What is the point of having two institutions like the Palau de la Música and L'Auditori in a city like Barcelona? Is there enough demand to justify it? Is there a generational replacement and sufficient future projection for an audience that the general perception points to as too old? The answer to all three questions is a monumental yes, which both Joan Oller and Robert Brufau, the directors of both institutions, answered enthusiastically and with data as endorsement, in a new edition of Moments Estel·lars at CASA SEAT, this time about musical institutions as an emblem of the Catalan capital.
Oller, with a mischievous smile, opened clearly: "There should be even more!" And he justified it with the hundreds of thousands of people who pass through both facilities each year, as well as with the very tight musical program they offer, with about 600 concerts a year, each. Attendance at the halls, moreover, usually shows well-filled capacities and an average age, for example at the Palau, which stands at 47 years old, a figure that is not at all advanced.
Furthermore, Brufau added the complementarity that describes the relationship between both institutions, and which was reflected in the meeting by a fantastic harmony between the directors. But, complementarity, in what sense? For example, in the one that starts from the private nature of one institution and the public nature of the other.
L'Auditori was born to house the Barcelona Symphony and National Orchestra of Catalonia (OBC), is inspired by successful models such as the Cité de la Musique in Paris, and hosts the Catalonia College of Music (ESMUC). In addition, it has four halls, not one. So, in short, one can see where some can and should go and where others should.
The Palau, moreover, is a work of art as a building that also attracts a multitude of tourists daily. And those who do not come attracted by its architecture and history, do so for a musical offer that allows this institution and L'Auditori to be part of ECHO, that is, the European Concert Hall Organisation, a prestigious structure that only has two cities with two members integrated into it. Vienna is one. Barcelona, the other, with the only two musical institutions in the State that are part of ECHO: the Palau and L'Auditori.
This singularizes, projects, and gives prestige to a city in the world. That is why the Palau and L'Auditori are an emblem. Because they drive Barcelona to lead the orchestra of cities in the world, also in the cultural sphere.