Events and Festivals
Pau Casals, Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albéniz are some of the great figures who have left their mark on the Costa Brava. However, one of the first music festival organisers was Josep Ensesa, who opened the doors and gardens of Senya Blanca, his house in S’Agaró, to music lovers in 1956 with a series of concerts christened the Mozart Festival. The success of this festival led other Costa Brava towns to host similar events and nowadays almost all the towns on the Costa Brava hold annual musical events.
Music forms part of the character of many towns and of the several events held by them over the course of the year. However, it is in the summer when emblematic venues such as gardens, covered squares, cloisters, monasteries or waterside venues host internationally renowned musical and cultural events. These summer events showcase all kinds of music, including classical music, pop and rock, havaneres (colonial sea shanties) and Catalan sardana music.
But there are a number of festivals in Costa Brava that stand out above the rest in terms of their history, originality or colour. These include the procession Dansa de la Mort (Dance of Death) in Verges on Maundy Thursday and the Dance of Death, with characters donning skeleton outfits dancing in the streets, the living Way of the Cross in Sant Hilari Sacalm, the floral carpet festival in Arbúcies, the Hobby Horse dance in Sant Feliu de Pallerols, the Ball del Cornut and La Plantada de l’Arbre (The Planting of the Tree) of May in Cornellà del Terri... not to mention the major music festivals, some of them internationally renowned, such as Peralada Castle, Cap Roig Garden Festival in Calella de Palafrugell, and Torroella de Montgrí festivals, which draw world-class performers, as well as opera and contemporary music figures.
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