(c) Josep Molina
The Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana was created in 1990 by the Orfeó Català with support from the Fundació Caixa Catalunya. Its purpose is to cultivate and promote chamber choral music with a deep and rigorous dedication. Thanks to Departament de Cultura i Mitjans de Comunicació de la Generalitat de Catalunya and the Fundació Orfeó Català – Palau de la Música Catalana, the Cor de Cambra is the first professional chamber choir in Catalonia.
Since its creation, it has given more than eight hundred recitals in diverse towns in Catalonia, Spain, Europe, America (the USA and Guatemala) and Israel.
Its repertory contains compositions that go from the renaissance to current works, including the first performances of works by B. Casablancas, J.A. Amargós, A. Carbonell, J. Homs, J. Soler, X. Montsalvatge, L. Balsach, C. Santos, J. L. Turina and J. M. Sánchez Verdú.
In addition to having its own series of music, “Cambra Coral”, in the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Cor de Cambra has participated in all the music series organised by the Fundació Orfeó Català-Palau de la Música, such as Palau 100 and the most important series of concerts in our country, such as “Ibermúsica”, “Euroconcert”, “Ciclo de Cámara y Polifonía de Madrid”, “Conciertos de Sábado de la Fundación Juan March”, “Ciclo Madrid Villa y Corte”, “Grandes Conciertos de Palacio” and “Música en el Rosalía” both of which are held in A Coruña.
The Choir has also been invited to participate in important music festivals such as the “Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca”, “Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada”, “Festival Mozart de La Coruña”, “Festival d’Estiu de Barcelona-Grec”, “Festival Internacional de la Porta Ferrada”, “Festival de Ópera de Tenerife”, “Festival de Música de Canarias” and the International Music Festivals of Torroella de Montgrí, Ordino, Cadaqués, Peralada and Llívia.
It has also taken part in stable series and collaborated with prestigious orchestras such as the Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta de Radio Televisión Española, Orquesta de la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Orquesta Ciudad de Málaga, Orquesta Sinfónica de La Coruña, Real Filharmonía de Santiago, Orquesta Pablo Sarasate, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Orquestra Nacional Clàssica d’Andorra, Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, Orquestra Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Orquestra de Cadaqués, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Bach Akademie, Le Concert des Nations, Concertino of Amsterdam, Joven Orquesta Nacional de España, Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, The Sixteen, Grupo Enigma, Concerto Italiano, Orquesta Il Fondamento, Orchesta Internazionale d’Italia, La Petite Bande, BandArt, Les Musiciens du Louvre and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
The Choir has collaborated in numerous operatic productions, including collaborations with the Gran Teatre de Liceu, the Mozart Festival of A Coruña and the Opera Festival of Tenerife, with operas such as Puccini’s Turandot and La Bohème; Turina’s El Quijote in Barcelona; Santos’s L’adéu de Lucrecia Borja; Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, La clemenza di Tito and Don Giovanni; Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth; Falla’s La vida breve; Barbieri’s El barberillo de Lavapiés; Britten’s Peter Grimes; Musorgski’s Boris Godunov; Wagner’s Parsifal; Rossini’s Tancredi and La Cenerentola; Handel’s Ariodante or Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress.
The Choir has performed the most important symphonic-choral works under the great conductors, including Rinaldo Alessandrini, Yuri Ahronovitch, Alexander Anissimov, Bertrand de Billy, Fabio Biondi, Frans Brüggen, Harry Chistophers, Edmon Colomer, Sir Colin Davis, Arthur Fajen, Lawrence Foster, Rumon Gamba, Chistopher Howood, Ernest Martínez-Izquierdo, Maris Janson, Sigiswald Kuijken, Adrian Leaper, Gustav Leonhardt, Jesús López-Cobos, Peter Maag, Sir Neville Marriner, Salvador Mas, Marc Minkowsky, Gianandrea Nosseda, Víctor Pablo Pérez, George Phelivanian, Josep Pons, Helmuth Rilling, Antoni Ros Marbà, Doron Solomon, Carles Santos, Jordi Savall, Günther Theuring, Sebastian Weigle and Rudolf Werthen.
It was awarded the Premi Nacional de Música de la Generalitat de Catalunya in 1994, in the category of classical music performer.
The chamber choir has recorded the following records: Canciones y villanescas espirituales de Guerrero (Harmonia Mundi), Jardín de Hesperia (Geaster), Romancero gitano (Disc-Medi) and Cristòfor Taltabull (Columna Música), in collaboration with the Orfeó Català El pessebre by Pau Casals (Auvidis) and with the Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid El libro del destierro de José M. Sánchez Verdú (Harmonia Mundi). It has also recordered the following DVD’s: D.Q. Don Quijote en Barcelona (Gran Teatre del Liceu), Lady Macbeth (EMI), Don Giovanni (Opus Arte), Boris Goudunov (TDK), and Boulevard Solitude (Euroarts) in collaboration with the Gran Teatre del Liceu; and it has recorded for Catalunya Ràdio, RNE-Radio 2, RTVE, ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), Televisió de Catalunya and Canal +.
> Visit the ensemble’s website.