The Barcelona Municipal Band performs an open-air concert in front of the Sagrada Família
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Barcelona, 19 June 2026.– The Nativity façade of the Sagrada Família was this evening the setting for a concert by the Barcelona Municipal Band, an event open to the public and framed within the commemoration of the centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s death.
The event gathered audiences along Marina Street to enjoy a musical programme specially conceived for this emblematic space. The concert was preceded by an institutional welcome, which was followed by the performance of the programme by the Barcelona Municipal Band under the direction of José Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana.
The performance formed part of the cultural programme promoted by the Basilica of the Sagrada Família to mark the centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s death, and also joined the celebration of the 140th anniversary of the Barcelona Municipal Band, one of the city’s most representative musical institutions.
Under the title Art and Humanity, the repertoire established a dialogue between music, spirituality and artistic creation, values deeply connected to Gaudí’s universe. The programme included works by international and Catalan composers such as Morton Gould, Robert Jager, Lluís Millet, Juli Garreta, Eduard Toldrà and Albert Guinovart, featuring pieces that evoke transcendence, collective memory, cultural roots and humanist commitment.
Among the highlights of the evening was the performance of Catalanesques by Lluís Millet, a close friend of Antoni Gaudí and a key figure in organising his funeral, as well as the sardanas Juny by Juli Garreta and Empúries by Eduard Toldrà, composers contemporary to the architect and leading figures of Catalan music of their time.
The concert concluded with Sagrada Família, the final movement of Albert Guinovart’s Gaudí Symphony, a work commissioned by the Barcelona Municipal Band in 2024 and inspired by the expiatory temple. The piece brought to a close an evening dedicated to honouring Gaudí’s creative, spiritual and humanist legacy through the universal language of music.