Cultura

An excited Montserrat Torrent made her way this Monday through the half a thousand people who filled the Oratorio Sant Felip Neri after having realized the dream of her life: the musical baptism of the instrument that bears her name and whose construction has been delayed for six decades. “It has been extraordinary,” she said after offering a concert in dialogue with the poem that Narcís Comadira has dedicated to the new Montserrat Torrent organ. Surrounded by the performers who premiered the organ made by Albert Blancafort with her, the centenarian artist added: “There will be many concerts. There will be many joys.”

The site was called the Garden of the Fugitives. You can already imagine why. In the year 79 AD, when Vesuvius had already been erupting for hours, fourteen people tried to cross this ancient vineyard, looking for an exit through the Nocera Gate. The pyroclastic flow caught them and none escaped alive.

A total of 92,000 visitors have walked through the Comic Barcelona fair from Friday until today, Sunday. A figure slightly lower than the 110,000 of the previous edition, partly due to the change of pavilion because of construction work inside Fira Montjuïc. That does not take away from Meritxell Puig, director of Ficomic, the organizing entity of this event, feeling “satisfaction” with how things have gone this year and with the sweet moment that comics are experiencing. “More families than ever have come,” she told La Vanguardia while recalling that this 2026 is the year they have had the most authors, both national and international, and the most publishers from different parts of the world, who “have been able to see the talent that is cultivated here, which is no small thing.”

Five days after publicly announcing that she had terminal cancer, British soprano Felicity Lott has passed away at the age of 79. The singer, who had been ill for a year, had recently announced that she would donate some of her costumes for a charity auction intended for a palliative care center, where she was also informed that the disease was progressing without remedy.

Javier Bardem has expressed words of gratitude to the Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, who at the press conference of the jury members of the official section of the Cannes festival, defended that the Spanish actor, like Susan Sarandon and Mark Ruffalo, raised their voices publicly in support of Gaza and harshly criticized the American industry for the alleged professional reprisals against the three actors. “I sent him a message through a mutual friend thanking him and also Laverty has always been an artistic and personal reference,” the Oscar-winning actor confessed to a small group of journalists during an interview about his role in El ser querido, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, which is competing for the Palme d’Or and is officially presented this afternoon at the French festival.

As is tradition, the Sitges festival has presented at the Fantastic Pavilion of the Marché du Film at the Cannes festival the poster for its upcoming edition, the 59th, which will pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the release of Carrie, a film directed by Brian de Palma, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King and starring a young Sissy Spacek as a shy teenager who lives with her mother, a religious fanatic, and is constantly mocked by her high school peers. “The poster references Carrie, which will be the leitmotif of the festival, and the image, created again by the China agency, represents blood, adolescence, and also refers to prom nights, the party that ends so badly in the film,” said the festival director Ángel Sala to La Vanguardia, who recalled that the film was a huge success and influenced the portrayal of student rituals as transitional spaces to adulthood, where evil and supernatural elements infiltrate and alter the appearance of normality.

That guy who became known, along with Gael García Bernal and Maribel Verdú, in Y tu mamá también (2001), Diego Luna (Toluca de Lerdo, 1979), has just presented his fifth feature as a director, Ceniza en la boca, at the Cannes festival. This adaptation of the novel of the same name by his compatriot Brenda Navarro (published by Sexto Piso), follows the steps of a Mexican teenager, Lucila (Anna Díaz), who migrates to Madrid and then to Barcelona, and synthesizes Luna’s commitment to the fight against racism, classism, and violence, which, as early as 1994, was expressed through the indigenous insurgents of Chiapas.

On June 30th, El Molino will close its doors to the public again. Barcelona Events Musicals (BEM), the company that now manages it, has reached an agreement with the City Council to terminate the concession, which was granted in 2024 and had a duration of four years. The stated reason is the imminent execution of works aimed at improving the soundproofing of the building, in response to neighborhood complaints recorded in recent months. It seems that the limitation of hours has been an obstacle to making the venue profitable, since many music shows rely on the balance between ticket sales and consumptions. Once the necessary adjustments are made, the City Council assures that it wants to continue El Molino as a reference cultural facility in the city.

Enigma solved. Angelo Savorelli betrayed the insurrectional plans of Francesc Macià in November 1926 at the French Sûreté Générale. It was the Italian informant who thwarted the attempt by the Estat Català army to invade Catalonia to free it from the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and proclaim the Catalan republic. Until now, only suspects had been proposed, without reaching any conclusion. Macià died without knowing it.

When the awardees keep missing their attendance at the awards gala, the best thing is for the ingenuity of a stage director to appear who raises the bar of the event. Yesterday there was luck at the 8th edition of the Ópera XXI, which happily returned to Barcelona, with Joan Anton…