Cor Jove
The Choir
A total of 59 singers aged between 16 and 25, most of them coming from the children’s choirs in the Escola, form the heart of the Cor Jove de l'Orfeó Català. Their training continues to be structured around singing classes and weekly rehearsals, culminating in a concert programme involving some twenty performances a year. The Cor Jove is part of the Palau de la Música Catalana programme and of festivals all over Catalonia, and carries on exchange activities with other national and international choirs and orchestras, with the aim of enriching their musical education and fostering the young singers’ personal development.
Booking the choir
Lídia Torra
[email protected]
Biography
The Cor Jove is made up of sixty singers aged between sixteen and twenty-five. Founded in 1986, Pablo Larraz is the current choir director while Pau Casan is the choir pianist.
The choir has sung alongside the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, London Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra de Lisboa, Ensemble Pygmalion, Orquesta Nacional Clásica de Andorra, Orquestra de Cambra Terrassa 48 and The Tallis Scholars, among other ensembles. The choir has also worked with conductors H. Christophers, R. Pichon, G. Noseda, S. Rattle, S. Halsey, P. Phillips and M. Gardolińska.
The Cor Jove has performed in Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, Cervera, Sabadell, Valencia, Seville, Granada, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, as well as in Poland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The vocal ensemble has recorded a number of albums, including Aigües de primavera (2010), Requiems (2013) by Mozart and Fauré, for Columna Música, and Musicals! (2017, Palau Records) by A. Guinovart.
The choir took part in the début performances of Requiem by Albert Guinovart, and the production of Harmonium by John Adams as part of the Palau 100 concert series, performing alongside the Orfeó Català, Palau Cor de Cambra and the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, conducted by the composer himself. In addition, the Cor Jove performed a new stage production of the opera Dido & Aeneas by Henry Purcell, with stage direction by Marc Rosich and musical direction by Esteve Nabona. The choir performed Haydn’s Creation with the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya and took part in the concert version of the musical Sweneey Todd by Sondheim, directed by Andreu Gallén, at the Palau de la Música Catalana. In 2024, the Cor Jove’s artistic highlights included performances with the OBC under the baton of Marta Gardolińska, featuring Haydn’s The Creation; a collaboration with the Cobla Marinada, including excerpts from Falla’s L’Atlàntida in a transcription for cobla; and a musical exchange with the Portuguese ensemble Ensemble Vocal Pro Musica, with concerts in Porto and at the Palau de la Música Catalana. The choir also performed Bach’s Lutheran Masses with Bach Collegium Barcelona and soloists from the Salvat Beca Bach, conducted by Pablo Larraz and Oriol Castanyer, and collaborated with the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès in the programme Music from Westerns, conducted by Víctor Pablo Pérez. Highlights of 2025 included performances with the OBC at L’Auditori, conducted by Stephanie Childress, in Poulenc’s Stabat Mater alongside the Cor de Cambra del Palau; John Tavener’s The Veil of the Temple with the Orfeó Català and the Cor de Noies de l’Orfeó Català as part of the Grec Festival; and Mozart’s Requiem with the Orquestra de la Universitat de València, conducted by Hilari García Gàrquez.
The last 2025-26 season featured the premiere of Olivia Pérez-Collellmir’s Els set somnis de Gaudí, performed alongside the Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana, the Cor de Noies de l’Orfeó Català and the Philharmonia Orchestra under the direction of Marin Alsop (June 2026); a performance of Albert Guinovart’s Gaudí with the Original SoundTrack Orchestra (OSTO), conducted by Belén Clemente and Albert Torrebella (February 2026); and a collaboration with the Balthasar Neumann Orchestra and Thomas Hengelbrock in a programme devoted to Händel (March 2026). The season also included a concert for choir and organ with organist Joan Seguí, featuring repertoire ranging from the Baroque to English and German Romanticism (November 2025).
Highlights of the current 2026-27 season include Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas (October 2026); Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, performed alongside the Cor de Cambra del Palau and the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya at L’Auditori under the direction of Carlos Mena (December 2026); a musical exchange with La Maîtrise de Toulouse (February 2027); and the celebration of the choir’s 40th anniversary with Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana (June 2027).
The Cor Jove is part of the Choral School at the Orfeó Català, which is sponsored by Endesa
