European Athletics Championship

The 20th European Athletics Championships will be held in Barcelona from July 27 to August 1,2010, under the auspices of the European Athletics Association and the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation. The opening ceremony will be Monday, July 26, and the competitions will be in the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in the Olympic complex of the Montjuich Mountain except the road tests of Racewalking and Marathon which will run on urban street circuits in central Barcelona. More than 1,200 athletes from Europe from the 50 member countries will compete in these days in 24 and 23 disciplines in men and women.
The circuit of the Marathon of the 20th European Athletics Championships Barcelona will be totally urban and alongside some of the main icons of the architecture of the City. The race will be almost completely flat (6 to 27 meters over sea level); the departure and arrival will be on the Passeig de Picasso, at the side of the Parc de la Ciutadel.la. Athletes will pass through the interior of the Arc de Triomf , and through the Rondas to reach the Plaza de Catalunya and continue to get to the Plaza Universidad; then turn into Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes till Passeig de Gràcia going up to Aragon Street, near the Casa Batlló, and come back down through the same Boulevard to the Gran Via, and from there to descend through Marina leaving the Agbar Tower on the left going to  the twin towers in the Olimpic Port; from there close to the seafront to bind first Ciutadella Park and through the Paseo de Colon reach the monument of Columbus and return through the same Avenue to the Parc de la Ciutadel.la.

More information at: European Athletics Championship

Sonar 2010 Barcelona

The 17th International Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art Sonar 2010 will take place, for the first time simultaneously in the cities of Barcelona and A Coruña (Sonar Galicia) coinciding with the Xacobeo (Compostela’s Jubilee). The Sonar Festival confirmed dates are 17, 18 and 19 June, and presents a line-up that will be, to a large extent, shared by the two cities. In both cities the Sonar’s diverse artistic offer will split between the Sonar by Day activities (in Barcelona, the CCCB and MACBA venues) with a music line-up, and a multimedia and audiovisual area and the Sonar by Night (in Barcelona in Fira Gran Via M2 L’Hospitalet) that will feature the latest leading lights in electronic, together with some simultaneous concerts in special venues. In the Sonar Festival you can enjoy a selected program which combines the electronica headliners together with emerging artists and DJ’s representing the most updated music and new media trends within electronic culture, and it is also the meeting point for a worldwide audience looking for the newest, and also for professionals, looking for the perfect environment for business and networking.

For information  visit Sonar Festival

San Miguel PRIMAVERA SOUND 2010

From May 27 to May 29 the 10th edition of San Miguel Primavera Sound will be in the Parc del Forum of Barcelona.
In the list of names for this year edition there are names like Liquid Liquid, one of the most mythical formations of post punk, the New Zealand cult pop of band The Clean, one of the classics of American underground Shelac or the experimental indie rock of the Americans Polvo.
 Also some of the most renown and successful bands of these recent years like the solo project of Bradford Cox Atlas Sound, the duo No Age and their new twist to indie rock, the Apocalypse sound of the Lakers band Health,  the electronic music of Fuck Buttons or the experimental crossover of the New Yorkers Yeasayer will also be on stage during the three days of the festival.
An important moment of the festival will be the premiere of new show of the band Standstill, as a step forward that the group gives after of the success of the "Vivalaguerra” tour.
And as every other year special attention will be given also to fresh and new bands that have appeared in these last months like the British revelation The Big Pink or the icy electronic pop of Cold Cave and others.
For complete list of artist during the festival you can visit the organizers web: SAN MIGUEL PRIMAVERA SOUND 2010

2010 Mobile World Congress

The 2010 Mobile World Congress will be held in Barcelona in the Montjuic Venue of the Fira de Barcelona from February 15 to 18. During these 4 days Barcelona will become the place for mobile leaders to gather, collaborate, conduct business and experience VISION IN ACTION.
The Mobile World Congress will include this year:  a world-class thought leadership conference; an exhibition with more than 1,300 companies; the Awards ceremony and industry seminars with the most innovative mobile solutions from around the world. Also the CEOs of the world’s leading communications companies, including Alcatel-Lucent, China Unicom, Ericsson, Google, Huawei, KDDI, Telefónica and Vodafone, will deliver keynote presentations at the Mobile World Congress.
Within the 2010 Mobile World Congress it will also take place the App Planet, a major new "event within an event". Solely focused on the rapidly growing application developer community, App Planet will bring together the many critical elements of the broad mobile application ecosystem together in one location. The inaugural App Planet event will feature:  Application developer conferences focused specifically on the most influential mobile platforms in the market; An interactive exhibition where attendees can preview the newest and most innovative application technologies; The "App Lounge", where networking and business development will help to further define the future of this exciting mobile segment; A dedicated, day-long track of thought-provoking presentations and panel sessions on industry trends in mobile applications; and The "Apps Garage", which will showcase cutting-edge GSMA initiatives in the mobile applications space.
Initial App Planet partners include Research In Motion (RIM), Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP) and the International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA), as well as more than 40 exhibiting companies who will be showcasing their technologies and solutions.

More Information at: 2010 Mobile World Congress 

Pat Metheny, The Orchestrion Tour

Pat Metheny will open then 21 Guitar Festival of Barcelona, on Febrary 21 in L'Auditori, presenting his new project, entitled Orchestrion, in which he develops a new idea: the "solo ensemble”. Metheny alone on stage offers a very special journey with a new technology developed through the work of a complete year, and that forms part of his last album, recorded in this format.
The Orchestrion Project is a leap into new territory. This project represents a recently developed conceptual direction that involves the merging of an idea from the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries with the technologies of today to create an open-ended platform for musical invention and performance.  "Orchestrionics" is the term that Metheny uses to describe a new performance method to present music alone onstage using acoustic and acoustic-electric musical instruments that are mechanically controlled using the power of modern technology.  The principle instruments, a large palette of acoustic sound-producing devices, have been designed and built to enable Pat Metheny to create his solo Orchestrion.

Eros Ramazzotti returns to Barcelona

Presenting his last studio album Ali e Radici Eros Ramazzotti will be in the Palau Sant Jordi on February 15th after his concert in Madrid on February 13th. Eros Luciano Walter Ramazzotti (born on October 28, 1963), known simply as Eros Ramazzotti, is an Italian singer and songwriter and one of the most popular artists in Italy and not only well known in most non English-speaking European countries but also in most of the Spanish-speaking countries as he has released most of his albums in both Italian and Spanish.
In this world tour that will take Eros Ramazzotti throughout Europe and America he will present this last album, recorded in Los Angeles with first-rate musicians as drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and guitarist Mike Landau. After the silence of four years Ali e Radici is the 11th studio album of Eros and contains 11 new songs. Through the tour will be accompanied on stage by great musicians: Claudio Guidetti (guitars), Michael Landau (guitars), Gary Novak (drums), Reggie Hamilton (bass), Everette Harp (winds), Nicola Peruch (keyboards), Luca Scarpa (piano and keyboards), Vergati Chiara (vocals), Sarah Bellantoni (vocals), Romina Falconi (vocals). The songs of this album have been produced by Eros Ramazzotti and Claudio Guidetti and composed Adelio Cogliati (letters) and Guidetti and Eros (music). Six themes have as co-producer Michele Canova (producer and collaborator Tiziano Ferro Laura Pausini). Paul Buckmaster (producer of classic albums by Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis and David Bowie, among others) has written the song arrangements L'Orizzonte and has arranged and conducted the orchestra in other subjects. David Rossi (arranger of strings of Viva la Vida by Coldplay), has also collaborated on some songs on the album.
In the past 25 years, Eros Ramazzotti has sold worldwide over 50 million copies of the various albums he has published. Thorug the years the Italian star has done duets with several prestigious artists such as Cher, Tina Turner, Andrea Bocelli, Patsy Kensit, Anastacia, Joe Cocker, Luciano Pavarotti, Laura Pausini, and Ricky Martin.

To listen some of the latests songs of Eros you can visit: Eros Ramazzotti

Cabalgata de Reyes Magos

One of the traditions of the Christmas season for the children is to write a letter to the Magi and send it days before of the Epiphany. The day before the Epiphany, on January 5th in the afternoon, the Three Kings arrive to every town to bring the gifts, with a big display. The Cavalcade of Magi is a typical carnival parade where the Kings (Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar) and his acolytes and assistants throw candy to children who observed them from the street. At night the children should go to bed early leaving a shoe for each person in the house in a row near a window and the next morning they can find the gifts of the Magi. According to tradition children who have behaved badly during the past year receive candy coal.
The first document of the origin of the Epiphany procession in Spain dates back to January 5, 1855 in the Diario de Barcelona (Barcelona’s Newspaper).
In Barcelona, even though in every neighborhood there is a parade for the kids to be close to the Three Kings, the most spectacular Cabalgata de Reyes starts at 17:00 hours when the Three Kings arrive by sail boat Santa Eulàlia to the Moll de la Fusta in the Port Vell where they are received on behalf of the city by the mayor who will present to the Kings the key that opens all doors of Barcelona and also give them bread and salt as a symbol of hospitality. From there the Three Kings go to the Parc de la Ciutadella in vintage cars where they are expected by their respective delegations to the Parade to start.
The Magi in there spectacular coaches are expected to distribute around 15,000 kilos of sweets that are distributed by acolytes and assistants during the more than five kilometers, starting at 18:30 in Avenida Marquès de l’Argentera close to the Parc de la Ciutadella and after going through different streets (Via Laietana, Plaça Urquinaona, Plaça Catalunya, Pelai, Plaça Universitat, Ronda Sant Pau, Sepulveda, Vilamari, Lleida, Rius I Taulet) to end up around 21:00 hours at the Magi Fountain in the Montjuich Mountain.

The Brandery 2010 Barcelona

Barcelona - Fira Montjuic – January 2010

In its second edition The Brandery 2010, Barcelona trade show of urban and contemporary fashion  will take place in the Fira Barcelona Montjuic Venue from January 27 to 29 2010. The Brandery is the great fashion fair in Barcelona that provides a new concept in contemporary urban fashion salons where the brand, the creativity, and the innovation get together, away from conventions. The Brandery 2010 is the new international meeting point in Barcelona for urban and contemporary fashion and generator of trends, and an interesting business platform for the fashion sector. The top brands will be showcasing their most innovative ideas for professionals, retailers and distributors, divided into four different sectors: The Cathedral, for designers with their own eponymous brands; The Loft, for brands with a particularly designer/trend-driven component; The Warehouse, or brands that use Denim as the common denominator; and The Stadium, for the world of sneakers and streetwear collections.

BARCELONA BOSC URBA

For lovers of adventure sports now there is a place in Barcelona where to enjoy sports like Foxes, Swinging Bridges, Network Roads, Lianas, Bungee Jumping, Vertical Pirate Networks, Rope Bridges logs and others placed on different platforms up to 9 meter high. The Forum Barcelona Urban Forest is a new concept of adventure space: an adventure urban park of 6,000 square meters with more than 30 attractions, located in the Plaça del Forum.
The Plaça del Forum inside the Parc del Forum is a network of about 100 columns, left from the structures built for the Forum Universal de las Culturas 2004, that now is used to install the obstacles placed on the platforms up to 9 meters high the tallest and up to 120 meters the longest.
Three circuits have been displayed differentiated by height and level and type of difficulty: the Orange Circuit with small level of difficulty is for children from 4 to 10 years or up to 1.30 meters high and it consists of 14 platforms located 1.5 meters above ground; The Blue Circuit with a medium difficulty level suitable for children from 8 years old, families and adults, and consists on 19 platforms located 4 meters above the ground; and the Red Circuit prepared for advanced lovers of strong emotions and for those who are thrilled to enjoy and download maximum adrenaline, with 20 platforms located over 6 meters from the ground ending with the Zip line over 120 meters.
It is required before making any circuit, regardless on experience or previous training, to do the training course supervised by a monitor.
More information at BARCELONA BOSC URBA

Soweto Gospel Choir

Within the Barcelona Gospel Festival, Els Grans Del Gospel, in its 11th edition the Soweto Gospel Choir will be performing in Barcelona on the 17th of December in the Palau de la Musica Catalana.
Formed in November of 2002, by promoters/presenters Andrew Kay, David Vigo and Clifford Hocking, in association with Executive Producer/Director Beverly Bryer and Musical Director David Mulovhedzi, Soweto Gospel Choir’s has achieved already several major music awards, in between others two Grammy Awards in different years, a Helpmann Award, Australia’s prestigious Performing Arts Award or the American Gospel Music Award for “Best Choir”.
Thei voices have accompanied all major developments in the recent history of South Africa and even more they have been the first South African group that performed at the Oscars. They play strong African music with an explosion of rhythm and color, strength and vitality.
Their music celebrates African Gospel music in a truly inspirational way, magically combining the earthy sounds of their percussion and the wondrous harmony of their a cappella voices.
More information on respect to the Festival in: Els Grans Del Gospel