There are exciting shows that grow with every passing moment. And then there is Terra de guapes, by the Valencian singer Sandra Monfort. There are tributes made with judgment and sensitivity. And then there is the offering to the Valencian people that on Thursday inaugurated the 29th edition of the Fira Mediterrània in Manresa. There are enthusiastic ovations. And then there is the burst of joy and gratitude with which the audience filling the Teatre Kursaal rewarded a show born from the pain and rage caused by the 2024 DANA and by political infamy, but also from the love for all the people who, with rubber boots and broom in hand, restored dignity to a people whom they wanted to "bury in the mud, metaphorically and literally," as Monfort recalled.

It was difficult to contain the rage after so many deaths and so much political irresponsibility on October 29, 2024. It had only been two weeks since the DANA that mainly affected the Valencian Horta Sud, and the Valencian singer Sandra Monfort (Pedreguer, 1992) found the right words to express the unrest and celebrate solidarity. "And we will sing for you and we will clamor for justice! Today, while the starlings migrate and radishes grow in the field, the people rise up clutching shovels and street brooms," said the 'Som València' manifesto written by Monfort.

"It is a project that talks about our prehistory, when before being Estopa we were David and José", the Muñoz brothers explained this Tuesday at the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Barcelona, where David is studying the second year of history. The project in question is a double album that recovers the thirty songs they recorded with two guitars and vocals in the years 1996 and 1997, before releasing their first album with Sony. It is what is known as La maketa and which until now circulated illegally on the internet. "These are recordings that were not registered; therefore, we were not paid. I regret being so materialistic", say the Muñoz brothers.

The 39th season of the Fundació Òpera Catalunya begins on October 14th with a new production of L'elisir d'amore, by Donizetti (1797-1848). The premiere will be at the Teatre la Faràndula in Sabadell (8 p.m.), and until November 13th, fourteen performances will be held in Viladecans, Barcelona, Granollers, Vic, Cornellà de Llobregat, Figueres, Tarragona, Lleida, Manresa, and Sant Cugat del Vallès. This new production features stage direction by Pau Monterde, who resets the action in a southern Italian village in the 1950s. In the pit will be the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, conducted by Daniel Gil de Tejada, and the Cor Amics de l'Òpera de Sabadell will also participate.

The headline quote is said by trombonist Rita Payés (Vilassar de Mar, 1999) about pianist Lucía Fumero (Barcelona, 1991), who also subscribes to it. The musical and personal symbiosis between the two has this effect and, furthermore, multiplies the artistic and emotional impact of songs like those that make up the joint album Rueda eterna (2026), jazz, Latin American song, and Brazilian rhythmic aromas that they will spread on a European tour starting on October 14th in Paris.

"An important emotion, because it had been 51 years since I last performed there," explained Maria del Mar Bonet after Sunday's concert at the Olympia in Paris, the French temple of song. In statements collected by the ACN, the Majorcan singer highlighted that seeing the full hall "was beautiful" and thanked the audience for being so "sensitive and participative." "And very warm, and that makes you give your all. I had a great time, and furthermore, the musicians were very dedicated," added Bonet.

"It is one more step in the internationalization of the Orfeó Català," said Joaquim Uriach, president of the Orfeó Català Association and the Orfeó Català-Palau de la Música Catalana Foundation, on Saturday. The phrase, reported by the ACN, came in light of the New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Gustavo Dudamel that was held at the Philharmonie de Paris and in which the Orfeó Català, the Girls' Choir, and singers from the Children's Choir participated. It is the first of a tour that this Monday will pass through L'Auditori in Barcelona, to inaugurate the BCN Clàssics season, and which will then continue to the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid (October 13), the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg (October 19), and the Musikverein in Vienna (October 22).

Anne Carson, the 2026 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature, commented regarding a Rosalía concert in Chicago that upon leaving the performance there was no shared euphoria among the audience. "Each person sinks into their own dream while adjusting their headphones," the Canadian poet wrote, noting the more introspective nature of the material on the album Lux, or perhaps Rosalía's overwhelming ability to leave one speechless. Individual experience prevailed, therefore, as legitimate as what was lived during the four farewell concerts of Oques Grasses at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, where the weight of the collective (and in many cases family) experience lived over two hours soaked the journey home for the 55,000 spectators (220,000 in total for the farewell). Down from Montjuïc there may not have been the euphoria that Anne Carson was looking for, but there was a shared joy, despite the inevitable pinch of melancholy because there will be no more opportunities to see and experience an Oques Grasses concert.

The creation of the National Theatre of Catalonia Company is one of the projects that will be promoted by the new artistic director of the TNC, Josep Maria Mestres. "It is a project that I am particularly excited about," said Mestres during the presentation of the main lines he wants to implement at the facility starting from the 2027-2028 season, which will be the first he will direct completely after taking over from Carme Portaceli. The company will consist of twelve professional performers under 35 years of age: six actresses and six actors, selected in an open audition process. Only in shows that require it will there also be external collaborators of various ages. Each cohort will last for two seasons and, during this time, the performers will be hired on a stable basis.

A sound artistic duo, a writer, a publishing house, a stage director, a musician, an actor, and a playwright are the winners of the 2026 National Culture Awards, the accolades that have been presented since 2009 by the National Council for Culture and the Arts (CoNCA). The winners are Cabosanroque, Pol Guasch, Jande Editorial, Àlex Ollé, Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Oriol Pla, and Victoria Szpunberg, as announced this Friday at an event held at the Pau Casals Auditorium in El Vendrell, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of Pau Casals. The ceremony was hosted by journalist Andrea Gumes and was attended by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, the Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández Almodóvar, and the President of the CoNCA, Margarida Troguet. Each award comes with a prize of 20,000 euros, and starting this year, there are no longer five winners, but seven. In their acceptance speeches, the winners agreed on championing culture, collective values, and public services as tools to confront reactionary forces.

The government of Aragon has authorized the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) to transfer the profane paintings of Sixena to the monastery. In July the MNAC halted the dismantling of the works because it still did not have the approval of the Huesca Heritage Commission, which approved it this Friday.

It’s not exactly “crushing it like a butterfly that never dies”, but rather crushing it aware that this story is coming to an end. Crushing it, like the song that Oques Grasses played at the beginning of the concert, the first of this farewell from one of the most popular groups in Catalan music of the last fifteen years. Crushing it like no other Catalan artist had done, selling out all tickets for four nights at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, and offering two hours of musical gratitude to the public that has accompanied them in achieving this milestone: this Wednesday, 55,000 people who sang the more than twenty songs of the concert and who acted as an exceptional choir when La gent que estimo and Sort de tu brought out the last tears of emotion of the night. "We will be infinitely grateful to you," said Josep Montero, leader and spokesperson for Oques Grasses, before dedicating precisely La gent que estimo.

Not Rosalía, nor Madonna, nor Charli XCX, which were three of the names that had circulated in the rumors. The headliners of the 25th edition of the Primavera Sound, which will take place at the Parc del Fòrum from June 2nd to 6th, are artists such as Phoebe Bridgers, Doechii, Hayley Williams, FKA Twigs, Robyn, Caroline Polachek and Bad Gyal, and groups such as Turnstile, Fontaines DC, The Chemical Brothers and Prospa, in addition to Massive Attack, the Bristol band that could not perform in the 2026 edition due to a downpour.

Suddenly it is as if Ivette Nadal (Granollers, 1988) had opened the window to pop. The singer-songwriter from the Vallès region has sought the complicity of Joan Pons (El Petit de Cal Eril) and Joan Colomo to produce And that will be all... (Halley Records, 2026), an album that arrives one year after Cada dos cels (2025), the record dedicated to the galactics Pau Riba and Jaume Sisa. Nadal, who lives with multiple sclerosis, has let in a breath of melodic freshness into her artistic world.

The milestone is unprecedented: no Catalan artist or group has performed four concerts at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium in the same week. In fact, only the British band Coldplay has achieved this, on May 24, 25, 27, and 28, 2023. Surely exceeding the most optimistic expectations, in November 2025 Oques Grasses sold out all tickets forthe four performances they will give at the stadium on October 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th. The fact that these are the group's last concerts before calling it a day contributed to it, but, in any case, it is quite a milestone. "It is wonderful news, which reflects a growth in the audience for music in Catalan, which is above all due to the talent of the artists and the professionalization of a sector capable of supporting this talent," explains Jordi Herreruela, director of the Cruïlla Festival. Precisely at the 2024 Cruïlla, Oques Grasses received headliner treatment and closed the main stage on Saturday night. It was in the early stages of the presentation tour of Fruit of delirium (Halley Records, 2024), the latest in the Osona group's discography.

"When I took the reins of the Seattle Symphony in 2011, Simon Rattle told me to be patient, that it would take me five years to feel that it was my orchestra," explains Ludovic Morlot, who is just now beginning his fifth year as chief conductor of the OBC, the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra. Morlot uses the anecdote at L'Auditori de Barcelona during the presentation of the inaugural concert of the 2026-2027 season of the OBC, which will have two sessions: Friday, October 2 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday the 4th at 11 a.m. "I am just reaching that moment that Simon Rattle spoke of," he adds, happy with how the orchestra is flowing today. This spirit accompanies him when he asserts that this season will be "very ambitious" both in terms of repertoire and recordings. "While the repertoire for this season is different from last year's, the goal remains the same: artistic excellence," says Morlot.

250 works. This is the magnitude of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, which will be performed by Juan de la Rubia (Vall d'Uixó, 1982) on the organ of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, the second Tuesday of every month, from this October until December 2028. "Well, with breaks in the summer so that Juan has time to prepare the repertoire," says Mercedes Conde, deputy artistic director of the Palau de la Música Catalana, which is the institution promoting the project in collaboration with the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in Barcelona and the Montserrat Torrent. "For an organist, it is a joy to be able to dedicate two and a half years to Bach," says De la Rubia, titular organist of the Sagrada Família, director of the Orquestra del Miracle, linked for twenty years to the Palau de la Música and a student of Montserrat Torrent. "In this complete cycle, there are many things that are not coincidence, but providential," says De la Rubia, who will perform the complete cycle on the Montserrat Torrent organ that he himself inaugurated in the month of May.

"This is a concert that justifies the narrative of a band with 25 years of history," said the lead singer of Love of Lesbian, Santi Balmes, a while before going out on the Estrella Damm stage at Bogatell beach in Barcelona, the most crowded of the La Mercè festivities. Love of Lesbian are folding, or taking an indefinite break according to musical newspeak. They still have about ten performances scheduled in Spain and Mexico, but Saturday's at Bogatell was the last one in Barcelona.

Salvador Alemany (Barcelona, 1944) concludes a ten-year period as president of the Board of Trustees of the Gran Teatre del Liceu. The relay will be taken up by Helena Guardans, once she is ratified by the board on Friday. It will be the same day as the inauguration of the 2026-2027 season with the opera Aida, and with the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko as the star.

A cry of admiration and wonder is heard. "Wow!", exclaims a person wearing mixed reality glasses. "How amazing", they insist. They have just entered the so-called XR Workshop of the exhibition Gaudí Code. An unprecedented experience, which can be visited until January 8 at the new Espai Imagina by Mediapro, at number 177 Diagonal in Barcelona. Before the cry, they had been browsing and virtually touching a tool that reproduces one of the techniques Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) used to design the structure of the Sagrada Família... and then virtual reality shows them a dizzying fall through the temple's nave. Wow!, indeed. Theory and practice in two movements. It is, without a doubt, one of the most spectacular moments of an exhibition curated by Galdric Santana, director of the Gaudí Chair at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), and developed by Mediapro Xperiences, which has invested three million euros to create the exhibition and launch this new exhibition space in Barcelona. Tickets for Gaudí Code cost 17.50 euros (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday), 23 euros (Saturday and Sunday), and 12.50 euros (Monday). Those for children aged 4 to 12: 13.50, 18.50, and 12.50 euros. Children up to 3 years old enter for free.