With the Immaculate Conception long weekend and Christmas holidays just around the corner, this month we recommend more than ten cultural plans in Barcelona for the free time between family dinners and gifts, if overeating allows. The December cultural agenda presents a selection of concerts, plays, films, and exhibitions to get some fresh air and say goodbye to the year. Surprises are included, such as dance floors converted into ephemeral art galleries, a proposal that discovers a new face to mythical venues like Apolo, Sidecar, Salamandra, El Pumarejo, and River.
In the cultural agenda, there are always options for everyone. From those who want to go to the theater, being able to choose between the TNC's theatrical adaptation of Almudena Grandes' La madre de Frankenstein or The Producers, the latest musical by Àngel Llàcer and Manu Guix, to those who prefer cinema. There's a special recommendation for El maestro que prometió el mar, with Enric Auquer and Laia Costa interpreting the story of the republican teacher Antoni Benaiges, murdered with the outbreak of the Civil War and recovering his memory thanks to the notebooks he made with his students following an innovative pedagogical method. For those who prefer to stay on the sofa with a blanket, Filmin has premiered Roni, the latest series by cartoonist Juanjo Sáez, known for Arròs covat.
Not far from cinema, the Liceu will dedicate a concert to the soundtracks of Juan Antonio Bayona next Friday, December 8, a very Christmassy proposal, with the Auditori doing the same with The Lord of the Rings (Sunday, December 3) and Star Wars (December 23). In the concert dedicated to Bayona, a few days before the premiere of his latest film La sociedad de la nieve, the Vallès Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Fernando Velázquez, who was in charge of composing those of El orfanato, Lo imposible, and Un monstruo viene a verme. Another type of concert will be the one Raphael will perform this Saturday, December 3, at the Palau Sant Jordi, a guaranteed success where a long list of hits such as Digan lo que digan, Yo soy aquél, Como yo te amo, Escándalo and, of course, Mi gran noche will be played.
And, with a particularly strong start to the course at an exhibition level after the pandemic paralysis, the recommendations in this section expand. If the cultural agenda for November highlighted the great exhibition on the friendship of Miró and Picasso, as well as that of Marc Chagall at Palau Martorell, both visitable until next year, this month we add a few more to the to-do list, adapting to the dates. Knowing that these are days to be with family, the exhibition on the entire universe of Harry Potter that has landed in Port Vell could not be missed, to which can be added that of Dinosaurs of Patagonia presented by CosmoCaixa, also recommended in November.
But there will also be some who will leave Barcelona these days and, if they go towards Girona, a stop must be made in Figueres, with the arrival of Dalí's Christ after more than 70 years, taking into account that it is usually installed in Glasgow. In addition, a visit to the Dalí Theatre-Museum can be complemented with the recently opened Salvador Dalí Birthplace House, a project that the city had been battling for almost 30 years. For those who stay here there are also plans, with retrospectives on the realism of Antonio López (La Pedrera) or the color photography of William Eggleston (KBr). And a classic that never fails, the World Press Photo at the CCCB.