La Capella Reial de Catalunya

Since its foundation in Barcelona in 1987 by Montserrat Figueras and Jordi Savall, the chamber choir La Capella Reial de Catalunya has given numerous concerts and recordings of music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical periods of considerable importance, both nationally and internationally. Over the last 35 years, the ensemble, always composed of young professional soloists (usually 20–25 singers), has played an important role in the revival and dissemination of Catalan, Hispanic and European musical heritage, which has been reflected in more than 50 CDs from the ALIA VOX catalogue.

Since 2020, and throughout 2021, the preparation and realisation of new projects aimed at reviving the “original historical sound” of the 19th-century choral and orchestral repertoire, such as Haydn’s The Creation and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, has been a priority. With Beethoven’s work, as well as the preparation of further programmes with choral works by Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Bruckner and Brahms, the need to have a larger, more far-reaching professional choir capable of mastering this new repertoire with appropriate excellence became apparent.

 

As a part of the preparations for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony concerts in 2021, the decision was made to create La Capella Nacional de Catalunya, a new professional choir of 40 young singers emerging from the 25-member core of La Capella Reial de Catalunya. Following auditions in Paris and Barcelona with young graduates of the 18th- and the 19th-century vocal music studies, fifteen new singers have been selected who, together with the older members, form Catalonia’s first choir made up exclusively of professional singers specialising in performances based on historical practices.

 

La Capella Nacional de Catalunya is the culmination of the work experience of the previous academies – a pedagogical work aimed at revitalising European and world musical heritage through the reconstruction of contemporary performance techniques, their transmission to the younger generations and their dissemination to an increasingly diverse and varied audience.

 

The combination of internationally renowned musicians and young professional musicians in the orchestra Le Concert des Nations under the direction of Jordi Savall is thus complemented by a young professional choir. This way, unique and exceptional conditions are created that bring the music to life with all its expressive power on the basis of creative work characterised by maximum historical fidelity and artistic excellence in accordance with the sound of its time of origin.