Orfeó Català to embark on 'historic' tour with Berlin Philharmonic

L'Orfeó Català is to embark on a "historic" tour this spring with the Berlin Philharmonic. 

The choir, a cultural institution in Catalonia, will join the German orchestra to perform at the Berliner Philarmonie for the first time in its history on April 27 and 28. 

The tour will continue on May 1 at the Sagrada Família in Barcelona before concluding at Madrid's Auditorio Nacional on May 3.  

A different program will be performed in each venue, but all audiences will be treated to Mozart's Coronation Mass, under the direction of Kirill Petrenko. 

The concerts will mark only the second time the Orfeó Català has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, with the first collaboration taking place in 2013. It will also be the first time the choir performs under the direction of Petrenko, the orchestra's chief conductor and artistic director. 

Mozart, Schumann, Takemitsu, Prayer for Ukraine 

As well as Mozart's Coronation Mass, all concerts will feature the Austrian composer's motet 'Exsultate, jubilate'.  

The Barcelona program also includes Takemitsu's Requiem for Strings and Silvestrov's Prayer for Ukraine, along with more works by Mozart. 

Schumann's Symphony No.4 will be performed in Berlin while the concert in Madrid will be an all-Mozart program. 

Berlin Philharmonic at Palau de la Música  

In addition to the Sagrada Família concert, the Berlin Philharmonic will also perform – without the Orfeó Català – at the Palau de la Música on May 2. 

The orchestra first performed at the modernist gem in the heart of Barcelona in 1908, just three months after the building's inauguration, with three concerts conducted by Richard Strauss. 

Ambassadors of Catalan culture 

The Orfeó Català's 2023 tour come one year on from successful concerts abroad in Paris and Luxembourg. 

Since 2013 the choir has travelled outside Catalonia as part of their role as "ambassadors of Catalan culture," including to Vienna, Lisbon, London, Italy, China, and Munich, Madrid and Palma de Mallorca.