Ivo Pogorelich & Franz Schubert Filharmonia at Palau de la Musica Catalana

About the Event

In this highly‐anticipated concert, hear the mellifluous sounds of classical music by Dvořák and Chopin at Barcelona's treasured and world‐renowned Palau de la Música Catalana.

The opening of the Franz Schubert Filharmonia season with the incomparable art of pianist Ivo Pogorelich and the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Chopin, the composer who made him a legend. Pogorelich is a living legend: His career has taken him to the world's greatest stages and he displays his art wherever he appears. His playing and commitment to music have not only created a school, but also sparked passionate debates.

Pogorelich is a living legend: His career has taken him to the best stages in the world, and he continues to showcase his art wherever he goes. His playing style and commitment to the music have not only created a school, but also generated pages of criticism with passionate defenders and avowed detractors. It is a luxury to begin the season with him, a sincere and sensitive pianist who has made his mark with the music of Chopin. For his performance with our orchestra, Pogorelich has chosen this concertante work, with which Chopin conquered Paris and began to earn the epithet 'poet of the piano'.

Antonin Dvořák was appointed an honorary member of the London Philharmonic Society at the age of 43 and was commissioned to write a symphony to be premiered in the British capital. Although his works up to then had been mainly nationalistic, with the Seventh he bared his soul and captured his deepest passions musically: joy, vitality, sadness, hope.

Dvořák's Seventh is Romanticism in its purest form, with room for the extremes of emotion without forgetting the Bohemian and Gypsy themes that recur in the DNA of his music.

Palau de la Música Catalana
The Palau de la Musica Catalana is a dazzling building situated in the northern part of Barcelona's Old Town. An architectural jewel of the Catalan Art Nouveau style, built between 1905 and 1908, its rich interior displays the work of the region's artisans in the form of stained‐glass windows, ceramics, sculptures, paintings and blacksmithing. The extensive use of glass in the construction of the venue creates stunningly radiant interiors. The dusty red facade of the Palau is decorated with busts of great composers including Bach, Beethoven and Wagner, and colorful mosaics in floral patterns.

The centre of the Palau is the magnificent concert hall, entirely lit by natural sunlight due to the extraordinary skylight in the centre of the richly ornate ceiling, which is popular for symphonic and chamber music. According to Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the architect who designed the Palau, the aim was to create a “garden for music” – an objective he definitely managed to achieve.