La Capella Nacional de Catalunya
La Capella Nacional de Catalunya is a professional choir founded in 2021, whose forces expand the 25-person chamber choir La Capella Reial de Catalunya to 40 singers.
Since its founding in 1987 in Barcelona by Montserrat Figueras and Jordi Savall, the chamber choir La Capella Reial de Catalunya has given much-praised concerts in Spain and worldwide, and released critically-acclaimed recordings of music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque and Classical eras. Over the last 35 years the ensemble, which is made up of 25 professional soloists, has played a pioneering role in the revival and dissemination of Catalan, Spanish and wider European music. This is reflected in their catalogue of more than fifty CDs for the label ALIA VOX.
The preparation and implementation of new projects from 2020, focussed on historically authentic performances of the choral- and-orchestral repertory of the 19th century – works such as Joseph Haydn’s Creation and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, as well as programmes exploring choral works by Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Bruckner and Brahms – highlighted the necessity of having a professional choir that was capable of doing full justice to this repertory. Therefore, during preparations for performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in 2021, La Capella Nacional de Catalunya was founded.
Following auditions in Paris and Barcelona with young graduates who had studied 18th- and 19th-century vocal music, 15 new singers were selected who – together with the existing members of the Capella Reial de Catalunya – form the first all-professional choir in Catalunya to give concerts based on historical performance practice.
La Capella Nacional de Catalunya has set itself the goal of reviving the European and worldwide musical heritage, by reconstructing historical performance practice techniques, relaying them to young musicians, and making them accessible to an increasingly diverse audience. The identical work of the internationally renowned musicians and young professional musicians in the orchestra under the direction of Jordi Savall is thus supported by a young professional choir. This creates a unique and exceptional set of conditions that allow the musicians to explore the music and its expressive power creatively, with maximum historical fidelity and artistic excellence, and thus to convey how it sounded in the period when it was composed.
Supported by the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and by the Institut Ramon Llull. Co-financed by the European Union. With financial support of Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles Occitanie.