Sagrada Família hosts a concert to celebrate Christmas

Yesterday, the Sagrada Família hosted its concert celebrating that the Christmas season is approaching. This year, the concert featured the National Classical Orchestra of Andorra (ONCA) and the Cor de Cambra of the Palau de la Música Catalana, both led by Lleida-born conductor Xavier Puig with Andorra-born violinist Gerard Claret as concertmaster. Plus, so everyone could enjoy this concert, the Sagrada Família gave out 400 tickets for two in a draw on social media.

The music groups performed several pieces, including traditional Catalan Christmas carols, such as Fum, fum, fum; as well as Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden and Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum. The concert was conducted by Xavier Puig, currently conductor of Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès and main conductor of the Cor de Cambra of the Palau de la Música Catalana, and by Gerard Claret, concertmaster at the National Classical Orchestra of Andorra, which was established in 1992 as a string orchestra and was recognised with the Government of Catalonia Creu de Sant Jordi medal in 2004. For its part, the Cor de Cambra of the Palau de la Música Catalana, established in 1990 in order to help share universal choir music, promote Catalan musical heritage and foster new musical creations, is one of the most prestigious professional choirs in Spain.