Catalan choirs join Gustavo Dudamel and New York Philharmonic on landmark European tour

Three choirs from the Palau de la Música Catalana are joining Gustavo Dudamel and the New York Philharmonic on a European tour, performing in five concerts across the continent's leading concert halls.

The Orfeó Català, the Orfeó Català Girls' Choir and singers from the Orfeó Català Children's Choir performed alongside the orchestra at the Philharmonie de Paris on Saturday, in the second concert of a tour marking the New York Philharmonic's return to Europe after almost a decade.

The tour, running from October 9 to 22, is also Dudamel's first European tour as music and artistic director of the orchestra, a position he took up in September.

The Catalan choirs are performing On the Transmigration of Souls, a 2002 work by American composer John Adams commissioned by the New York Philharmonic as a memorial to the victims of the September 11 attacks.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning composition incorporates recordings connected to the victims and their families.

The piece is being performed during the tour to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

Catalan Culture Minister Sònia Hernández, who attended the Paris concert, described the choirs' participation as a showcase for the excellence of Catalan culture, which is characterised by "the blending of, or lack of distinction between, popular or grassroots culture and high culture."

Joaquim Uriach, president of the Palau de la Música Catalana, said the collaboration marked another step in the Orfeó Català's international development. The choirs previously performed with Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles in February.

The European tour comprises ten concerts in six cities: Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna. The Catalan choirs are scheduled to perform in Madrid on 13 October, Hamburg on 19 October and Vienna on 22 October, following appearances in Paris and Barcelona.

The Vienna concert will mark the choirs' first performance at the Musikverein, the celebrated concert hall known internationally for hosting the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert.