castell

Catalan traditional show takes place in Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, and Mostar

Four water trucks left as firefighters will re-evaluate situation on Sunday paying attention to weather conditions

Evacuated residents return home as firefighters benefit from better weather conditions to tackle blaze at night

Castell d'Aro and Santa Cristina d'Aro activate emergency response as over 60 firefighter crews work on site

Monday sees the premiere of Paco Azorín's "contemporary" version of Verdi's classic opera at the major summer art event

Castell de Púbol showcases 60 photos of artistic couple until January 6

The British singer Seal will perform on the 23^rd of July at Auditori del Parc del Castell and Canadian artist Diana Krall will also do so a few days later, on the 30^th of July. Whereas this will be the first time Seal will perform at the Castell de Peralada Festival, Krall returns on this the 30^th anniversary of the festival, after her concert in 2008. Seal will be touring his new album ‘7’ and Krall will make her only stop in Catalonia at Peralada, as part of her ‘Wallflower’ world tour. Another highlight on the festival’s line up will be Puccini’s Turandot, directed by Catalan actor and director, Mario Gas. 

The Catalan Government has issued a provisional list of the companies that might be granted a license to build and run one of the 6 mega-casinos of the $6 billion BCN World resort to be developed next to Port-Aventura theme park. The surprises are that Catalonia-based Grup Peralada -which runs casinos, luxury hotels, an international performing arts festival and vineyards- is one of the contenders and that the offer with Caesars Entertainment has not been initially accepted. Veremonte, which promotes the entire BCN World project, announced that it had initially presented a total of 3 offers to get 3 casino licenses in association with Melco, Hard Rock and Caesars Entertainment. In addition, there were two non-disclosed additional bids: one from Grup Peralada and one presented by Melco by itself. The Veremonte-Hard Rock and Veremonte-Melco offers have also been pre-accepted, but a third offer from Veremonte and Caesars would be out of the tender, although an appeal might be filed.

This Wednesday, the world premier of the chamber opera ‘Wow!’ takes place at the Festival of Peralada Castle, located in northern Catalonia’s Costa Brava. The libretto is inspired by texts written by Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman, building a relationship between the two poets. The opera will be staged in the cloister of El Carme Church in Peralada, which has a capacity of 400 people. The play is structured in a single act with a prologue and four scenes. It explores the themes of dreaming, death, ascension and immortality. The score and the text are the work of Catalan composer García Demestres, while the stage director is Xavier Albertí, who is the new Director of the National Theatre of Catalonia (TNC).

The Castell de Peralada Festival displayed 19 shows from the June 17th until August 22nd, involving more than 800 people from different companies, orchestras, technical teams and artists. 20,000 people attended the event and with 84% of available tickets sold, the organisers are pleased with this year’s results. The festival’s management has already started planning for next year and confirm the soprano Sonda Radvanosky to perform ‘Norma’.

The Cadaqués Orchestra played ‘Concerto libero’, an unfinished work for piano and cello at the Peralada’s Carme Church, in northern Catalonia. The Costa Brava festival is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth whose works have achieved international acclaim. The world premiere of the piece by Xavier Montsalvatge was the highlight of the concert which was dedicated to the composer, one of the most prominent figures in Catalan music.

The opera ‘Don Giovanni’ by Mozart will be staged in Catalonia at the Castell de Peralada Festival in the Empordà County, on the Costa Brava. The renowned opera tells the story of a man living on the edge in a constant search without end, with allusions to sadism and immortality. First premiered in 1787 in Prague, this modern production sill reflects many aspects of society and has an impressive cast including the famous baritone Carlos Álvarez from Málaga.

Just like every Christmas, traditional Living Nativity Scenes around Catalonia are on show, this year with an expected increase of attendance despite cuts in public subsidies. Towns are unwilling to let budget cuts affect them and they have combined imagination, volunteer work and citizen involvement to maintain the tradition.