Culture

17 Catalan companies and institutions will be represented at the biennial Internationale Tanzmesse nrw Düsseldorf in Germany from August 29th to September 1st. Also, two Catalan companies will be performing at the event, designed as an international platform for dance professionals to showcase their work and as a networking event for the contemporary dance sector.

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’.

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.

Twenty artists from Beijing’s National Circus o present ‘The Dream of a Journey to the East’ at the Porta Ferrada Festival, in the Costa Brava's town of Sant Felíu de Guíxols. The show, with a mix of entertainment and acrobatics choreographed to music, is directed by a showman who leads the narrative in close proximity to the spectators. Beijing’s National Circus has visited over 60 countries in the past 40 years and has won several international competitions.

The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (Catalonia’s National Museum of Art) is considering changing its name to include ‘Barcelona’. The Museum Director, Pepe Serra, wants to better explain the Museum to a global audience and considers using the “Barcelona brand” as a superior way of raising the gallery’s status. Also he believes the collections of Romanesque art, which are considered exceptional, have not been sufficiently exploited on an international level. The Museum Director also announced that despite the crisis, they will open up “many more areas for free”.

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.

Catalan filmmaker David Victori’s short film has passed a rigorous selection process and will be shown at the Venice Film Festival. His submission, ‘La Culpa’ which deals with the emotions of guilt and revenge, participated in ‘Your Film Festival’ that is organised by Youtube. Victori’s submission is one of the ten short-listed, out of 15,000 original entries. The winner will receive a prize of $500,000 for the production of a short film.

The 'Dansalona’ festival in the months of August and September is aiming to “popularise dance” in the city with a variety of activities. With numerous performances in theatres across Barcelona, the opportunity to discover behind the scenes and practical workshops, the festival aims to open the city’s creative industry to new audiences, including foreign visitors.

The Cistercian monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and receives around 130,000 visitors a year. It has had an 800,000 euro renovation of its cloister. Lasting 7 months, the task was funded by the Catalan savings bank ‘La Caixa’. The work was unveiled last Saturday by the Catalan Minister of Culture, Ferran Mascarell.

Primavera Sound, Sónar or Cruïlla BCN. These are some of the music festivals that the city of Barcelona hosts. However, according to Marcelo Rosero, director of the Salsa & Latin Jazz Festival, the city “lacked high quality salsa and latin jazz music”. This new festival is taking place in a square at Poble Espanyol (Barcelona). Rosero has compared the programme of the festival with a restaurant saying that it has an “exquisite menu” and a “buffet where all is jewellery”. The festival will have “top-level bands” and its “musical acts are very important internationally”, Rosero has concluded.

The Minister of Culture, Ferran Mascarell, met in Parliament with representatives from the Catalan cultural sector. In the meeting they discussed how unpopular the new VAT increase is within the cultural sector in Catalonia. Mascarell sent a letter to Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro and Spanish Culture Minister, José Ignacio Wert representing the cultural sector on this issue. The president of the Employers Association of Catalan Cinema, Camilo Tarrazón, said after the meeting "Spain will be the only state to have culture as a luxury good".

The eruption of the volcano Vesuvius destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, amongst others. However, the studies of the remnants have allowed historians to reconstruct the lives of these cities in an exhibition now hosted in l’Escala (Catalonia). The exhibition comes from Italy and uses the latest technologies (scenographic reconstructions, multisensorial effects, virtual interfaces, holograms, 3D technology, interactive systems and a unique 3D film with tridimensional sound and special effects) to enable visitors to walk and live in Pompeii, Herculaneum, Baiae, Stabiae and Capri. For example, they can visit the Nymphaeum of Baia which is seven metres below ground. The exposition will be open until 9th September.