L'Auditori de Barcelona

L'Auditori, which is located in the Eixample, covers a surface area of 42,000m2 and is one of Barcelona's premier music venues. The wood-lined main auditorium, the Sala Pau Casals, can seat 2,340 people and has exceptional acoustics which can be experienced as you enjoy a wide variety of musical styles, from symphonic music to rock and the works of singer-songwriters.

The concert hall complex, L'Auditori, was designed by Rafael Moneo, one of the world's most renowned architects and the first to be awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1996.

The building opened in 1999 and since then has become a focus for Barcelona's musical life in the spheres of education, teaching and research. L'Auditori has three concert halls with impeccable acoustics, each of them named after a Catalan musician: the symphony hall, the Sala Pau Casals, seating 2,340 people; the Sala Oriol Martorell, seating 600, and the Sala Tete Montoliu, seating 400. The complex also houses the Museu de la Música, the music school, the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) and is the premises of the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (OBC). All these spaces are set out around a central courtyard which contains one of the true gems of the building: the monumental cubic lantern made of glass and decorated with striped paintings by Pablo Palazuelo.

L'Auditori is the venue for the Barcelona Festival of Contemporary Music, and hosts seasons of symphonic, chamber, early, world, choral and modern music. It also runs educational programmes, provides support for young artists, and brings music to the most disadvantaged members of the community.