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Conciertos de Viveros
Jardines de Viveros
Through July 25
Valencia Cultural Guide: Summer Festivals, Jazz, and Autumn Season Highlights for 2026
Summer is no reason to put cultural life on hold. In the second half of July, Valencia serves up vibrant open-air festivals and world-class jazz, followed by an August pause featuring classical ballet and nostalgic concerts. By September, the city bursts back into full swing for the 2026/27 theatre and concert season.
Traditional and modern Latin rhythms, techno and funk, reggae, power metal, disco, and pop: a colourful mix of musical genres takes root on July evenings in the Viveros Gardens. This year's lineup features Catholic priest-DJ Padre Guilherme, Michael Jackson’s brothers The Jacksons, Cuban duo Gente de Zona, Danny Ocean, and legendary rock bands Deep Purple and Garbage.
FAR Valencia brings 18 concert nights featuring acclaimed artists across diverse genres and eras. The lineup includes '80s legends ZZ Top, Rick Astley, and OMD, Argentine rock stalwarts Babasónicos, Spanish icon Luz Casal, Puerto Rican artist Young Miko, and many more. Closing out the festival are the legendary Gipsy Kings.
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Romeo Santos and Prince Royce
Estadio Ciutat de València
July 24
Bachata is celebrating a historic moment: Romeo Santos and Prince Royce, two of Latin music's biggest figures, share the stage for the first time on their Mejor Tarde Que Nunca tour. The joint show from the King and Prince of Bachata features solo hits, fresh tracks, and collaborative performances that are sure to turn the stadium pitch into a massive dance floor.
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29th Valencia Jazz Festival
Palau de la Música and other venues
Through July 31
The festival's July roster opened with local Valencian jazz talents before introducing an international lineup of Grammy-winning virtuosos. Featured artists include velvet contralto Lizz Wright, big-band composer Maria Schneider, world-class bassist Esperanza Spalding, saxophonist Joe Lovano, and Jose James alongside China Moses with an R&B homage to Marvin Gaye. Free concerts are also scheduled across outdoor locations like Alquería Coca La Torre and the Castellar-L'Oliveral sports complex.
“Look, with other women, it’s just sex—that’s all!” her husband insists, proposing an open marriage. Devastated at first, she comes to realise an open relationship works both ways. But once her husband grasps that reality, the idea suddenly loses its charm: Where is she? Who is she with? Does she still love him?
Director Isabel Martí delivers her adaptation of the farce by Nobel laureate Dario Fo and Franca Rame, exploring how social media and modern polyamory trends intersect with fidelity and love. Late-night performances begin at 11:00 PM—an apt hour to explore intimate boundaries.
The Kyiv Ballet, led by Viktor Ishchenko, returns to Valencia with one of the most famous classical ballets in the world: Swan Lake. Set to Tchaikovsky’s score, the production features an unpredictable ending shaped by the choreographer's vision. Who will prevail this time: Odette or Odile?
Now in its fifth decade, the iconic rock band Mumiy Troll remains an active touring force. Spending a warm August evening enjoying longtime fan favourites offers a chance to revisit nostalgic tracks while discovering deeper album cuts.
A gala anniversary concert commemorating 150 years of the Bayreuth Festival, founded by Richard Wagner and currently led by his great-granddaughter Katharina Wagner. The original festival launched with the debut staging of The Ring of the Nibelung.
Soloists include renowned Wagnerian voices: soprano Catherine Foster, tenor Klaus Florian Vogt, and baritone Nicholas Brownlee, well-known to Valencian audiences from recent seasons at Les Arts. Conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado.
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Valencian Community Orchestra Concert
Palau de les Arts
September 13
BBC Philharmonic principal guest conductor Anja Bihlmaier makes her debut with the Valencian Community Orchestra as part of the Les Arts Open Door Day. Across her 20-plus-year career, Bihlmaier has guest-conducted major European orchestras in symphonic and operatic repertoires. The program features Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Maurice Ravel) and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.
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Opera: "Aesthetics and Massacre" (Estética i massacre)
Palau de les Arts
September 17–18
Staged by actor and director Oriol Pla, this contemporary opera explores the friction between personal identity and societal gender expectations. The narrative centres on two figures: a woman (soprano María Patak) who rejects conventional beauty standards by foreswearing makeup and hair removal, and a man (baritone Carlos Varela) seeking fame through a makeup-and-skirt aesthetic. Audiences will see where experimenting with identity leads in this modern work by Catalan composer Carles Prat, who also serves as musical director.
11
The Met: 20 Years in Cinema
Yelmo Cines Mercado de Campanar
September 19
Twenty years ago, New York’s Metropolitan Opera launched its live cinema broadcasts. This two-hour retrospective film brings highlights from those landmark stagings back to the silver screen. Audiences can view performances by prominent opera stars of recent decades, including Renée Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Natalie Dessay, Elīna Garanča, Lise Davidsen, Juan Diego Flórez, and Joyce DiDonato.
One of the most widely performed operas opens in Valencia with a special youth preview for audiences under 28. This initiative from Les Arts allows young spectators to attend for €11 (ID verifying age may be requested at entry). Six additional public performances follow in October. Directed in an avant-garde key by Ted Huffman—recently named head of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence—the production pulls back the curtain to reveal onstage scene and costume changes while maintaining psychological realism. Conducted by Michele Spotti, starring Vasilisa Berzhanskaya in the title role.
