PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release · Leiguarda, June 2026

ADAR Festival celebrates its sixth edition from 4 to 16 August 2026 in rural Asturias

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Eleven concerts, seven heritage venues, six municipalities and thirteen international performers. The Association for the Development of the Arts in Rural Areas presents the sixth edition of the ADAR Festival, with free admission to all concerts through advance booking on Eventbrite.

LEIGUARDA, Belmonte de Miranda, Asturias. — The ADAR Festival celebrates its VI edition from 4 to 16 August 2026 with a programme that travels through churches, monasteries, a parador, a dovecote, a municipal auditorium, heritage hórreos and the streets of Leiguarda. The proposal combines contemporary chamber music, visual art, site-specific sound interventions, artist residencies and activities linked to Asturian rural heritage.

In its sixth edition, ADAR consolidates its standing as one of the leading projects for classical music, contemporary creation and visual art in rural Asturias. From Leiguarda, and with a programme that extends across several municipalities of Asturias, this year the festival brings together first-rate Asturian, national and international artists, strengthening a cultural model that connects artistic excellence, heritage, landscape and community participation.

The project retains the support of the Principality of Asturias and, in 2026, takes a further step in its European reach following ADAR's selection as a host organisation within Culture Moves Europe · Call for Residency Hosts, the cultural mobility programme funded by the European Union's Creative Europe and implemented by the Goethe-Institut. This international dimension adds to its participation in the cultural ecosystem of Oviedo 2031, a candidate city for European Capital of Culture, reinforcing ADAR's role as a platform for creation from rural Asturian territory towards Europe.

The edition opens on Tuesday 4 August with a harpsichord recital by Ignacio Prego at the winning hórreo of the 2026 Hórreos & Paneras Competition, whose venue will be announced on 1 August. The programme, titled «Of Dances and Sonatas», offers a journey through dance forms for keyboard between the 16th and 18th centuries, with works by Antonio de Cabezón, the Folías de España and the Chaconne from J. S. Bach's Partita in D minor for violin, in the transcription by Johannes Brahms. Due to the limited capacity of the hórreos, the recital will be offered in two 30-minute sittings.

The «ADAR on tour» series brings together four itinerant chamber concerts. «The Shape of Memory», with María Martínez, Frederieke Saeijs and Josefina Urraca, is presented on 5 and 6 August at the library of the Parador de Corias, in Cangas del Narcea, and at the Monastery of San Antolín de Bedón, in Llanes, with works by Lili Boulanger, Rachmaninoff, Brittney Benton, Haydn, Messiaen and Shostakovich.

On 11 August, the trio formed by Maria Florea, Lara Fernández and Daniel Claret presents «The Rest is Silence» at the As Quintas Auditorium in El Franco, with a programme built around the idea of solitude and works by Ligeti, Shostakovich, Gubaidulina, Kurtág, Webern, Penderecki, Stravinsky, Cage and Bach. On 13 August, the same trio expands to a quintet at the Monastery of Villanueva de Oscos, with works by Schubert, Joan Magrané, Devin Cholodenko, Brahms and Dvořák.

The Menhir collective, formed by Coco Moya and Iván Cebrián, presents a site-specific intervention on 8 and 9 August at the dovecote of Leiguarda, from 19:00 to 22:00. It is a geolocated sound trail combining musical, sonic and textual elements that surface according to the walker's location. The route can be undertaken individually or in groups during both days.

The programme also includes «UMBRAL ZERO», a minimalist music concert with Guillermo Laporta and Josefina Urraca at the Aula del Oro in Belmonte de Miranda on 7 August; a quintet micro concert at the Centro ADAR in Leiguarda during the solar eclipse of 12 August; and «Equilibrium», a residency showcase by The Rest Project trio at the second hórreo selected by the jury on 14 August, in two 20-minute sittings.

The sound walk of 15 August through Leiguarda and the closing concert of 16 August at the parish church bring the edition to a close. The closing brings together Natania Hoffman, Žilvinas Brazauskas, Frederieke Saeijs, Guillermo Laporta and Josefina Urraca in a programme with works by Vivaldi (arr. Bach), Mendelssohn, Brahms, Ravel, Ligeti and Lang, followed by an espicha (a traditional Asturian cider gathering) open to the public.

The festival is directed by Josefina Urraca and Guillermo Laporta, responsible for its artistic direction and curation. The edition also features Zygmund de Somogyi as resident composer and Guillermo Ordás as cinematographer in charge of the audiovisual documentation.

Full programme

• 4 AUG · 20:30 · «Of Dances and Sonatas» — Micro concert in a hórreo · Harpsichord recital with Ignacio Prego (Cabezón, Purcell, Scarlatti and Bach's Chaconne in the transcription by Brahms). Opening · Hórreos & Paneras Competition. Two 30-minute sittings. Winning hórreo of the competition, venue announced 1 August.
• 5 AUG · 20:30 · «The Shape of Memory» — Piano trio of María Martínez, Frederieke Saeijs and Josefina Urraca (Boulanger, Rachmaninoff, Brittney Benton, Haydn, Messiaen and Shostakovich). ADAR on tour. Library of the Parador de Corias, Cangas del Narcea.
• 6 AUG · 20:30 · «The Shape of Memory» — Second presentation by the same trio. ADAR on tour. Monastery of San Antolín de Bedón, Llanes.
• 7 AUG · 20:30 · «UMBRAL ZERO» — Minimalist music and visual art with Guillermo Laporta and Josefina Urraca (Richter, Laporta, Zygmund de Somogyi, Bach, Hannah Selin, Satie, Scriabin and Meredith Monk). Aula del Oro, Belmonte de Miranda.
• 8 and 9 AUG · 19:00 to 22:00 — Site-specific intervention by the Menhir collective: a geolocated sound trail at the dovecote of Leiguarda, with Coco Moya and Iván Cebrián.
• 11 AUG · 20:30 · «The Rest is Silence» — Trio of Maria Florea, Lara Fernández and Daniel Claret, with works by Ligeti, Shostakovich, Gubaidulina, Kurtág, Webern, Penderecki, Stravinsky, Cage and Bach. ADAR on tour. As Quintas Auditorium, A Caridá, El Franco.
• 12 AUG · 20:30 · Micro concert during the eclipse — Piano quintet (Florea, Fernández, Claret, Laporta and Urraca) with Dvořák's Op. 81 and Twilight at Dawn by Devin Cholodenko. Centro ADAR, Leiguarda.
• 13 AUG · 20:30 · Chamber and visual-art concert — Quintet with works by Devin Cholodenko, Schubert, Joan Magrané, Brahms and Dvořák. ADAR on tour. Monastery of Villanueva de Oscos.
• 14 AUG · 20:30 · «Equilibrium» — Residency showcase by The Rest Project trio: an open programme developed during the residency, with the poetry of Joan Margarit. Two 20-minute sittings. Second winning hórreo of the competition.
• 15 AUG · 21:30 · Sound walk through Leiguarda — Site-specific creation with Natania Hoffman, Žilvinas Brazauskas, Frederieke Saeijs, Guillermo Laporta and Josefina Urraca. Streets of Leiguarda.
• 16 AUG · 21:30 · Closing — Quintet concert with works by Vivaldi (arr. Bach), Mendelssohn, Brahms, Ravel, Ligeti and Lang, followed by an open espicha. Parish church of Leiguarda.

Hórreos & Paneras Competition

The call for the 2026 Hórreos & Paneras Competition is open. ADAR invites owners, town councils and communities to propose a hórreo or panera as the venue for two of the festival's concerts. Each selected hórreo receives a prize of €300 and will host either the opening recital on 4 August or the residency showcase on 14 August.

Both concerts in hórreos will be presented in two sittings (30 minutes on 4 August and 20 minutes on the 14th), in order to adapt the experience to the space, encourage close listening and allow different groups of audience members to attend.

The application period is open until 23:59 on 25 July 2026. The winners will be published on 1 August 2026.

To take part, send an email to leiguardamusic@gmail.com with the subject «Candidatura Concurso Hórreos 2026», including the applicant's details, the location and description of the hórreo or panera, photographs and authorisation from the owner where applicable. Full rules on the competition page.

About ADAR

The Association for the Development of the Arts in Rural Areas is a non-profit cultural organisation based in Leiguarda, Belmonte de Miranda, Asturias. Founded in 2020 by Guillermo Laporta and Josefina Urraca, ADAR develops projects that connect contemporary classical music, visual art, heritage and rural landscape.

ADAR's line of work around landscape, listening and sustainability received early recognition through «Paseos Sonoros», winning project of the Green Music & Entrepreneurship (GreenME) call by the Reina Sofía School of Music, funded by MusicAIRE within the European Union's Creative Europe programme. This initiative opened a line of artistic research connecting music, the environment, rural heritage and community action, which continues to develop in the festival's residencies and site-specific interventions.

Since its first edition in 2021, the ADAR Festival has activated villages, churches, hórreos, monasteries and heritage spaces in rural Asturias, establishing itself as a cultural project with regional, national and international reach.

The festival works with a decentralised model based on artist residencies, collaboration with host town councils, audiovisual documentation, international circulation and free-admission programming. It has the support of the Principality of Asturias, Culture Moves Europe, Caja Rural and a network of cultural partners.

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Official poster and a selection of high-resolution images, free for editorial use with credit to Festival ADAR. Click each image to open or download the file.

Press materials

Complete performer biographies, technical materials and accreditations are available on request. Please request them stating outlet, journalist name and the intended angle of the report.

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