers Chamber Choir (January 1).

The New Year's Concert Returns

The Christmas season at the Palau includes the vibrant New Year's Concert featuring polkas, mazurkas, and waltzes from 19th-century Vienna. The Vallès Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Isabel Rubio, will welcome the new year with the infectious optimism of the Strauss family with the famous The Blue Danube or the vital Radetzky Marchamong others. The traditional concert will have a total of seven performances, from December 28 to December 4.

The traditional Waltz and Dance Festival, also featuring the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, will complete this repertoire and close out the year with a single performance on December 20. With Xavier Puig conducting and soprano Laura del Río as a guest, the program will musically review the year ending with waltzes, polkas, and other gems from the Viennese and European repertoire.

The Palau Chamber Choir chooses Bach

The Palau Chamber Choir's proposal for this year is a selection of cantatas fromChristmas Oratory by Bach, under the direction of tenor and Bach specialist Christoph Prégardien. The Choir and Prégardien will give another performance on December 16, following their acclaimed interpretation of the Passion according to Saint Matthewso celebrated by audiences and critics alike. Alison Lau, Martina Baroni, David Fischer, and Micha Matthäus will complete the cast of this concert that gives musical form to the arrival of Christ with the Nativity, the Annunciation and Adoration of the Shepherds, and the Epiphany.

With a single performance, Christmas Eve Joan Lamote de Grignon's work is the choral offering to celebrate Advent. The Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Orfeó Gracienc, and the Orfeó Català Children's Choir will perform a rendition of TheChristmas Eve, with Salvador Brotons at the helm, an emblematic work of the Catalan symphonic-choral repertoire, on December 21st.

A Catalan ChristmasThe Cor Pedrell choir will perform at the Church of Sant Felip Neri on December 15. Featuring arrangements of traditional Catalan carols and compositions by the new generation of composers, the Baroque Christmas Cantatas will also celebrate Christmas with arias and exquisitely refined pieces performed by soprano Núria Rial and the Café Zimmermann ensemble, in a single performance on December 16 at the Sala Petit Philipp Telemann.

From The Godfather to Star Wars, two tributes to the cinematic sound universe

The tributes also return to the Palau to commemorate the music of Ennio Morricone and Nino Rota and the cinematic vision of John Williams and Hans Zimmer. Under the baton of Noemí Pasquina, the Vallès Symphony Orchestra will transport us to the soundscape of some of the most iconic films in cinematic history with music by Morricone and Rota. From the emotive melodies of Cine Paradiso and The Mission from Morricone to the unmistakable notes ofThe Godfather and The road From Rota, the concert also includes other legendary pieces such as The good, the bad, and the ugly and Fellini 8½. There will be only two performances scheduled for December 16th and January 9th.

The seventh art will once again take center stage on January 6th at the Palau. Andrés Salado will conduct the Vallès Symphony Orchestra in a concert narrated (in Catalan) by voice actor Luis Posada, which includes excerpts from Star Wars, Interstellar, Schindler's List, Gladiator either The Da Vinci Code, epic soundtracks by Williams and Zimmer.