Ludovic Morlot opens fifth OBC season as ticket sales rise 25% at L'Auditori

Season opening and box office growth

The Barcelona Symphony and National Orchestra of Catalonia (OBC) opens its 2026–2027 season at L'Auditori on Friday, 2 October 2026. Music director Ludovic Morlot begins his fifth season leading the ensemble following a 25% increase in advance ticket sales, reaching 12,765 tickets sold compared to 10,196 at the same point last year. Season subscriptions remained stable at 4,600, despite a price increase of nearly 10% implemented for the first time in a decade. Across all music genres presented at L'Auditori, ticket sales grew by 36%, according to general director Víctor Medem, who is overseeing his first fully programmed season at the venue.

Inaugural repertoire and the Gerhard Biennial

The opening concert pairs classical repertoire with twentieth-century Catalan music. Pianist Jan Lisiecki performs Frédéric Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2, followed by Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Morlot noted that when Beethoven premiered the Seventh Symphony in Vienna, audience applause forced the orchestra to repeat the second movement. The program opens with Robert Gerhard's Concertino for string orchestra, marking the start of the first Robert Gerhard Biennial organized by L'Auditori alongside the Robert Gerhard Foundation and Esmuc under foundation president Edmon Colomer. Morlot described the twelve-tone piece as a major artistic focus following the orchestra's previous recording of Gerhard's Violin Concerto with Carolin Widmann.

Artistically each time I feel more at home, not only because of the sound of the orchestra, but I also feel more part of this culture. The ensemble has grown in many things, including in pride and identity, something I always wanted them to embrace.

Leadership, guest artists, and orchestra roster

Morlot will combine his position at the OBC with a new appointment as music director of the Porto Symphony Orchestra starting this season. At the season presentation, L'Auditori introduced assistant conductors Adrián Moscardó and Miquel Massana. The orchestra continues without a permanent concertmaster during Vlad Stanculeasa's leave of absence, which concludes at the end of the season; Medem announced that the institution will recruit two concertmasters rather than one once the vacancy is filled. Upcoming guest conductors include Kent Nagano and Vasily Petrenko, alongside an anthology of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart piano concertos featuring Imogen Cooper, Saskia Giorgini, and Alexei Volodin.

Gerhard is the most important Catalan composer of the 20th century and is not sufficiently known.

Opening week schedule and outreach

The inaugural symphonic program repeats on Sunday, 4 October 2026, following the Friday opening performance. Outreach initiatives also resume on Saturday, 3 October, with the season's first 'Tast d'Orquestra' session presented by Els Homes Clàssics to connect new listeners with classical music. Beyond the opening works, the 2026–2027 season will present compositions by Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, and Dmitri Shostakovich across the orchestral calendar.