Saturday with Niño Josele, Cobla Sant Jordi Ciutat de Barcelona and Paolo Fresu at the 15th Fira Mediterrània

Klezmer group Kroke will be performing at Teatre Kursaal in their only appearance in the Spanish State this year

The first permanent arts fair and cultural sector working group meets tomorrow in the Business Area

The Milcentenari marquee hosts Folk Night with performances by Bruel, 21 Boutons, El Pont d’Arcalís and La Carrau

The 5^th Sons competition has a winner: Els Laietans

Manresa, 9 November – Tomorrow, Saturday, at 18:00 in the Sala Gran at Teatre Kursaal, the 15^th Fira Mediterrània of Manresa will be hosting a performance by Cobla Sant Jordi & Niño Josele with a special appearance by Sardinian trumpet player Paolo Fresu. At 21:00, Polish group Kroke, an authentic Klezmer music institution with a twenty-year career behind them, will be performing on the same stage. Discovered by film director Steven Spielberg during the shooting of "Schindler's List", Kroke are brilliant at performing the traditional instrumental music played by Jews in Eastern Europe. On the professional side of things, the Llotja- Business Area is hosting a working group set up by Fira Mediterrània last Spring with various professional associations, the first of its kind in the entire State.

One of the most outstanding artists appearing at Fira this year is Paolo Fresu, regarded as one of the greatest figures of European jazz and who will be making his mark on the show led by flamenco guitarist Niño Josele. At Manresa, and in a world exclusive, they will be presenting a brand new repertoire soon to be turned into an eagerly-awaited joint album featuring the guitarist and the Cobla Sant Jordi.

Other headlining acts scheduled for Saturday include Tranç by the Gelabert Azzopardi Companyia de Dansa and La Termita Films at 22:00 in the Teatre Conservatori. Choreographer Cesc Gelabert and film director Isaki Lacuesta have shared the role of artistic director to show dance as a continuous gesture transmitted by masters from the past and inherited by contemporary choreographers. At 20:00 and 23:00 in Sala Carlins you can catch the hit monologue show by Produccions de Ferro Acorar, in which performer and author Toni Gomila reflects on the collective identity of peoples, forcing audiences to question their most intimate world.

Family fun

Plaça Major is the setting for Playmodes to show their handmade Mapping project, involving a group of eighty Manresa schoolchildren who took part in painting a building template and decorating it with elements from traditional Catalan iconography. Tomorrow, these images will become animated and projected onto the façade of a building in Manresa’s Plaça Major against a specially composed soundtrack. Renowned Italian company TPO will be performing their show Kindur tomorrow in the small auditorium at Teatre Kursaal, starting at 19:00. TPO comes to Manresa with a new show, an amazing mix of visual and technological elements, dance-theatre and lots of interaction with the children in the audience. Also from Italy, Compagnia Nando e Maila presents Sconcerto d’amore in the Museu Tècnica marquee at 22:00. This captivating concert performance will fascinate audiences of all ages with aerial acrobatics, musical juggling, feats of sound and lots of audience contact. Nando is a musician capable of getting sound out of practically anything and Maila is an eternally aspiring actress.

Folk dancing night

Saturday is Folk dancing night in the traditional Milcentenari marquee. Getting things warmed up at 21:00 is Bruel, the duo formed by Anaís Falcó and Xavier Rota, who will be officially presenting their new album Bres, in which they explore the fields of traditional violin and Catalan and Occitan songs. They are followed by 21 Boutons, a Catalan-Belgian line-up formed by Pere Romaní and Marinette Bonnert who are returning to Manresa for the official launch of their third album Sur son 31. After that, El Pont d’Arcalís will be presenting their new show Ball a l’hostal, featuring the most danceable numbers from their repertoire, based on folk songs from the Pyrenees and guaranteed to make everyone feel they’re in a village square at fiesta time or high up in a mountain hostel. The five veteran members of the group have invited Pep Lizandra along as dance master responsible for organising the revelries, and Cati Plana, an accordionist who will be completing the harmonies section. Finally, La Carrau, immersed in their fifteenth anniversary year and celebrating Manresa’s own anniversary in a very special way: by inviting local community folk groups - bastoners, nans, castellers and diables – to take part in the show, creating striking and very moving set pieces.

Sielu concerts

Sielu venue hosts three concerts this Saturday. At 17h, the waltzs, fandangos, boleros and Eastern music rhythms from Fetén Fetén, from Castilla y Leon. Afterwards, -21pm- Mara Aranda, a new view to the popular repertoire from Crown of Aragon. At last, to end up with -00h-, the hypnotic rhythms and funky bass railing from Baraná.

Els Laietans wins the V Concurs Sons

Els Laietans are the winners of the 5th Concurs Sons. Last night the Taverna de la Fira show area opened with the fifth edition of this contest. The finalists performing there were Els Laietans, the jazz-world band Arnau Obiols Quartet, the polyphony quartet Krregades Romanços, and the folk dance band Stukat del Bolet. Referring to the Laietans, the jury highlights the strength of their live performance, their communication skills and their ability to bring the root sounds to broad audiences, helping to break the prejudices that often come with traditional instruments such as the gralla.

Fira Mediterrània, a pioneer in working with the professional sector

Since last Spring, Fira Mediterrània of Manresa has been working with professional associations in Catalonia linked to culture and the performing arts. It is the first arts fair to set up a permanent working group of this kind. Tomorrow, Saturday, a working session with all these organisations will be held in the new Business Area in Museu de la Tècnica. The aim is that these associations can also benefit from being in direct contact with agents here at the event. Fira Mediterrània has enabled these organisations to be in the Business Area and has provided accreditation for their professional members. For their part, the associations have publicised Fira’s activities and have contributed to attracting the many professionals attending this year’s Fira, one of the greatest challenges facing the organisers in the current economic climate.

The Llotja-Business Area open to everyone

The fact that tomorrow is Saturday makes it possible for people interested in finding out more about how the arts sector works to come into the Business Area, set up this year in Museu de la Tècnica. Anyone with a ticket for any of the Fira shows can access the Business Area for the first time in the Manresa event’s fifteen year history.

Box Office locations and opening times for tomorrow Saturday

·         During Fira, tickets will be on sale at the special box offices set up in Plaça Sant Domènec. They will be open every day from 10:00 until Sunday. Tomorrow Saturday until midnight; plus Sunday until 19:00.

·          The Teatre Kursaal box office will also be open every day.  Opening times here will be Saturday and Sunday from 18:00 to 21:00; also on Saturday from 11:00 to 13:00; plus one hour before the start of each show. You can also buy tickets by telephone at the same opening times, using your credit card on this number: 93 872 36 36, and 24 hours a day on the web site www.kursaal.cat.

·          For shows scheduled at Seu de Manresa; folk dancing night (tomorrow Saturday) at the Milcentenari marquee; and at El Sielu, the venue ticket office will be open half an hour before each session.

·         For the two concerts at Sala Stroika, you can buy tickets 24 hours a day on www.stroika.cat and in advance at Cafè l’Alzina, Sibeilius and Solans, as well as at the venue prior to each session.

Programme changes and announcements

Problems with flight timetables means that the first show by Xeremiers de Sóller has had to be cancelled. The shows programmed for Saturday at 20:00 and Sunday at 11:00 and 13:00 are going ahead. Cia La Corcoles has also cancelled its shows at 12:00 and 19:00 due to one of the artists suffering an injury.