Festival Grec de Barcelona

The Grec Festival of Barcelona (Catalan: Festival Grec de Barcelona) is an international festival of theatre, dance, music, and circus. With a long-standing tradition in the cultural life of the city, by the summer of 2017 it had reached its 41st edition. Throughout its history, the Grec Festival has not only become one of the main attractions of Barcelona's summer calendar but has also established itself as a prominent reference in the European performing arts scene.

The festival takes its name from its main venue: an open-air theatre (the Teatre Grec) built on Mount Montjuïc. The theatre was built in 1929 by the Catalan architect Ramon Reventós in the style of the ancient Greek theatres as part of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition. By 1976, the theatre had fallen into a semi-abandoned state. The first Grec Festival both salvaged the theatre and achieved considerable public success. At first, the Grec was the only venue used for festival productions, but today, the festival utilizes several venues throughout the city of Barcelona.

The festival pursues a two-fold mission: to stage the most outstanding works by Catalan artists and companies and to present other interesting shows from Spain and the rest of the world.

Artists who have appeared at the Festival include Dario Fo, Lindsay Kemp, the Martha Graham Dance Company, Ballet BC, Sydney Dance Company, Jan Fabre, Peter Brook, Sasha Waltz, Michel Piccoli, Robert Lepage, the Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan, Paco de Lucía, Cristina Hoyos, Carles Santos, Nacho Duato, Àlex Rigola, Calixto Bieito, Miles Davis, Manhattan Transfer, Joe Cocker, Celia Cruz, Chuck Berry, and Elvis Costello.

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