Christmas in Barcelona is one big Festival

Christmas is also festival time and Barcelona brings you two big events over the festive season that will fill the streets with music, art, theatre, dance and activities for everyone. Make a note, because your diaries will be full to overflowing!

Plaça de Catalunya and Plaça de la Universitat will be the settings for the traditional Barcelona Festival de Nadal, with its attractive and extensive programme of cultural events to suit all tastes. It will be open from 16th to 29th December, with different activities in the mornings, afternoons and evenings. There's something for everyone, from the kids to fans of more innovative, experimental performances. The festival Sons de Nadal (Sounds of Christmas) is the other cultural highlight. It features an eclectic programme of live music in the streets and squares of the city's retail districts and markets: small-scale live concerts that will be held between 9th December and 4th January.

There are also lots of other great things to do, from nativity scenes, Christmas markets and lights to the big New Year's Eve spectacular in Plaça d'Espanya and the traditional Three Kings' parade.

BARCELONA FESTIVAL DE NADAL

Sonar: a 21st-century Christmas

This Christmas, Sonar is back in Plaça de la Universitat to bring you an innovative, amazing experience. The electronic music festival wanted to join in the festivities with an interactive audiovisual installation called Analema. Inspired by the yearly sun cycle and to celebrate the winter solstice, it was created to mark Sonar's 30th anniversary. Every evening, onlookers will be invited to create their own unique urban dance piece with their movements, which will generate a majestic tower of light.

Mornings for the kids

Kids and adults can enjoy themselves every morning in Plaça de Catalunya with super-fun activities for all the family. At Nadal SuperVeloz (Super-fast Christmas) they'll learn how a printing press works and make their own Christmas card. They can also enter the Face-o-mat, an analogue photo booth run by a group of illustrators. The interactive installation Paisatges (Landscapes) occupies a small area of the plaza where you can explore the body and space through play and, in the corner reserved for Barcelona, una postal de Nadal (Barcelona, a Christmas postcard) young and old can discover the joys of crafting.
The workshop La màquina dels records (The memory machine) will teach you how to make memories, while at La Fanzinoteca you'll be able to give free rein to your creativity and express yourself however you like on a piece of paper. And last of all, dressing-up fans can make their own tailor-made outfit at La Capgrossada, which will transform the plaza into a Christmas forest of fantastic animals.

Don't stop the music!

Reggae per Xics will fill the mornings in Plaça de Catalunya with energy and good vibrations with their show Nadal a bord (Christmas on Board). They will be sailing on the ship the Calypso, where the kids and their families can join them. The musician Miqui Puig has also signed up to celebrate Christmas and invites us to move our bodies to the rhythm of hits old and new. The Gramophone All Stars will also be bringing you the sounds of soul, jazz and Jamaican rhythms like ska and calypso. Every day, from 16th to 29th December, Plaça de Catalunya will be hosting free concerts for all tastes. From jazz to indie pop, folk, electronic music, reggae and R&B brought to you by some of the big names from our music scene.

Afternoons of art and performances

Street performances will fill Plaça de Catalunya with colour and happiness. Oblivion and Fight / Alive / Iu will be bringing you contemporary dance. You'll also be able to see Molar, a combination of performance, dance and theatre, and Definicions ambulants: un diccionari vivent will showcase contemporary circus. And finally, you'll be left open-mouthed with Lignes de vie, a dance performance on the walls of buildings that throws parkour into the mix.
And all the while, an angel will be flying over your heads: Mariona Moya and Josep Pedrals will make it possible for a celestial creature to fly above the plaza.
The theatre company Agrupación Señor Serrano will be bringing you one of the festival highlights: the exclusive premiere of Una taula, which will open the event. It is an original and eclectic piece that combines visual poetry, performance and art to make us think and move us at the same time.

SONS DE NADAL

The happy sounds of street bands

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas in Barcelona without street bands. This year, the Gumbo Jazz Band will be bringing you a New Orleans-style Christmas concert, and the Boozan Dukes will delight you with their melting pot of sounds from the rest of the world but made in Barcelona.

Pop and folk in a female key

Intana's velvety voice will fill the streets with American pop, while Júlia Blum will amaze you with her refreshing, emotive lyrics, and Kora will captivate you with the perfect blend of electronica and house.
Mariana També will be bringing you her own unique brand of intimate pop, while Selma Bruna will take you on a personal, fragile and emotional journey. Selva Nua will share her intimate, evocative lyrics with the passers-by. Do you want to hear more pop music by women? If so, why not listen to the vibrant sounds of The Crab Apples, and Adelaida, with her chameleonic voice and immersive staging and performance.

The rhythm of jazz

This Christmas, jazz returns, bigger and better than ever. You'll find jazz composers, including the Alba Careta Group, Los Fumeros and Eva Fernández, as well as the Jamaican rhythms of Els Delickites and the Memi Sillah Group. And if you're looking for a fusion of jazz and modern music, the Hip Horns Brass Collective blends the music of New Orleans with hip-hop. The Miranda Fernández Trio and the Raval Flamenco Jazz Group bring you a fusion of flamenco and jazz, but if you want to listen to classic jazz from the 1920s, don't miss the Swing Cooking Trio.

What would Christmas be like without the classics?

The Aesis Quintet celebrates Christmas to the sound of flutes, while the Duo Enxembre and Gènesi Quartet will be playing chamber music. The Quartet Fiora seeks to bring classical music to everyone, and the singing group, Veus de Nadal, will also be there with their classical and contemporary pieces. The pianist and composer, Carles Viarnès, will be performing his distinctive blend of classical and electronic music.

Soul, funk and R&B

Lovers of distinctive, smooth voices can't miss seeing one of our top soul and funk bands, Marina BB Face & The Beatroots, in action. Paula Peso is another soul diva who will draw the crowds to the streets and squares, while Corcs Drum & Organ combine R&B, funk, Latin soul and rock steady. They are all pure energy!

Rock, Latin jazz and more

Christmas can also be enjoyed to the rhythm of the guitar, and Oaks & Fahia's progressive, symphonic rock is ample proof of this. Or if you're more into boleros, the cha-cha-cha and the bachata, the Spread Latin Trio are the band for you, while Sara Aldana brings you a fusion of Latin, jazz and Afrobeats. The Ssissters combine tropical music with any genre that takes their fancy. The avant-garde composer and producer of music and soundtracks, Nara is Neus, knows no boundaries. And, in a similar vein, Núria Garcia blends electronic music with the violin. Les Testarudes bring you the sounds of reggae and Miqui Puig spins timeless pop hits.

Grab your coats and dancing shoes and get ready to go out and enjoy a Christmas filled with culture!