In a city already full to bursting with architectural and cultural marvels, Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana stands out, its interior bristling with decoration in the distinctive Catalan modernista style. The hall also boasts some of the most illustrious soloists active in classical music – with this year’s season full of so many highlights it can be difficult to know where to begin.
The first obvious highlight is the inaugural event of the season: the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Daniele Gatti, who perform a programme of Stravinsky and Shostakovich on 3rd October. The string-dominated opening of Shostakovich’s dark Tenth Symphony makes it almost a shattered mirror image of Stravinsky’s elegant Apollon musagète.
Viennese elegance shows up again at the end of October, with Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder, sung by Dame Sarah Connolly with period instrument orchestra Anima Eterna Brugge, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. Indeed, it is an all-Viennese programme, with Mahler’s songs paired with Bruckner’s great Third Symphony – part of an ongoing series of performances of Bruckner’s symphonies on period instruments by Heras-Casado and the orchestra, begun in 2022. (Sarah Connolly can also be heard in a chamber setting earlier in October, performing Mahler, Brahms, Schubert and Schumann Lieder with Iréne Theorin and Julius Drake.)
Another standout period-instrument orchestra is the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, who appear at the Palau with Collegium Vocale Gent in November, conducted by early music stalwart Philippe Herreweghe. This all-Beethoven concert sees an airing of the composer’s Mass in C Major alongside the Fourth Piano Concerto – two works which featured in a famous concert given in 1808. Kristian Bezuidenhout joins as the piano soloist.
Two other concerts in November present an unusual juxtaposition of 20th-century music. The Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg appear in early November with a crowd-pleasing programme of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F together with two of Respighi’s Roman tone-poem cycles, Roman Festivals and Pines of Rome, all music extremely evocative of its time period, the 1920s. Then, a couple of weeks later, comes an unusual chance to hear Mike Oldfield’s Hergest Ridge live, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary – Oldfield’s paean to the English countryside is one of the highlights of 1970s symphonic prog rock.
January sees some major orchestral guests invited to the Palau, including Marin Alsop and the Philharmonia Orchestra joining young Spanish violinist María Dueñas to perform Korngold’s Violin Concerto, alongside offerings from Prokofiev and a recent work by Jessie Montgomery. A few days later, Klaus Mäkelä arrives with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (he will be its new chief conductor from 2027), in a programme that includes a new work Subito con forza from Unsuk Chin. This is set against two contrasting moments of deep Germanism: Wagner’s serene Siegfried Idyll, and Richard Strauss’ gargantuan orchestral self-portrait Ein Heldenleben. Expect fireworks.
The Palau also sees a remarkable selection of soloists in January, with a particular focus on Bach. Fazıl Say performs the Goldberg Variations, together with his own piano sonata Yeni hayat (New Life). A few days later, French virtuoso Alexandre Tharaud performs a Bach-infused recital, including a series of his own transcriptions. Not to be outdone, Catalan cellist and fixture of the Casals Quartet Arnau Tomàs performs the complete Bach Cello Suites in early February.
Two other standout solo recitals follow in February: the first from Alice Sara Ott, who adroitly combines Beethoven Piano Sonatas with the celebrated Nocturnes of John Field, one of Beethoven’s most gifted contemporaries. Then, at the end of February, the Palau sees the return of Grigory Sokolov, one of the world’s most unmissable pianists – with a programme as yet unannounced.
Early 2025 at the Palau is also a standout time for choral music, with a series of major guest vocal ensembles and vocalists making appearances. French Ensemble I Gemelli, led by founder Emiliano Gonzalez Toro perform Monteverdi’s stunning Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, with vocal soloists including Natalie Perez. Then in March, the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor arrives for a two-concert stint, conducted by their founder Thomas Hengelbrock, including a performance of Beethoven’s other Mass, the Missa Solemnis. They are joined by the for a series of works by Mendelssohn, Brahms and Catalan composer Vivancos Bernat.
April sees further instalments of the Palau’s Bach series, with the St John and the St Matthew Passion performed back-to-back by some of Europe’s finest Bachians. St Matthew is performed first, by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the RIAS Kammerchor, conducted by Justin Doyle (Patrick Grahl and Konstantin Krimmel join as the Evangelist and Jesus). Then two days later, Vox Luminis and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra perform the St John Passion, conducted by Lionel Meunier. Holy week 2025 could not be more marked.
The following week sees a more secular occasion, but by no means less essential – Maria João Pires and Kristian Bezuidenhout arrive with the English Baroque Soloists to perform several of Mozart’s multi-piano concertos: both pianists are among the standout Mozartians of their era. The concert concludes with the “Prague” Symphony.
Spring 2025 also offers a rare occasion for fans of Daniel Harding: to see the conductor lead two Mahler symphonies with two different orchestras(!) In early May, with the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Harding conducts Mahler’s First Symphony, with Joshua Bell joining for Dvořák’s Violin Concerto. Then at the end of May, Harding returns, this time with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, for Mahler’s “Resurrection” Second Symphony, joined by the massed ranks of the Orfeó Català chorus – the choral society that commissioned the Palau de la Música in the first place.
There remain many other standout gems in the Palau season this year – including a slew of chamber music, featuring major soloists from across the world – indeed too many for this short preview to mention.
See all event listings at Palau de la Música Catalana.
This preview was sponsored by the Palau de la Música – Orfeó Català.
