Courtesy of Palau de la Música Catalana
Few buildings are as exuberant as Barcelona’s 100-year-old Palau de la Música Catalana (palaumusica.org). The concert hall, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner (a contemporary of Antoni Gaudí) and inaugurated in 1908, explodes with vibrant color and ornamentation. After a restoration and the addition of a chamber music hall, the Petit Palau, the building is newly resplendent. The intimate auditorium glows beneath a stained-glass skylight and inverted gold-and-glass dome. And in spite of the profusion of glass and ceramics, the acoustics are still outstanding. The hall is celebrating in grand style. Highlights of the season: the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, with Gustavo Dudamel conducting, on October 27; and the Emerson String Quartet on November 13, in the Petit Palau.
