History

The Orquestra de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya was founded in 2000 by Lluís Carné i Miguélez, with the support from the university extension vice chancellor Helio Piñón. From the beginning the creation of the Orchestra was conceived as a complement to the already existing choirs that were part of the UPC: Coral Arquitectura and Coral del Campus de Terrassa. The opening concert took place on 21 March 2000 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the School of Architecture of Barcelona (ETSAB). Mozart, Telemann, Brahms and Charpentier were part of the concerts repertoire. The Orchestra consisted of 16 students and professors from the UPC and four professional backup musicians.

One of the main features of the Orchestra from its beginning is the fact that most of its components are members of the university community (students, professors, administration personnel and alumni), although the doors have never been closed to people from other universities. Due to this fact, the number of components is highly variable from one year to another, and in some occasions, the lack of musicians of a section might force an adaptation of the repertoire. More than thirty musicians are currently part of the UPC Orchestra.

From its beginning there has been a really close collaboration with the different university choirs (specially with Coral Arquitectura) and almost all concerts are performed jointly.

The repertoire is diverse with pieces of all styles:

Apart from participating in university academic events (honoris causa, congress openings, opening ceremonies...) the Orchestra has also played in many concert halls around Barcelona and also abroad: Mallorca, Zarautz, Sant Sebastian, Sanxenxo, Ponteareas, Algemesí, Maó, Ciutadella, Madrid, Saragossa, Osca, Avinyó, Paris and Wien.