Season Opener Celebrates Pau Casals
The Palau de la Música Catalana will open its 2026-27 season with a special tribute concert to cellist, composer and conductor Pau Casals on Monday 28 September at 7pm. The event marks the 150th anniversary of Casals' birth and sets the tone for a season themed around peace, according to a press release from the venue.
Artists and Programme
The concert features the Orfeó Català, Escolania de Montserrat, cellist Pablo Ferrández, the Quartet Casals, and the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès under conductor Xavier Puig. Soloists include soprano Marta Mathéu, mezzo-soprano Gemma Coma-Alabert, tenor Roger Padullés and baritone Ferran Albrich. The programme includes works deeply connected to Casals’ life and legacy: his choral pieces O vos omnes and Nigra sum, an a cappella arrangement of El cant dels ocells by Bernat Vivancos, Schubert’s String Quintet in C major, and the first of Bach’s Cello Suites, which Casals famously revived. The concert culminates in the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, “Ode to Joy”, sung in Catalan using Joan Maragall’s translation, the same version Casals conducted in his final performance in Catalonia.
Booking and Accessibility
The concert takes place in the Sala de Concerts at the Palau de la Música Catalana on 28 September 2026 at 19:00. Tickets are available via the official booking portal at entrades.palaumusica.cat. The performance will be recorded audiovisually, the venue confirmed.
Primary sources: ajuntament.barcelona.cat, barcelona.cat, Barcelona City Council. Reported by barcelonaturisme.com, palaumusica.cat, entrades.palaumusica.cat, Agencia EFE, CCMA, femturisme.cat, paucasals.org.
