Guide to Palau de la Música de València

The Palau de la Música de València has an outstanding programme, consisting of a subscription season from October to July, featuring international ensembles, conductors and soloists, as well as the concerts of Orquesta de València. The Palau also presents a cycle dedicated to chamber music in ‘Cambra al Palau’, and the ‘Ciclo de Órgano’ in the Sala Iturbi with the Gran Órgano Grenzing. Other very important activities are the Jazz Festival held in July, the ‘City of Valencia’ International Band Competition at the end of July and the ‘Palau Kids’ educational project for schools and families.

The Palau de la Música de València was inaugurated on April 25, 1987, establishing itself as the musical and cultural engine of the city. Designed by the architect José María García de Paredes, the Palau includes Sala Iturbi, for 1,781 spectators, as well as a chamber hall, Sala Rodrigo, with 417 seats. The acoustics of these rooms are described as exceptional and unanimously praised by the numerous orchestras, soloists and chamber ensembles that have performed there. The venue is home to the Orchestra of València, which celebrates eight decades of brilliant artistic career. The Palau also includes other halls, such as Lucrecia Bori and Martín y Soler, both with capacity of 96 visitors, Sala de Exposiciones intended for conferences, in addition to the magnificent glass-enclosed lobby of the Vestíbulo de los Naranjos, which turns the auditorium into a cultural centre of enormous vitality and dynamism, full of activity practically all year round. In 2002, the auditorium was expanded with an underground annex building, integrated into the landscape of the Túria river by the project of the architect Eduardo de Miguel. The new expansion includes seven rehearsal rooms: a replica of the stage of the Sala Iturbi, Sala García Navarro, two choir rooms and four individual rooms, four collective dressing rooms, as well as an intense administrative activity, in addition to housing a large archive and musical documentation centre. The expansion also includes the Atrio de los Bambúes, with a powerful design that makes it an ideal environment for avant-garde exhibitions, cultural activities or a pleasant meeting point.

Orquesta de València was created in 1943 under the direction of Joan Lamote de Grignon. During its long musical life, it is worth highlighting tours abroad such as those to France and England (1950), Italy and Turkey with Mstislav Rostropovich as soloist (1996), Germany (2002), Austria and the Czech Republic with Joaquín Achúcarro as soloist (2008), in addition to performances at international festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein and Tage der Neuer Musik in Zurich. The orchestra worked over the years with exceptional principal conductors, such as: Hans von Benda, Napoleone Annovazzi, H. Unger, José Iturbi, Enrique García Asensio, Pedro Pirfano, García Navarro, Martínez Palomo, Benito Lauret, Manuel Galduf, Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez, Yaron Traub and Ramón Tebar. Current Principal Conductor is Alexander Liebreich, who is also the titular and artistic director of the Orchestra. Guest directors include A. Argenta, C. Krauss, H. Unger, J. Martinon, S. Celibidache, R. Chailly, V. Fedoséyev, K. Penderecki, Y. Menuhin, P. Maag, H. Rilling, Y. Temirkànov, J. López Cobos, G. Albrecht, FP Decker, R. Frühbeck de Burgos, G. Herbig, A. Litton, Z. Mehta, G. Noseda, J. Panula, G. Pehlivanian, M. Plasson, C. Rizzi, P. Steinberg, W. Weller, V. Gerviev, etc. The orchestra has also had the pleasure to work with renowned soloists such as: D. Barenboim, Teresa Berganza, Buchbinder, Montserrat Caballé, Victoria de los Ángeles, Plácido Domingo, Freni, Iturbi, Hahn, Kremer, Lupu, Mayski, Marton, Mintz, Obraztsova, Oistrakh, Pires, Pogorelich, Rachlin, Rostropovitch, Rubinstein, Segovia, Shaham, Sokolov, Stern, Szeryng, Vengerov, Volodos, Yepes, Zabaleta...