music festival

This cultural trade fair of Mediterranean shores’ traditions will reach its 15th edition, organised in the Central Catalonia city of Manresa in early November. The 15th edition will be held from November 8th to 11th. It is a market for music, theatre and dance professionals, with shows for all ages and held on stage or on the street. This year, 104 groups will perform in more than 250 shows. The Israeli singer Noa will offer a concert together with the Napolitan ensemble String Quarter. The Catalan Sardana orchestra, Cobla Sant Jordi, will play with the Flamenco guitarist Niño Josele. Also, the fair will have a meeting space for professionals.

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.

Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz ended the successful Costa Brava festival that achieved full audiences in 15 of 20 concerts scheduled and an attendance of 41,000 people. This year's festival was the first organised by Catalan music publisher Clipper’s and included performances by Bob Dylan, Ben Harper, Simple Minds, James Morrison, Miguel Bosé and Manolo García, among others. The festival has had a positive effect on the local economy providing a boost of €20 million.

The ‘Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival’ gave its gold medal to George Wein, a prominent jazz promoter from America. Wein received the award on the main stage of the Newport Festival in the United States in front of an audience of 7,000 people. Wein recognised the uniqueness of Barcelona’s jazz festival.

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.

The ‘Caixa Penedès Vijazz’ kicked off with a concert from the seven-Grammy award winner Al Jarreau. At the heart of one of Catalonia’s most famous wine regions and less than 50 km away from Barcelona, a series of jazz concerts take place over the weekend, combined with wine tasting.

The 5th edition of the Catalan capital’s music festival ‘Cruïlla Barcelona’ kicked off with Iggy & the Stooges, Nneka, Gogol Bordello, Julieta Venegas, La Pegatina, M.I.A, The Specials, Cypress Hills, 2manydjs, Sharon Jones, Amadou & Mariam, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Gustavo Gordera being some of the 35 artists who will play their music from Friday to Saturday night.

This year’s ‘Grec ‘Festival offers 68 plays, dancing, music and circus performances from July 1st to the 31st, 30 of them from international artists. Ramón Simó, the new director of the event, considers that this year’s Grec is more international, contemporany and multidisciplinary than ever before and its objective is to bring to Barcelona the best shows from Europe and the world.

Lana del Rey, New Order and The Roots star at the three day advanced music festival attended by almost 100,000 people. Visitors from 80 different countries filled the festival with a thousand different colours as Sónar Barcelona was the culmination of the Festival's travels for this year, which have taken it to Sao Paulo, Tokyo and Cape Town.

Sónar 2012 electronic music festival is underway and Barcelona’s CosmoCaixa has invited its visitors to hear the sounds of meteorology at the ‘METEOlab’ exhibition. It is a selection of works by some of the most prominent artists in the field of audible and multimedia contemporary creation, such as Thomas Köner, Chris Watson and Geir Jenssen, all inspired in meteorology and climatic phenomenology.

The festival offers more than 150 proposals in its program, including music, exhibitions, screenings and activities for professionals based around the technology applied to artistic creation. For three days, from June 14th to the 16th, Sonar brings electronic rhythms to Barcelona. This year, the MACBA square, in the centre of Barcelona, will be the venue for Festival’s day programme while the Fira Gran Via, at l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, will be the night venue.

Band such as The Cure, Franz Ferdinand, Wilco, Beirut, Saint Étienne or The XX play in a consolidated music festival with the Mediterranean as a backdrop. The most international music festival in Catalonia came to an end this weekend after three days and nights at the Parc del Fòrum, in front of the Mediterranean sea, as well as in other spots in Barcelona. The Primavera Sound Festival has in fact been active since May 8th with the culmination taking place this weekend when a solid roster of successful bands came to perform in Barcelona.

The family version of the Sónar music festival will take place this year in El Port de la Selva, 170 km north of Barcelona on the 26th and 27th May. In this fourth edition, the audience will be able to enjoy the music of Miqui Puig, the Pioneer Dj Kids and Barbara i els Morenos, among others.

The Icelandic singer had cancelled her Saturday concert due to health reasons. Björk headlined Saturday’s programme, and the organisation offered the return of the tickets for that day to those requesting it. This year’s Primavera Sound Festival has showcases starting on Monday May 28th and outdoor concerts starting on Wednesday at the Arc de Triomf venue. However, the core festival, being held at the Forum, kicks off on Thursday May 31st and runs until Saturday June 2nd.

The Girona A Capella Festival, held this year for the first time, wants to become “a reference in Southern Europe”. The new music festival will be held from May 12th to May 19th. The largest part of the program will take place during the first weekend of the floral exhibition, when it will combine performances in enclosed theaters and outdoors making the Mercat del Lleó a performance space.