The members of all the choirs that make up the Orfeó Català and the Cor de Cambra del Palau are preparing for what is their most important event of the year: the Saint Stephen's Concert. On this occasion, its 350 singers will invite spectators to travel around the world through music and the different ways of celebrating these dates.
Catalan traditions will also play a prominent role in the concert, which has already become a Christmas tradition for Barcelona residents. The event, scheduled for Saint Stephen's Day at 7 p.m. in the modernist auditorium, is in its final preparations with tickets sold out, but with the possibility of following its broadcast.
Catalan music will be in charge of opening the concert, to then give way to celebrations from the rest of the world. Carols and arrangements by composers such as Bernat Vivancos, Baltasar Bibiloni and Jordi Domènech will welcome spectators, in an event that will be presented by actress Paula Malia and in which the singers will premiere new costumes, designed by Txell Miras.
Still within the framework of these Catalan traditions, this first part will feature three premieres commissioned by the Palau for the occasion: an arrangement by Joan Vives of Les dotze van tocant by Francesc Civil; Bi gabon-kanta, by the Donostia composer Eva Ugalde and based on two popular Basque songs, and three fragments of La Nit de Nadal by Joan Lamote de Grignon, with arrangements by Jordi Morales Mateu.
After this valorization of tradition and local music, the musical journey around the world will begin. As the director of the Orfeó Català, Pablo Larraz, explained, the second part of the concert will transport spectators to places like England, the United States, Latin America and Morocco.
The concert will include the premiere of the suite of four carols De Nadal a Sant Josep by Xavier PastranaThe audience will travel to the rhythm of songs such asIt's the most wonderful time of the year,harmonized by Joan Mas Soler and with the participation of the award-winning music quartetbarbershopMetropolitan Union, guest group in this edition. The singers will make stops at traditions such as the Uruguayan, with its traditional songCandombe of January 6, and the British, with pieces of Anglo-Saxon popular tradition.
And after touring around the world, it's time to return to Catalan popular culture. And it will be a premiere return, that of the suite of four carols De Nadal a Sant Josep, by Xavier Pastrana, which will be performed by all the choirs on stage. The end of the concert will approach with surprises from the Geganters i Grallers de Castellterçol, before all the singers intone, as usual, El Cant de la Senyera. What is the anthem of the Orfeó will serve to close the concert, though not without an essential encore, in this case El petit timbaler.
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