Titular symphony orchestra from the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

. Founded, as the theater, in 1847, it is the oldest orchestra still working in Barcelona, and the oldest in Spain. Its first conductor was Marià Obiols.

Orchestra musical directors, and head conductors has been:

• Michael Boder, 2008-
• Sebastian Weigle, 2004–2008
• Bertrand de Billy
  Bertrand de Billy
  Bertrand de Billy is a French conductor.He was born in Paris.After his career as an instrumental musician, de Billy began his conducting career in Paris. He later moved to Germany and built up his career as an opera conductor. He was the general music director at the Anhaltisches Theater in...
  
  , 1999-2004.
• Uwe Mund, 1987-1994.
• Eugenio Marco, 1981-1984.
• Ernest Xancó, 1959-1961.

Previously, the orchestra had not head conductors, but invited ones. Some of the conductors that have worked at Liceu have been: Franco Faccio

Franco Faccio

Franco Faccio was an Italian composer and conductor.-Biography:Born in Verona, Faccio became known as a conductor of Verdi's music. He studied music at the Milan Conservatory where he was a pupil of Stefano Ronchetti-Monteviti...

, Felix Weingartner

Felix Weingartner

Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...

, Manuel de Falla

Manuel de Falla

Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....

, Alexander Glazunov

Alexander Glazunov

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...

, Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...

, Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....

, Joan Lamote de Grignon

Joan Lamote de Grignon

Joan Lamote de Grignon i Bocquet , was a Catalan Spanish pianist, composer and orchestra director.Joan Lamote de Grignon was born and died in Barcelona, the son of parents of French descent Lluis Lamote de Grignon and Elena Bocquet. In 1911 he founded the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, of which he...

, Joan Manén, Jaume Pahissa, Ottorino Respighi

Ottorino Respighi

Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...

, Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...

, Karl Elmendorff

Karl Elmendorff

Karl Eduard Maria Elmendorff was a German opera conductor. Born in Düsseldorf, Elmendorff studied music at the Cologne College of Music and Hochschule für Musik Köln from 1913 to 1916 under Fritz Steinbach and Hermann Abendroth...

, Max von Schillings

Max von Schillings

Max von Schillings was a German conductor, composer and theatre director. He was chief conductor at the Berlin State Opera from 1919 to 1925....

, Joseph Keilberth

Joseph Keilberth

Joseph Keilberth was a German conductor who specialized in opera.He started his career in the State Theatre of his native city, Karlsruhe. In 1940 he became director of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague. Near the end of World War II he became principal conductor of the Dresden...

, Clemens Krauss

Clemens Krauss

Clemens Heinrich Krauss was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss.-Biography:...

, Bruno Walter

Bruno Walter

Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...

, Arturo Toscanini

Arturo Toscanini

Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...

, Hans Knappertsbusch

Hans Knappertsbusch

Hans Knappertsbusch was a German conductor, best known for his performances of the music of Richard Wagner, Anton Bruckner and Richard Strauss....

, Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...

, Albert Coates

Albert Coates (musician)

Albert Coates was an English conductor and composer. Born in Saint Petersburg where his English father was a successful businessman, he studied in Russia, England and Germany, before beginning his career as a conductor in a series of German opera houses...

, George Sebastian, Erich Kleiber

Erich Kleiber

Erich Kleiber was an Austrian conductor.- Biography :Born in Vienna, Kleiber studied in Prague...

, Franz Konwitschny

Franz Konwitschny

Franz Konwitschny was a German conductor and violist.He started his career on the viola, playing in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwängler. In 1925, he moved to Vienna, where he played the viola with the Fitzner Quartet. He also began teaching at the Wiener Volkskonservatorium...

, Antal Doráti

Antal Doráti

Antal Doráti, KBE was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1947.-Biography:...

, Hans Swarowsky

Hans Swarowsky

Hans Swarowsky was an Austrian conductor of Hungarian birth and Jewish descent.Swarowsky was born in Budapest, Hungary. He studied the art of conducting under Felix Weingartner and Richard Strauss...

, André Cluytens

André Cluytens

André Cluytens was a Belgian-born French conductor who was active in the concert hall, opera house and recording studio. His repertoire extended from Viennese classics through French composers to 20th century works...

, Antonino Votto

Antonino Votto

Antonino Votto was an Italian operatic conductor. Votto developed an extensive discography with the Teatro alla Scala in Milan during the 1950s, when EMI produced the bulk of its studio recordings featuring Maria Callas...

, Richard Bonynge

Richard Bonynge

Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...

, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Jesús López-Cobos

Jesús López-Cobos

Jesús López-Cobos is a Spanish conductor.López-Cobos was born in Toro, Zamora, Castile-León, Spain. He studied at Complutense University of Madrid and graduated with a degree in philosophy...

, Riccardo Muti

Riccardo Muti

Riccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.-Childhood and education:...

, Václav Neumann

Václav Neumann

Václav Neumann was a Czech conductor, violinist and viola player.Neumann was born in Prague where he studied at the Prague Conservatory, with Josef Micka , and with Pavel Dědeček and Metod Doležil . He co-founded, and played 1st violin in, the Smetana Quartet, before holding conducting posts in...

, Josep Pons

Josep Pons

Josep Pons is a Spanish conductor. He is the current conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra.-External links:**...

, Antoni Ros-Marbà

Antoni Ros-Marbà

Antoni Ros-Marbà is a Spanish conductor from Catalonia. He began his musical education at the Conservatori Superior de Música de Barcelona...

, Pinchas Steinberg

Pinchas Steinberg

Pinchas Steinberg is an Israeli conductor.He was a violin student in the USA and a composition student in Berlin. His conducting debut was in 1974 with the RIAS Symphony Orchestra, Berlin. He was a regular guest conductor with the Vienna State Opera from 1986-1993...

, Friedrich Haider, Peter Schneider

Peter Schneider (conductor)

Peter Schneider is an Austrian conductor and opera administrator.Schneider served as kapellmeister of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf-Duisburg from 1961 to 1968; general music director of the Bremer Philharmoniker from 1978 to 1985; opera director and general music director of...

, Silvio Varviso

Silvio Varviso

Silvio Varviso was a Swiss conductor who spent most of his career devoted to conducting operas. He began his conducting career working in minor opera houses in Switzerland in the mid 1940s. He became the principal conductor of the opera house in Basel in 1956 where he served for six years...

, Sylvain Cambreling

Sylvain Cambreling

Sylvain Cambreling is a French conductor. Trained as a trombone player, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He joined l'Orchestre Symphonique de Lyon as a trombonist in 1971. In 1974, he took second prize in the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors...

 or Víctor Pablo Pérez.

The orchestra has played at Teatro Real

Teatro Real

The Teatro Real or simply El Real , is a major opera house located in Madrid, Spain.-History:...

 and Palacio Real de Madrid, Arenes de Nîmes, Ludwigshafen opera, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris....

 in Paris, el Palau de la Música Catalana

Palau de la Música Catalana

The Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall in Barcelona. Designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for the Orfeó Català, a choral society founded in 1891 that was a leading force in the Catalan cultural movement...

 i el Teatre Grec de Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, Orange

Orange, Vaucluse

Orange is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It has a primarily agricultural economy...

 Festival, Odeon Herodion Atticus in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Seu Vella in Lleida

Lleida

Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...

, Peralada, Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, Palau de la Música de Valencia and La Fenice

La Fenice

Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...

 opera house in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

.

Premieres performed by the orchestra

Liceu

Liceu

The Gran Teatre del Liceu , or simply Liceu in Catalan and Liceo in Spanish, is an opera house on La Rambla in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain...

 opera house has been the location for the world premieres of several works, and for the Spanish premieres of a lot of musical works. Among the absolute premieres are (see all at Gran Teatre del Liceu):

• 1847 (April 4) Marià Obiols' cantata Il regio imene, the first musical work performed by the orchestra in the inauguration day.
• 1853 (January 8) Temistocle Solera
  Temistocle Solera
  Temistocle Solera was an Italian opera composer and librettist.He was born at Ferrara. He received his education at the Imperial College in Vienna and at the University of Pavia. Throughout his life he actively participated in anti-Austrian resistance. At one point, he was incarcerated for his...
  
  's Spanish opera La hermana de Pelayo, first opera premiered by the orchestra.
• 1874 (April 14) Felipe Pedrell
  Felipe Pedrell
  Felip Pedrell , was a Spanish Catalan composer. He worked as a musicologist and early music specialist and edited Victoria’s opera omnia and the requiem of Joan Brudieu. This and other of his writings fostered a keen interest in the early music of Spain...
  
  's opera L'ultimo Abenzerraggio.
• 1892 (May 14) Tomás Bretón
  Tomás Bretón
  Tomás Bretón was a Spanish musician and composer.-Biography:Tomás Bretón was born in Salamanca.He gained renown as a result of the success of his zarzuela La verbena de la Paloma, although other were well-received works, included his operas Los amantes de Teruel, based on the eponymous legend,...
  
  's opera Garín.
• 1895 (May 8) Isaac Albéniz
  Isaac Albéniz
  Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
  
  's opera Henry Clifford.
• 1896 (January 5) Isaac Albéniz
  Isaac Albéniz
  Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
  
  's opera Pepita Jiménez.
• 1902 (January 4) Felipe Pedrell
  Felipe Pedrell
  Felip Pedrell , was a Spanish Catalan composer. He worked as a musicologist and early music specialist and edited Victoria’s opera omnia and the requiem of Joan Brudieu. This and other of his writings fostered a keen interest in the early music of Spain...
  
  's grand-opera Els Pirineus.
• 1903 (December 3) Joan Manén's opera Acté.
• 1906 (January 20) Enric Morera's opera Empòrium.
• 1913 (January 15) Jaume Pahissa's first opera Gal·la Placídia.
• 1923 (March 31) Jaume Pahissa's Marianela.
• 1929 Manuel Blancafort's symphonic poem Matí de festa a Puiggraciós.
• 1932 (March 3) Joan Manén's opera Neró i Acté.
• 1948 (January 10) Xavier Montsalvatge
  Xavier Montsalvatge
  Xavier Montsalvatge i Bassols was a Spanish Catalan composer and music critic. He was one of the most influential music figures in Catalan music during the latter half of the 20th century.-Life:...
  
  's children opera El gato con botas.
• 1948 (January 10) Carlos Surinach
  Carlos Surinach
  Carlos Surinach was a Catalan Spanish-born composer and conductor.He was born in Barcelona, where he held conducting posts at the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona and the Gran Teatre del Liceu...
  
  's El mozo que casó con mujer brava.
• 1950 (December 14) Conrado del Campo
  Conrado del Campo
  Conrado del Campo was a composer, violinist and professor at the Real Conservatorio de Música in Madrid, who was the principal conductor of the Madrid Symphony Orchestra.His was works played in the Theathre Real of Madrid for José María Alvira. His opera Lola la Piconera made its debut at the Gran...
  
  's Lola la Piconera.
• 1956 (April 28) Frederic Mompou and Xavier Montsalvatge
  Xavier Montsalvatge
  Xavier Montsalvatge i Bassols was a Spanish Catalan composer and music critic. He was one of the most influential music figures in Catalan music during the latter half of the 20th century.-Life:...
  
  's ballet Perlimplinada.
• 1961 (November 24) Manuel de Falla
  Manuel de Falla
  Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
  
   and Ernesto Halffter
  Ernesto Halffter
  Ernesto Halffter Escriche was a Spanish composer and conductor. He was the brother of Rodolfo Halffter....
  
  's scenic cantata Atlàntida
  Atlàntida
  Atlántida is an opera by Manuel de Falla based on a Spanish translation of the Catalan poem L'Atlàntida by Jacint Verdaguer.Atlántida started in the 1920s as a cantata, but grew over 20 years to become a full opera. De Falla died in Argentina before it was finished, leaving a loose collection of...
  
  .
• 1962 (December 11) Xavier Montsalvatge
  Xavier Montsalvatge
  Xavier Montsalvatge i Bassols was a Spanish Catalan composer and music critic. He was one of the most influential music figures in Catalan music during the latter half of the 20th century.-Life:...
  
  's Una voce in off.
• 1974 (January 19) Matilde Salvador's Vinatea.
• 1986 (May 22) Josep Soler's Oedipus et Iocasta.
• 1988 (September 21) Xavier Benguerel's scenic cantata Llibre vermell.
• 1989 (September 24) Leonardo Balada
  Leonardo Balada
  Leonardo Balada , is a Catalan American composer, now teaching and composing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Life:...
  
  's opera Cristóbal Colón.
• 1990 (October 5) Xavier Benguerel's oratory Requiem for Salvador Espriu
  Salvador Espriu
  Salvador Espriu i Castelló was a Catalan poet writing in the Catalan language.-Biography:Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, Catalonia. He was the son of an attorney. His childhood was divided between his home town, Barcelona, and Arenys de Mar, a village on the Maresme coast...
  
  , at the Torroella de Montgrí
  Torroella de Montgrí
  Torroella de Montgrí is a small town in Catalonia, on the north bank of the Ter river.-Features:The town is 22 km east of Girona and 5 km west of the resort of L'Estartit...
  
   International Festival of Music.
• 2000 (October 2) José Luis Turina's opera D.Q., Don Quijote en Barcelona, with settings by La Fura dels Baus
  La Fura dels Baus
  La Fura dels Baus is a Catalan theatrical group founded in 1979 in Barcelona, known for their urban theatre, use of unusual settings and blurring of the boundaries between audience and actor. "La Fura dels Baus" in Catalan means "vermin from the sewers"....
  
  .
• 2004 (November 3) Joan Guinjoan's opera Gaudí.

External links

• http://www.liceubarcelona.com/altres/cat/orquestraicor.asp (in Catalan)
• http://www.liceubarcelona.com