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
Alba Albert
Tel.: +34 681 28 99 66
[email protected]
Biography
Cor Jove, the youth choir of the Orfeó Català, is made of sixty singers aged between 16 and 25. Founded in 1986, the choir is currently co-conducted by Pablo Larraz and Oriol Castanyer, with Paul Perera as pianist.
The choir has collaborated with orchestras such as the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, the London Symphony Orchestra, Lisbon’s Orquestra Gulbenkian, the Pygmalion Ensemble, the Orquesta Nacional Clàssica d’Andorra and the Orquestra de Cambra Terrassa 48 and The Tallis Scholars, among other ensembles. The Cor Jove has also worked with conductors including Harry Christophers, Raphaël Pichon, Gianandrea Noseda, Simon Rattle, Simon Halsey and Peter Phillips.
In Catalonia, the choir has performed in Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, Cervera and Sabadell, while in Spain the ensemble has performed in Seville, Granada and Las Palmas. Further afield, the Cor Jove has given concerts in Poland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The choir has recorded several albums: Aigües de primavera (2010); Requiems (2013) by Mozart and Fauré, for Columna Música; and Musicals! (2017, Palau Records) by Albert Guinovart.
The choir gave the first-ever performance of Requiem by Albert Guinovart, and the ensemble gave a concert of John Adams’ work Harmonium as part of the Palau 100 concert series, alongside the Orfeó Català, Palau Cor de Cambra and the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, conducted by the composer himself. The Cor Jove also gave their voices to a stage production of the opera Dido & Aeneas by Henry Purcell, with stage direction by Marc Rosich and musical direction by Esteve Nabona.
In the 2023-24 season, highlights include concerts with the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, directed by Marta Gardolińska, performing Haydn’s The Creation. The choir will perform alongside the Cobla Marinada, tackling excerpts from Atlántida by Falla transcribed for cobla, among other works. Lastly, the choir will take part in the concert version of the musical Sweneey Tood by Sondheim, directed by Andreu Gallén.
The Cor Jove is part of the Choral School at the Orfeó Català, which is sponsored by the Banco Santander Foundation.