Barcelona Municipal Band

Since 2007, it has been the resident band at the Barcelona Auditorium (L'Auditori), where it offers a fixed season of concerts and where it develops projects in partnership with artists and groups forming part of the international scene as well as those from the local sphere.

There are records going back to the 14th century of the presence of instrumental groups accompanying official municipal events and celebrations in Barcelona, often under the name of ‘city music’.

The earliest mention of them dates from 29 August 1361, when King Peter IV of Aragon ordered five minstrels to attend the arrival of the Infanta of Sicily in the city of Barcelona.

At that time it was directed by Joan Lamote de Grignon, who in 1951 managed to make the band independent from the city's Music School (today's Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona).

One event that speaks for the great artistic moment the institution was experiencing was the concert given by the composer and conductor Richard Strauss in Plaça Sant Jaume on 19 March 1925.

Under Lamote de Grignon, the band began what were called the People's Symphonic Concerts (Conciertos Sinfónicos Populares), with two performances by the group at the Barcelona International Exposition in 1929.

[7] Joan Lamote de Grignon headed the band for 24 years, during which time it reached exceptional technical and artistic heights and put down firm institutional and social roots.

In spite of this, on 29 January 1939, three days after Franco's troops entered the new nationalist Barcelona, a field mass in Plaça Catalunya marked the start of the period of purges the band suffered as a public body.

Despite this initial break-up and reduction of the group, along with the political situation at that time, the band managed to survive these tough decades thanks to the work of musicians and conductors such as Ramon Bonell i Chanut (1939-1955), Ricard Lamote de Grignon (1955-1957) –the son of Joan Lamote de Grignon and former assistant conductor of the band–, Joan Pich i Santasusana (1957-1967), Josep González (1967-1969) and Enric Garcés Garcés (1969 -1979).

The almost three decades from the end of the 1970s to the band's taking up residence at the Barcelona Auditorium (L'Auditori) were directed by Francesc Elias i Prunera (1979-1980), Albert Argudo i Lloret (1980-1993) and Josep Mut (1993-2007).

Since 2007, the band has been resident at the Barcelona Auditorium, where it performs a fixed season of concerts with the collaboration of various guest conductors and soloists from the international scenario as well as from local spheres.

To illustrate this attitude, these are some of the pieces it has debuted in recent years: The Barcelona Municipal Band has partnered with musicians of acknowledged international renown throughout its long history.