Prior to that, from its foundation to 1998, the orchestra was resident at the Palau de la Música Catalana.
After the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), both the orchestra and society were banned and Casals went into exile in France.
Toldrà, through his leadership, helped to consolidate the orchestra's presence very early in the cultural life of the city.
Barcelona has since had a regular cycle of symphonic concerts with the collaboration of the main national and foreign performers and with the aim to make classical music reach the greater public and especially to spread the work of Catalan composers.
As the city's main orchestra, the OBC has performed many world premières of musical compositions, including the following: