Poetic and musical balconies for Sant Jordi in Girona

GironaThe Fundació Cultural El Foment de Girona doesn't stop growing. It landed in the city six years ago, in the midst of a critical moment of the pandemic, in Plaça dels Mercaders, and, since then, it has been expanding around this nerve center in the heart of the old town, with more and more leisure and gastronomic proposals, always with Catalan culture as its banner. It has now become a non-profit foundation, funded by more than 300 members and, in one year, it manages to program up to 400 proposals, more than one a day, including concerts, workshops, tastings, monologues, literary cafés... And, this 2026, for Sant Jordi, it is organizing a grand celebration again.

On Thursday, April 23rd, in the evening, the show will take place, for the second consecutive year, Sant Jordi from the balconies, a free festival of poetry and music that transforms the windows of Plaça dels Mercaders into a tribune for various performances. The singer-songwriters Magalí Sare, Mazoni, and Agnès Algueró, accompanied by pianist Quim Sola and poet Mariona Fontserè, will perform their own and traditional songs for the spectators in the square. The repertoire is a surprise and will dialogue with poems recited by Fontserè by Miquel Martí i Pol, Joan Fuster, Rafeef Ziadah, and Jacint Verdaguer. After last year's success, many people are already coming specifically for it, but the original and fun proposal also attracts many locals spontaneously who are strolling through the stalls on La Rambla and Plaça Catalunya.

Tavern song, satanic sardana, glosa and rap

"With Sant Jordi from the balconies, we turn the Plaça dels Mercaders into an open stage where music and poetry dialogue with the literary tradition of the Catalan linguistic area. We want Sant Jordi's day to be a great tribute to Catalan culture, connecting our cultural heritage with the city of Girona," explains Candi Granés, president of El Foment.

This is the main activity of the Folclòria festival, which El Foment is organizing from April 23 to 25. The program also includes a tavern song concert with Germà Negre, on Friday night, and, on Saturday morning, the Sardana Satànica workshop, led by the sardanista group Joves de l’Agrupa de Molins de Rei, which offers an irreverent and subversive look at the steps of this traditional Catalan dance. In the afternoon it will be the turn of the Glosa vs Freestyle show, which confronts rap with glossed improvisation face to face.

D'Els Amics de les Arts a grups emergents

After Sant Jordi, the Girona cultural foundation continues its spring and summer programming with some fifty proposals. There will be major concerts in collaboration with the Strenes Festival, which has already organized the Miralls de Dylan, with Gerard Quintana, on April 11 at the Municipal Theatre and, on April 17, will bring La Fúmiga to La Mirona. And for August, tickets are already on sale for Els Amics de les Arts, in a major concert at the Castell de Calonge as part of the F’Estiu festival.

Alongside the best-known names, El Foment also aims to give voice to and discover new emerging talents in Catalan music: on April 30, the presentation of the second album by the Empordà band Clima will land, on May 15, the author's pop of David Mauricio arrives, and on May 21, a double session will be offered with Bandera & Llombart and the singer-songwriter Edna Bravo. The Descobertes cycle continues on May 28 with the electronic folk of Sandra Monfort and, on June 14, with Celobert. Then, on July 2, in Plaça de Catalunya, the havaneres singing, which last year filled the entire city center, will be repeated.

Besides music, the commitment to humor is also maintained, which has consolidated as one of the most attractive proposals, with media names, sold-out tickets, and queues for registrations. On May 8, Asaari Bibang will perform, in Catalan, and the monologue contest returns, which will end with the final on June 10. All this is accompanied by highly requested Catalan cooking courses, tastings, sardanes, stick dancing, bot dancing, or Scrabble games.