music

In-Edit 2011, Barcelona’s International Music Documentary Film Festival ended its ninth edition after eleven days of showings that gathered 54 national and international new releases and around 30.000 spectators. ‘Next Music Station: Morocco’, a documentary produced by Al-Jazeera and directed by Fermín Muguruza, has been this year’s National Prize winner. The International Prize was for ‘Last Days Here’, about the life of Pentagram’s singer, Bobby Liebing. Another great surprise was the presence of musician Michael Nyman, author of many Hollywood soundtracks.

The Catalan capital will be enjoying the 43rd edition of its jazz festival until December 1st. In the current edition, many Catalan artists will participate in the festival, such as Andrea Motis, Lluís Coloma, La Vella Dixeland or Biel Ballester. International figures such as Michel Camilo, Omar Sosa or Paolo Conte will also be on Barcelona’s stages.

Barcelona’s Opera Theatre offers only three portrayals of the Catalan composer Xavier Benguerel’s opera ‘Jo, Dalí’ (I, Dalí). It is a four act opera, which comes to the Barcelona theatre for the first time. Xavier Benguerel is one of the most recognised classical music contemporary composers in Catalonia.

Amongst the numerous acts, a special tribute, sponsored by Alice Cooper and Amanda Lear, was paid to the painter Salvador Dalí. The festival was held in the town of Figures, in northeast Catalonia. It is the best year that the festival has experienced.

The OBS performs a repertoire of Italian Baroque music. The concert was held at Santa Maria’s Cathedral, in La Seu d’Urgell, in the Western Catalan Pyrenees, next to Andorra.

65 students with 22 different nationalities participate in a music festival in Solsona, Central Catalonia. It is the 10th edition of this International Academy which, this year, focuses on improvisation and music popularization.

La Casa Amarilla organised the event to promote multiculturalism through the "universal language" of music

True to its principles, Nathalie Stutzmann is the guest artist in the 31st edition of the Torroella de Montgri Music Festival. The French contralto will offer two concerts during the latest edition of the festival, which despite the crisis, is still an impressive showcase for classical music.

The 49th edition of the Porta Ferrada Festival is a "preamble to the fiftieth and is as competitive a program as always. Hopefully, it is the gateway to an edition that will reach a much larger audience this year", said Festival director Albert Mallol.

This year’s festival is dedicated to the Catalan rumba with the legend Peret and the band Sabor de Gràcia. Other artists, coming from 10 different countries, are: Irish accordionist Sharon Shannon, Algerian singer Neila Benbey, Blue, Nácara or 17 Hippies. The festival hopes to congregate 35,000 visitors between July 15th and 17th.

Late spring and summertime bring a myriad of music festivals throughout Catalonia. Some of them have only lasted a few editions, but others have become true milestones at international level, such as the Sónar or the Primavera Sound.

This year’s the ‘Festival Grec’ pays special attention to French theatre and dance, both large productions and smaller innovative shows. It brings together both international and local productions, and includes theatre, dance, music and other stage arts. The festival begun on June 17th and will last until the end of July.

The Catalan capital is these days the electronic music world’s capital city. The 18th edition of the International Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art Sónar kicks off in Barcelona. It the annual meeting place for electronic music fans and will take place from June 16th to 18th. This year it will have a parallel festival happening in A Coruña, Sónar Galicia. Barcelona’s Sónar Festival will also have a twin festival in Sao Paulo. Sónar Barcelona has also a programme for children called Sónar Kids and for professional called Sónar Pro.

Pulp, PJ Harvey, Belle & Sebastian, P.I.L, The White Stripes, Interpol, The National, Sufjan Stevens or Nick Cave were some of the participating artists. Barcelona’s indie music festival ended its largest edition with a record audiences, number of concerts and space occupied. The Primavera Sound music festival was held in Barcelona from Wednesday evening until Sunday.

Catalan pop group Manel or opera singer Josep Carreras are also part of the line-up, which includes up to 22 performers, including Julio Iglesias. The festival is a classic milestone of Catalan summer at the Costa Brava. Concerts ara held next to the sea in the evening.