Culture

According to the artistic director of the festival Josep Maria Dutra "this year has the best line in the history of the festival”. The festival combines a broad international representation with a small Catalan one.

After 50 years of performing, the Catalan opera soprano Montserrat Caballé said she will step down in two years with a farewell tour. The Catalan diva is considered one of the world’s greatest sopranos of the 20th century. Her popularity increased while singing with Freddy Mercury the song “Barcelona”.

Eduard Fernández won Best Actor while 'Heroes' finished empty handed despite being nominated in ten categories.

The Gaudí Awards, which are the equivalent to the Catalan Oscars are taking place tonight for the 3rd consecutive time. The movie ‘Pa Negre’(Black Bread), which was nominated this year for the Spanish Goya Awards, is tipped to win with no less than 15 nominations followed by ‘Herois’ (Heroes) and ‘Buried’.

The Gala Dalí Castle in Púbol (in the Costa Brava interior land) recorded the biggest increase with 21% more tourists than last year. The most visited museum was the Theatre-Museum Dalí in Figueres, in the Alt Empordà County, near the French border.

The movie has also been nominated 15 times for the Catalan Gaudí Awards, in Barcelona. 'Pa Negre' (Black Bread) is a film adaptation of a novel with the same title by Emili Teixidor.

Florida has just inaugurated a brand new building that will unveil up to 2.000 works from the famous Catalan artist Salvador Dalí. After the Figueres museum, it is the second largest museum in the world dedicated to Dalí

Catalan Journalist Cristian Segura has been awarded for his Catalan novel,'El cau del conill' (The Rabbit's Burrow) while Alicia Giménez Bartlett picks up the Nadal Award for her book 'Donde nadie te encuentre' (Where nobody can find you)

Wondering why all the children are excited and happy? The Three Kings have already arrived in Catalonia. Their presence has already created a magical atmosphere and on Wednesday night they will deliver gifts to every single house in the country.

Barcelona (ACN).- The main parade will distribute over 40 tonnes of sweets that are suitable for celiacs. It is not Santa who comes to Catalonia bearing gifts, but the Three Wise Men. That is why the 6th January, known as the Day of the Three Magic Kings is celebrated like Christmas in Catalonia

The New York's StoreFront for Art and Architecture has displayed the work of Catalan artists such as Enric Miralles, Antoni Muntades and Carme Pinós.

‘Extraordinary Film Studios’ may open its doors as early as 2011 and employ some 80 people. The company already has three films scheduled for the new studios.

The Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture will see its budget decrease by 4.5% this year. Despite this, the centre has planned several exhibitions for 2011, including several photography exhibitions and conferences on themes such as immigration and the crisis.

Diverse Catalan singers, musicians and directors performed in Leipzig, Hamburg, Cologne and Weimar on Thursday. Tenor singer Josep Carreras teamed up with Andrea Bocelli and David Garret to raise funds and awareness for the fight against leukaemia in Leipzig. Jordi Savall played Jean-Philippe Rameau in Cologne and Montserrat Caballé sung in Hamburg.

Valencia-born architect Rafael Guastavino incorporated the Catalan vault system in over 300 buildings in Manhattan. Famous buildings such as the Grand Central Station, Saint John the Divine Cathedral, the Queensboro Bridge and the City Hall subway station, were built using this technique popularised in the U.S. by Guastavino.