On a tightrope

El Grec Festival 2023 offers 88 stage performances, including circus, dance, theatre and concerts. Bringing together local and international artists, the festival got underway with two circus performances by the Gravity & Other Myths company, and with tightrope walker Nathan Paulin crossing the iconic Barcelona boulevard of Passeig de Gràcia on a steel cable.

Among the stand-outs at this year’s festival is Carlota Subirós with an adaptation of a Catalan literary classic, stage legends Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod, Robert Wilson and Ivo Van Hove, dance giants like La Veronal and Sasha Waltz and Guests, and musical icons such as David Lang (with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and the Orfeó Català choir) and Rufus Wainwright.

Some 50 activities are part of the Grec Ciutat programme, which introduces new venues in the city such as the Dipòsit del Rei Martí, where Aurora Bauzà and Pere Jou will perform, or the Barcelona Athenaeum, where Òpera de Butxaca will perform Quatre solos soles. Other new venues include La Muriel, where Sixto Paz will perform, La Model, where you can see Jo, travesti, by Roberto G. Alonso, and the Muñoz Ramonet Foundation, which will host A House on the Mountain by Albert Boronat.