Festival

Sónar 2022 brought together more than 122,000 attendees from 122 countries. The 29th edition of the festival of music, creativity and technology saw the return of Sónar to large-format events, and the opening of Sónar+D to the general public. The 30th anniversary of Sónar Barcelona will be held on the 15th, 16th and 17th of June 2023.

Sónar 2022 presented over 180 activities with hundreds of artists and speakers. It combined world premieres, exclusive concerts and eagerly awaited returns to the stage by major stars; and a wide representation of the most important current global, national and local talents.

In parallel, the festival also included many hybrid presentations between conference and concerts featuring audiovisual components, talks and Q&A sessions.

The festival brought together more than 122,000 attendees, 43,000 at Sónar by Day and 79,000 at Sónar by Night. 70% of the audience came from Spain, while the remaining 30% arrived in Barcelona from across the world.

Sónar Barcelona is already on the road to its 30th anniversary, which will be held on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of June 2023. This Wednesday (22nd June) at 12:00 noon (CEST), there’ll be a special pre-sale event. SonarPasses will be available from €115 and Delegate Passes from €150. Pre-registration for the pre-sale opens tomorrow morning, open to the general public.

Sónar 2022 saw the return of established names of electronic music, with The Blaze, Moderat, and a highly anticipated, spectacular audiovisual show by The Chemical Brothers tonight. They were joined by two of the biggest names Hispanic popular music, C. Tangana and Nathy Peluso. And there were a host of shows prepared especially for the festival: Arca, Niño de Elche + Ylia + Banda “La Valenciana”, Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés present Hiperutopia, Samantha Hudson: ‘Liquidación Total Por Cierre’, Tarta Relena, Rojuu, Polo & Pan, Nu Genea Live Band, and  ‘Uncompressed’, presented by Patreon.

The biggest dancefloor in the world once again trembled to the sound of some of the heroes of club music, including Richie Hawtin, ANNA & Maotik, Jennifer Cardini b2b Perel, Jayda G and Octo Octa b2b Eris Drew. Tonight the party continues with Charlotte de Witte, Eric Prydz, Reinier Zonneveld, Helena Hauff, Anfisa Letyago and more.

This year, Sónar+D has been increasingly integrated into Sónar by Day, with the general public invited to discover new venues: SonarMàtica by Tezos, SonarÀgora, and Stage+D. The latter venue hosted a spectacular series of events part way between lecture and performance featuring a conversation between over 60 speakers, centered around four main themes: the new ecosystems being created under Web3; the creative, industrial, political and ethical challenges of Artificial Intelligence(AI); studies and advances in Acoustic Ecology; and the ongoing work on Ecology and Fiction.

In addition, SonarExtra offered a tour through the heart of Barcelona throughout the week. The public were invited to immerse themselves in ‘Hyperorgan‘, a ‘sound experience’ created by Sónar, master organ builder Albert Blancafort, technologist Santi Vilanova from Playmodes, and Berlin composers gamut inc, at Palau Güell. They could also visit Sondear and ‘Museo del Sonido’ by Mika Vainio at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies; and ‘Transient‘ by Quayola, presented by ME by Meliá at the Hotel ME Barcelona.

Sónar will touch down this summer in Mallorca for ‘Un SónarVillage a S’horabaixa’, a new three-date series which will take place on Saturday 16th July, Saturday 6th August and Saturday 3rd September in the Antiguo Aquapark de Calvià. The series will feature leading electronic artists such as The Blaze, Overmono, Âme and Floating Points. Tickets are on-sale now at www.sonarshorabaixa.com.

Read More »Sónar wraps up a massive edition, marked by cultural diversity, local talent and highlighting female performers from across five continents