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.
After Toldrà's death in 1962, Rafael Ferrer became the head of the orchestra until 1967, when Antoni Ros-Marbà succeeded him.
As the city's main orchestra, the OBC has performed many world premières of musical compositions, including the following: