Barnasants begins a new stage with a new director
Marçal Girbau replaces Pere Camps as head of the festival, which is resizing its program with fewer concerts.
BarcelonaPere Camps had been talking for some time about passing the torch of Barnasants, the festival he founded in 1996, which has since championed singer-songwriter music with enthusiasm and rigor. Before the summer, he announced that Marçal Girbau would be the new director, and this Thursday the program for the first edition of this new era was presented. The festival will run from January 27 to May 10, and will open with Two concerts at the Palau de la Música in homage to the historic performances of Lluís Llach in January 1976 at the Palau de la Sport in Barcelona. Barnasants 2026 also includes half a dozen in-house productions, such as a new show by the pocket opera The Ballad of Solé Sugranyeswith music and libretto by Jaume Aiats; the project From a time, from a country, in which Borja Penalba and Meritxell Gené revive the songbook of the Nova Cançó from the present day; the staging of Carmen Consoli's new work with the Orquesta de Músicas de Raíz de Cataluña (OMAC); the celebration of Montse Castellà's thirty-year career, and a tribute to Robe Iniesta, the leader of Extremoduro, died a week ago.
As usual, there will also be presentations of new albums; for example, by Marc Parrot with the Quartet Brossa, by Brams, by Feliu Formosa and by Fetus, in addition to Gala and OvidA tribute to the children of Rosalía de Castro by Raül and Aida Tarrío, from the group Tanxugueiras.
The purpose of this new phase, says Girbau, is for Barnasants "to move towards a model with fewer offerings, but in which each programmed artist enjoys greater impact, both artistically and in terms of social and audience reach." The goal is to hold "fewer concerts, with larger audiences and greater artistic investment." In recent years, nearly one hundred concerts were held, but in 2026 there will only be 59, half of which are led by women. 25% of the artists are under thirty, more than 50% are presentations of new albums, and 60% of the concerts will be in Catalan, featuring artists from the Catalan Countries. There will also be musicians from other countries and language backgrounds, such as the Italians Anna Castiglia and Carmen Consoli, the Argentinians Ariel Rot and Inés Cuello, the Colombian Pala, the Basque Anari, and the Occitans Guillaume Lopez and Primaël. Other notable names in this edition include Xiomara Abelló, Carmen Canela & Xavier Monge, Helena Casas, Dani Flaco, Eduardo Gener, Juan Isaac & Eduardo Iniesta, Cris Juanico, Martirio, Mazoni, Ivette Nadal, and Sombra Alor, among others.
As for the venues, the Barnasants program will be spread across spaces such as the Palau de la Música, the Tradicionàrius Artisan Center, the Casino de la Alianza del Poblenou, the Lerida Regional Center, the Gaudí Theater, La Fábrica (Teatres del Farró), the Harlem Jazz Club, as well as others that will be detailed later.