Feeling of a cycle change on the first day of Sónar 2026, the first edition since 1994 without the three founders (Sergio and Enric Palau and Ricard Robles). Therefore, the first with François Jozic as director, and also the first without distinction between Sónar de Dia and Sónar de Nit because now all activity is concentrated in a single venue, Fira Gran Via, in l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, although the professional part of Sónar+D is premiering location at La Llotja de Mar and Sónar Kids is being revived, which takes place at Parc del Fòrum. Despite the aroma of a turned page, there are invariable things, such as the pleasant feeling of letting yourself be carried away by hedonism and unexpected discovery.

A new stage begins at Sónar, with a change in management and concentrating musical activity at Fira Gran Via de l'Hospitalet de Llobregat because the Sónar de Dia, which was held in Montjuïc, is disappearing. In this edition, which takes place from June 18 to 20, performances will begin at 5 p.m.; on Thursday the 18th they will end at 3 a.m., and on Friday the 19th and Saturday the 20th, at 7 a.m. Sónar+D is also being separated, relocated to La Llotja de Mar. There are still tickets on sale: Thursday, at 49 euros; Friday, at 99 euros, and Saturday also at 99 euros. The pass for two days (Friday and Saturday) costs 159 euros. Below, ten artistic recommendations from Sónar 2026.

Ferran Cruixent (Barcelona, 1976) is one of the Catalan composers with the most presence in auditoriums worldwide. This year he premiered Mare nostra for the Cor Canta Foundation and Voladúries at the Liceu, and he did the orchestrations for Rosalía's Lux tour. In June, two works by Cruixent will be performed in Germany: the duo for viola and percussion Deserts and Trinity, the triple concerto for violin, cello, piano, and orchestra. He talks about all of this, as well as spirituality, philosophy, and reflection on technology that accompanies his compositions, in this interview.

A special show directed by playwright Lucia del Greco inaugurated the 38th edition of the Mercat de Música Viva de Vic, which will take place from September 16 to 20. "It is a project designed to generate discourse and activate new perspectives on the concept of live music," says, without revealing any details, Joan Rial, one of the directors of the Market along with Rubèn Pujol and Jordi Casadesús. "It's one of the things I'm most excited about this year," he adds. Over these five days, different venues in Vic will host the 72 performances programmed by the Market, a selection made from the 1,751 proposals received, 250 more than in 2025. All in all, including the strictly professional part, with a budget of 1.18 million euros (80,000 more than last year), provided mainly by public administrations (Generalitat, Vic City Council, Barcelona Provincial Council, Ministry of Culture). The main private sponsor remains Estrella Damm, which contributes 90,000 euros.

"This is good cultural journalism," says journalist Imma Merino about Àngel Quintana's book Dylan and Cinema. Filming the Legend (Enderrock Llibres, 2026). "It's the fruit of a passion for Dylan, but you put that passion to work," continues Merino, who does not hide her friendship and admiration for Quintana (Torroella de Montgrí, 1960), a professor of film history and theory and one of the most relevant film critics in the country. At the presentation of this splendid book at Llibreria Ona in Barcelona, filmmaker Albert Serra is also present, who will recount an unexpected anecdote and also praises the author's work, highlighting some phrases that, he says, perfectly describe Bob Dylan, "a man who lives in the world as if he lived in a fiction": "You say that Dylan is someone who «decided to turn his existence into a kind of crossroads between old mythical fictions, the constant desire to live diverse experiences and to turn creation into an impulse that conditions everything»". By the way, both Serra and Merino agree in criticizing the book cover, which reproduces an image of Timothée Chalamet playing Dylan in the film A complete unknow (John Mangold, 2025). "What is that kid Chalamet doing here!", exclaims Merino, who, when it comes to criticizing, regrets that Quintana doesn't praise Cate Blanchett more, one of the actresses in I'm not there (2007), Todd Haynes' approach to Dylan's multiplicity. All three, by the way, admire Dylan. Merino, furthermore, values that he has Les enfants du paradis (Marcel Carné, 1945) as a cinematic reference. Serra considers him an "anti-academic in everything" who carries on the singer's legacy as a preacher, "like Hank Williams". "And he is a great poet and a great musician", adds Quintana, who is wearing a t-shirt with the phrase I contain multitudes which Dylan borrowed from Walt Whitman to title one of the songs on the album Rough and rowdy ways (2020).

Primavera Sound 2026 began on Thursday with rain as an unwanted guest. And it ended on Saturday with a very different guest: American singer Olivia Rodrigo. One of the festival directors, Gabi Ruiz, had announced on Thursday on RAC1 that there would be a top-level artist whose surname began with the letter R. "A Halland," he said, citing the Norwegian Manchester City player. Finally, the name of the artist in question, the hidden card, was announced on Saturday at half past six in the afternoon, when rumors were already circulating because the artist herself had shared a photograph in which she appeared as a vip spectator of Friday's show by The Cure at Primavera Sound.

After the storm comes the calm, they say, but also laments, anger, criticism, understanding, and resignation, often all at once. After the rain and wind wiped out a large part of Thursday's headliners at Primavera Sound, on Friday there was a great desire to enjoy a good day of concerts and to discuss the situation that left Massive Attack, Doja Cat, and Bad Gyal out of the festival. The warmth of the sun on a breezy afternoon was also celebrated as a victory, and doubts were shared about how the refunds for Thursday's tickets would be handled. The festival management announced that on Monday the "refund operation will be detailed", which will only be made to people who bought a ticket for Thursday – which cost 150 euros – and not to those who purchased a pass for the entire festival – priced at up to 390 euros.

From time to time, rain claims a spot as a headliner at Primavera Sound. It happened a couple of years ago during PJ Harvey's memorable concert and it happened again this Thursday evening, when the Fòrum venue was already full of a crowd ready to spread out among the different stages. The combination of rain and wind, with gusts of up to 80 km/h, conditioned the first day, and "for safety reasons" performances on the two main stages on the marine platform (where four concerts were cancelled) were temporarily suspended, and later on other stages. It was the decision taken diligently by the festival's management, and communicated in Catalan, Spanish, and English throughout the venue. The festival will announce on Monday the protocol for the return of Thursday tickets.

Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Dvorák star in the repertoire of the new edition of Clàssica a la platja, the joint project of L'Auditori, the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Palau de la Música, with the support of the Barcelona City Council and the La Caixa Foundation and the collaboration of Port of Barcelona, which cedes the space at Sant Sebastià beach. As usual, on July 8 and 9 there will be two free concerts that will begin at 9 p.m., one by the Liceu Orchestra conducted by Josep Pons and the other by the Barcelona and Catalonia National Symphony Orchestra (OBC) under the baton of Ludovic Morlot. Beforehand, on June 10, different choirs from the Escola Coral de l'Orfeó Català (the Cor Petits and the Cor Mitjans) will give concert-workshops in two residences for the elderly, and on June 15 the Cor Jove will sing at the Hospital del Mar.

The rejuvenation of Primavera Sound was evident in 2025, especially among the headliners: Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, born in 1992, 1999 and 1998, respectively. Furthermore, the choice set the festival apart because it managed to bring together three of the most sought-after artists of the moment. Tickets sold out in January, five months before the event. The headliners of the 24th edition, held from June 3rd to 7th at Parc del Fòrum and the marine platform, considerably raise the average age, especially The Cure and Gorillaz, and among the notable names are some that connect with an audience that is closer to retirement than to their first paycheck, such as Massive Attack and My Bloody Valentine. Robert Smith, the leader of The Cure, was born in 1958; and Damon Albarn, the helmsman of Gorillaz, in 1968. This is balanced by the third headliner, Doja Cat, born in 1995, who makes a festival exception on a European tour of arenas (the term used in the music industry). Tickets sold out in February, four months before the event.

There is a desire to play in the mischievous gaze of the Galician stage director Marta Pazos. More than provoking, she seeks to surprise. "Laughter originates in the unexpected," she recalls at a press conference regarding the new production of Le nozze di Figaro (1786), the first masterpiece by the tandem formed by Mozart and the poet Lorenzo Da Ponte. The production, directed by Pazos and with Giovanni Antonini leading the orchestra, will have fourteen performances from June 4 to 21. "I am having a great time in this production by Marta that surprised us so much at first," assures the soprano from El Montsià, Sara Blanch, Susanna in a first cast shared with the Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni (Figaro), the Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva (Cherubino), the Italian baritone Andrè Schuen (Count Almaviva), and the Guatemalan soprano Adriana González (Countess Almaviva), among others. "I have sung the role of Figaro many times, and I have found a very fresh production, with a very new approach," exclaims Pisaroni, who is performing in substitution of baritone Konstantin Krimmel, who is out due to a foot injury. Everyone agrees: they are having a lot of fun. "And I hope it will be a success," says Schuen, who is finally debuting at the Liceu in an operatic role after having given many lied recitals around the country. after having given many lied recitals around the country.

There is a gratifying solidity, in Nacho Vegas (Gijón, 1974) from the album Vidas semipreciosas (Oso Polita, 2026), recorded in Catalonia and with collaborations by Albert Pla and Rodrigo Cuevas. With a rock that touches on folk and melodic song, he crafts a repertoire that includes some of the best songs from the Asturian musician's career, also in Asturian. Furthermore, it includes "memory capsules" with the voices of victims of political and labor conflicts (Javitxu Aijón, Anna Gabriel and Adur Ramirez), because, after all, he is "an internationalist red, son of Cristina Vegas, anti-fascist", as he sings in Fíu. This Saturday, May 30, he performs at Sala Apolo in Barcelona (9 PM), well accompanied by Miren Arbaiza, Joseba Irazoki, Hans Laguna, Manu Molina and Ferran Resines.

"A lot is demanded in a very short time. It's the dictatorship of speed: you have to release a song, and then another, and a video, and do a promotion... I don't know if it's very productive. Perhaps the approach should be different," says Axel Magnani, La Pegatina's trumpeter. "And the platforms ask you for more songs because they position you better, and collaborations. It has been conveyed to us that we have to be viral and stand out continuously," adds singer Adrià Salas. "This time we've made an album cooked more slowly, without the stress of having to go into the studio every now and then," explains guitarist and singer Rubén Sierra. They come from almost another era. In fact, La Pegatina was born over twenty years ago in Montcada i Reixac, on the street and under the shelter of that quintessential mestizo Barcelona sound. And they seem to be pursuing precisely that foundational spirit on the album Fuego del barrio (Calaverita-Música Global), which this Friday, May 29th, they present live at the Poble Espanyol.

The Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov and the American soprano Nadine Sierra are two of the prominent names at the 46th Torroella de Montgrí Festival, which will be held from July 31 to August 21. The motto "Love leaves a trace" shelters a program that the festival director, Montse Faura, assures will "not be a simple succession of concerts, but a constellation of experiences." The trace, says Faura, is "that which remains after a true artistic experience; that which modifies us, which continues to act within us long after the last note has disappeared." It is the sensation that she hopes a dozen concerts will provoke, most of them at the Auditori Espai Ter.

"This is popular song made now", says Maria del Mar Bonet before performing S'aigo no, one of the songs from the magnificent album L'aigua no cansa that she has just released. When she sings the verse "Make all Valencians be able to return to their homes", the audience at the Palau de la Música applauds the gesture that recalls the victims of the 2024 flood. And the applause is louder when she says "May the responsible politicians who never served any purpose and have made the disaster worse be removed soon". Indeed, popular song made now by a captivating Maria del Mar Bonet, in a state of creative and interpretive grace.

He says he is legendary, a millionaire who hasn't forgotten his neighborhood. And that he is from Puerto Rico, from "P fuckin' R". He proclaims himself king of pop making reggaeton and dembow. And 55,000 people greet him, swept up in an impressive wave of effervescence. “Benito, Benito, Benito!”, they shout. Bad Bunny has just stepped onto the stage of the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys and is already killing it. "}La mudanza" plays as an introduction, and when the salsa dynamite kicks in, the feeling is that the audience hasn't come up to Montjuïc to admire, but to celebrate. Bad Bunny also wants the party to be big, as immense as the musical richness of the album Debí tirar más fotos, and as varied as the rhythms of past hits like Tití me preguntó. For this, he deploys resources with the generosity afforded by the income from sold-out tickets, which in Barcelona cost between 83.30 and 230 euros (122.80 on the floor).

Bad Bunny can be explained with a single song. It's all there in Nuevayol, the track that opens Debí tirar más fotos (2025), the album that took the Puerto Rican artist to perform at the Super Bowl and to do the tour that goes ¿Cómo Bad Bunny va a ser rey del pop, ey / con reggaetón y dembow?" Well, he is. And with Nuevayol you can dance reggaeton, dembow, and salsa all at once without changing your shoes.

It was a dream that began to come true in December 2021, when Cardinal Omella blessed the M-shaped organ named after Montserrat Torrent. The Barcelona organist premiered it then, but the instrument built by the Blancafort workshop was not yet finished. It lacked a final phase that, once completed, allowed this Monday the official inauguration of a magnificent organ with 50 registers, 3,454 pipes, and three keyboards installed in the choir tribune of the Oratory of Sant Felip Neri, in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. "We are in the heart of the city, in the heart of Catalonia," said the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, at the beginning of an event that was also a tribute to Montserrat Torrent, "a key figure in Catalan culture, a source of national pride." "This organ is the project of her life, because it was planned sixty years ago, but nothing ends now; a new stage begins now: to bring this fantastic instrument to life," explained Albert Torrens, commissioner of the Year Montserrat Torrent and biographer of the organist.

It was a dream that began to come true December 2021, when Cardinal Omella blessed the M-shaped organ named after Montserrat Torrent. The Barcelona organist already premiered it then, but the instrument built by the Blancafort workshop was not yet finished. A final phase was missing which, once completed, allowed for the official inauguration this Monday of a magnificent organ with 50 stops, 3,454 pipes, and three keyboards installed in the choir loft of the Oratory of San Felipe Neri, in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. "We are in the heart of the city, in the heart of Catalonia," said the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, at the beginning of an event that was also a tribute to Montserrat Torrent, "a key figure in Catalan culture, a pride of the country." "This organ is the project of her life, because it was conceived sixty years ago, but nothing ends now; a new stage begins now: to bring activity to this fantastic instrument," explained Albert Torrens, commissioner of the Year Montserrat Torrent and biographer of the organist.

Fermented grain alcohol is the great lubricant of music in Catalonia. Estrella Damm is a strategic sponsor of festivals such as Primavera Sound, Sónar, Cruïlla, Canet Rock, Cabró Rock, L’Acústica, Share, the Barcelona Jazz Festival... and also the Mercat de Música Viva de Vic. "Without Estrella Damm, this festival wouldn't happen," said François Jozic, the new director of Sónar, a few days ago.François Jozic, the new director of Sónar. Therefore, it is not surprising that music was the main protagonist of the celebration of Estrella Damm's 150th anniversary held on Saturday at the Parc del Fòrum. Eight groups responded to the brewery's call and performed, divided into two stages, between 3:45 PM and 11 PM. Curiously, at the anniversary of a birth, two bands that are breaking up this year participated: Love of Lesbian, who announced an indefinite hiatus, and Oques Grasses, who will bid farewell to the stage with four concerts at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in October.