In just 15 days, the promoter Concert Studio, organizer of the Jardins Pedralbes Festival in its first ten years, has rolled up its sleeves to overcome the setback, after losing to Clippers the tender called by the Generalitat to choose the company in charge of the next editions of the event. They leave Pedralbes and land in Poble Espanyol, where this summer the first edition of the Alma-Festival Jardins Pedralbes will be held.
"We start in a new home with a festival that already exists. We have called it Alma because that is what defines us," explained Martín Pérez, the director of Concert Studio, in its presentation. Alma will be the name, keeping Festival Jardins Pedralbes as the surname, this being the formula the organizers have found to explain to their audience that their festival continues but moves to another point in the city. In addition, as he detailed, Festival Jardins Pedralbes is a registered trademark.
"It will be an extraordinary success," ventured Martín Pérez, "with a magnificent and international lineup." The Concert Studio identity seal is maintained, an eclectic mix of artists, with names like Anastacia, Fito Paez, Zahara, Delaporte, Bastille, Soft Cell, M-Clan, Chris Isaak, and Balkan Paradise Orchestra. A total of 16 concerts, awaiting a couple of last additions yet to be announced. Pérez thanked many artists for joining the new adventure without even "looking at the sheet of considerations," as have former sponsors such as Banco Sabadell and Renfe.
In the new location, concerts will start a little earlier, between 9:15 PM and 9:30 PM. The program will begin on July 11 and run until July 27. With a capacity for 5,000 spectators, there will be 500 seats each day, with the ambition of accommodating different audience profiles. Prices, he stressed, will be much more affordable this year. Sales will open this Thursday.
Pérez, repeating the displeasure of when he lost the Cap Roig Festival and hurt by how everything ended with the Generalitat, "we won the contest, but we lost an auction," does not rule out filing a lawsuit. Nor is he thinking about what will happen three years from now, the period for which the organization of a festival in the gardens of the Royal Palace of Pedralbes has been tendered. "The first ten years, if we want, we will continue here," he stressed.
While the new Alma-Festival Jardins de Pedralbes gets underway, Concert Studio will continue expanding its way of understanding festival organization. After collaborating on the launch of one in Seville since 2021, a festival in Madrid has now approached them, which they will help position next year by capturing its spirit.