Promoted by Celestí Alomar, Minister of Tourism of the first Pacte de Progrés (1999-2003), a tax on tourist stays, immediately known as the ‘ecotax’, was approved on April 10, 2001, twenty-five years ago. It levied, approximately one euro per night, the stay of tourists. With the revenue, some negative externalities of mass tourism in the Balearic Islands were to be corrected. It did not come into effect until May 2002 due to an appeal to the Constitutional Court, filed by the Aznar government. When the People's Party won the following elections in 2003, it repealed the tax, considering it a brake on tourist competitiveness. Those who defended the repeal of the tax said that it could not be classified as ecological or environmental, and that it was not even a tax, arguing: “It was nothing more than a symbol of a policy of negative messages towards what tourism represented”. And they related the application of the ecotax to the decrease in tourist arrivals and the problems the hotel sector had experienced. The Government of Jaume Matas wanted to replace it with so-called green cards or ‘sustainable’ foundations that only collected a pittance.

The question in the headline has no answer, but Verdi's biographer, Julian Budden, stated that it was in the Requiem that he showed the greatest concentration of his genius. Among so many requiems that inhabit the universe of music, it is not very difficult to think, with many elements of judgment, that this one we are discussing is the most complex, monumental, and anthological of all of them. It was not a genre that Giuseppe Verdi had cultivated much. It was his participation, with a Libera me Domine, which, along with twelve other composers, they dedicated to Gioachino Rossini, the "swan of Pesaro." A piece that was not even premiered when its first performance was planned, the commemoration of the first anniversary of the death of the person to whom it was dedicated. Verdi rescued it when he decided to dedicate his to Alessandro Manzoni. Thus began the history of this colossal musical skyscraper, which we enjoyed as the sixth concert of the season by the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra, along with the UIB choir, conducted by Núria Cunillera, Mira Alkhovix, soprano; Sílvia Tro Santafé, mezzosoprano; Antoni Lliteres, tenor, and Simón Orfila, bass. Pablo Mielgo conducted the event.

A concert for those who cultivate a love for music. Perhaps for that reason, and because there were many children, students from the Conservatory, the Auditorium on the Passeig Marítim had a delightful atmosphere. The program was enticing, enticing from beginning to end. It began with theOpening No. 3, of Leonora, which Beethoven considered too important and imposing to lose relevance as the beginning of an opera, the only one he composed, Fideliowhich should first be said as the piece in question. And so, imposing, with lime and corresponding, sounded the prologue to the seventh concert of the season of the Illes Balears Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pablo Mielgo. A majestic presentation, I would even say with a special demeanor on the part of the conductor and the sixty musicians who accompanied him on this very special evening when interpreting such a precise musical synopsis of what would be the only operatic composition by the genius of Bonn. It was clear that there was a desire to please a little more than usual and they made that clear from the first bars.

Return to the Gran Teatre del Liceu Manon Lescaut, by Puccini, and it does so with a truly unbeatable headliner: the splendid Asmik Grigorian, whose production is directed by Àlex Ollé and conducted from the pit by Josep Pons. This is the second musical version of Antoine François Prévost's novel, which was originally titled The story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut, The maestro from Lucca achieved his first major public success. A success that the Ricordi management, apart from his boss and the boss, weren't entirely convinced about, since it was the same story that Jules Massenet had staged ten years earlier with considerable acclaim. Although there are still those who say that Manon There's only one, and they're not referring to the one we're discussing; undoubtedly, this one has already earned its place among those that haven't been left out of the major circuits. Manon The Grigorian chant is an added value, both in terms of the dramatic aspect, which is essential in this case, and the vocal aspect, with an excellent, flawless performance.

Ibiza has two operating commercial cinemas: the family-owned Regio cinema in San Antonio de Portmany, and the one known as the 'multicines' in Vila, owned by Aficine, the largest and practically only cinema exhibitor in the Balearic Islands. It's a meager showing, in line with the reduction in screens and seating capacities that has been occurring in Spain for years. Both companies are struggling to withstand the current mediocrity of Hollywood and the pressure from platforms like Netflix. On the other hand, if you start counting film festivals, you'd think Ibizans were true cinephiles: Ibicine, Ibizacinefest, Ibiza Halloween Festival, Festival Dolor de Cabeza (Headache Festival), Muestra de cortos de las fiestas de San Bartolomé (Short Film Showcase of the San Bartolomé Festival)... not to mention other festivals originating outside the island, such as MECAL Air Ib MECAL.

There are two eternal things in the world: Rome and the Ibiza bus stop. The decision to build a bus stop in Dalt Vila was announced in 2004, the first stone was laid in 2008, work was halted in 2012 because archaeological remains were found – how? In Dalt Vila? Unbelievable! – the project was redone and resumed in 2019, and finally – 22 years and 47 million euros later – it will be inaugurated on Monday, February 23, 2026.

We could give many examples that confirm the truth of the title, but just the last three operas I've seen these past few days immediately dispel any doubt. First was the Gotterdämerung Wagner's opera, where it becomes clear that the tragic and central protagonist is Brünhilde. And she is none other than Senta, who heads the cast of The Flying Dutchmanwhich we were able to enjoy at the Principal Theatre of Ciudad. To round off the week, at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the one who carries the banner is the one who gives the work its title, The Mona Lisa. A composition, the only known one by Amilcare Ponchielli, yet still an indisputable masterpiece that requires six top-level voices to reach its full potential, as was the case in the production between the Liceu and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, with stage direction by Romain Gilbert. Based on a drama by Victor Hugo, Angelo, tyrant of Padoue, to which Arrigo Boito, author of the librettos for Verdi's last and among his most highly regarded operas, under the pseudonym Tobia Gorrio, moved to Venice. An aspect that Gilbert has configured with complete and absolute fidelity, adding a few touches of the conmedia dell'arte, with the inclusion of Harlequin, Pantalone and Columbine, in addition to some narrative liberties, such as, among others, the final appearance of The Blind Woman, by Violeta Urmana, who still retains many of her qualities and, above all, the skill to accurately depict the essential characteristics of the character.

Der fliegende Holländer, by Richard Wagner, at the Principal Theater. Impossible!, many of us thought. My faultDifficult, no doubt, but good work and sound judgment prevailed. This isn't a spoiler. It was a success, with a full house, and ohne irrtum —without error— as the composer would say, and surely if he didn't say it, he at least thought it. Everything worked perfectly. Nothing disappointed, and perhaps that remarkable balance achieved was the best and most essential of the many virtues the show possesses. The circle might have been smaller than usual, for obvious reasons, but it was undoubtedly a perfect one. A fact that was already clear from the very first agreements of theOpening, With the imposing brass announcing the stormy tragedy, the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Guillermo Garcia-Calvo, for whom Wagner holds far fewer secrets than for the vast majority of conductors, having so thoroughly captured the essence of Bayreuth, thus fulfilling this initial requirement regarding the size of the orchestra, which sounded powerful and expansive, as well as rich in textures and impeccably clear.

On the afternoon of February 18, 1976, in an apartment on Catalunya Street in Palma, the Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands was presented to the media. A light rain barely touched the pavement, while a group of police officers from the Political and Social Brigade lay in wait outside. Barely three months had passed since the dictator's death. A wide range of citizens with a firm and active commitment to anti-Francoism had participated in the creation of the new party: members of Bandera Roja (who came from the Communist Party of Spain, which they had joined a year earlier), the Popular Socialist Party, and other leftist organizations, all gathered around the idea. Finding an organizational model capable of uniting all these different tendencies and political families was no small matter. One attractive formula was that of the French Socialist Party, which encompassed a broad spectrum of the French left. The proposal didn't go as far as the French model, since some people with a "weak" track record under the dictatorship had been excluded or put on hold. The truth is that the PSI was an organization still in the process of formation, but the proposal was timely, necessary, and also inspiring. This initial enthusiasm would, in part, shape its future development.

Twenty-eight editions have taken place in the bars of various Ciutat establishments, which over the years have become theatrical havens, where every Thursday they fill up to enjoy these wonderful little stories with a beer in hand and a tapa in mouth. The theme for this year's event offers plenty of material: tourism, which none of the authors have glorified or even hinted at. On the other hand, recommending one performance over another is more difficult than ever.

In September 2025, a non-binding resolution from the People's Party (PP) regarding airports was approved, as well as a proposed organic law, initiated by the MÉS parties for Mallorca and Menorca, for the creation of an Airport Authority for the Balearic Islands, which is currently under parliamentary review. However, in my opinion, this debate is neither serious nor objective. Airport management is a complex issue that cannot be analyzed or addressed based on prejudice or simplistic assumptions.

The Russians, for this occasion—and in this case, three of them—come from Málaga, led by José María Moreno, in an exchange program with two orchestras of similar structure. That is to say, last Thursday, the Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra, of which Moreno is the principal conductor, was the star of the sixth concert of the season at the Auditorium on the seafront promenade; next April, Pablo Mielgo and the Symphony Orchestra will return the favor by performing the Fifth Symphony and Opening No. 3 of Leonora by Beethoven. As for the concert in question, which filled the stalls and a good part of the amphitheater of the Auditorium, it began with pianist Alexei Volodin performing the Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30Sergei Rahmaninoff's "The Last Circus" is undoubtedly one of the most emblematic pieces of his oeuvre, having become an icon for the most daring virtuosos who attempt to perform it. This piece traveled unperformed on the ship that carried the composer to the United States, the country where he eventually sought refuge years later, fleeing the revolution. A magnificent pianist himself, he premiered the piece in New York, though he performed it with a simpler and shorter cadenza than the one played by Volodin. At the end of the first movement, he played the titanic version, marked in the score as... "I mean", which requires all a collection of attributes available only to the privileged. The pivotal moment of a movement, Allegro mi no tantowhere everything that will follow is foreshadowed. A pinnacle for the pianist and a demonstration of subtle nuances by different instruments—horn, clarinet, flute, and oboe, then acting as soloists. Rahmaninoff, often accused of being antediluvian by the followers of his contemporaries—Bartók, Stravinsky, and company—was challenged by movements like the second, in which all the colors of bygone eras shine. The nemesis of the third movement, filled with a varied series of extremely difficult musical instruments, in sober conjunction with the orchestra, to round out and solidify a whole in which nothing is lacking, and crowned with a resounding piano finale, brought the audience to its feet.

Ibiza's territory naturally breeds nightclubs. They're like thistles, mosquitoes, or that new roundabout: one day it's gone, and the next you have to swerve around it. The rumor of a new secret nightclub hasn't surprised us locals much. We're already used to it. The MDM website (midnightdancemusic.comThe website specializing in electronic music covered it with the headline: 'A new hidden club in Ibiza, without a phone and by invitation only, could open this year.' Bullshit Party (a perfectly serious publication despite its name) the style was more direct: 'Rumors point to a secret club in Ibiza by 2026'. The local press has also picked up on it, and Ibiza Daily He recalled the case of The Kave, a cave in San Carlos de Peralta converted into a club and which functioned as after Without any permit for an indeterminate number of years, until the Santa Eulària Town Hall shut it down.

Animula, vagula, blandula/ Hospes comesque corporeal/ Quae nunc abibis in loca/ Pallid, rigid, nudula, Neco, ut solas, dabis yocos… Thus begins the funeral poem written by the Emperor Hadrian, which inspired Marguerite Yourcenar for her Memoirs, as a hypothetical farewell letter he writes to his young successor, Marc Aureli. A piece that was, at the time, essential and delightful reading. Years later, none other than Maurizio Scaparro brought them to the stage in an adaptation by Jean Launay, starring Giorgio Albertazzi, which we saw at Madrid's Teatro Albéniz. The director himself revived it in Spanish, starring José Sancho, with whom he toured much of the Iberian Peninsula.

Tenant It is the latest theatrical farce of the caloric Julia Truyol. She always chooses well, from the company with which she has become a canonical benchmark to others. Her standards are very high, and on this occasion, once again, she has surpassed them with that natural interpretive skill that is her trademark. However, Tenant It's a challenge with a few added twists and turns, requiring many elements surrounding the story for the project to succeed. First, a good script, starting from a very common situation: a tenant evicting a female tenant due to the excesses, to put it mildly, in which we live and which we've even become accustomed to, shrugging our shoulders and thinking, "What can you do?" Putting this everyday circumstance on stage risks turning it into a piece of everyday life. That's not the case here. Furthermore, a monologue needs plenty of incentives to keep the audience engaged, forcing the protagonist to perform a series of somersaults that can only be overcome with a wide range of registers at a pace that, if not frenetic, is certainly high-energy, constantly shifting her tone, going from despair to resignation, reflecting the protagonist's temperament.

In this text, I briefly summarize a general consideration of how the proposed new regional financing affects the Balearic Islands. Despite the criticisms from various quarters, the proposal presented, as it is known, strictly speaking, does not constitute a new financing system. It is not unique to Catalonia, although it does benefit from it to a certain extent (but not only Catalonia: Andalusia, Murcia, and the Valencian Community also benefit). It does not remove Catalonia from the common regime nor place it under the Economic Agreement. It is not a faithful reflection of the investiture agreement, which has been so often discussed as separatist blackmail. It is not a fiscal pact. It does not commit to the desired ordinality. It is not a model based on the fiscal capacities of each region. It remains a model that guarantees needs based on the assumptions considered in population adjustments, and it grants little additional effective fiscal responsibility. The proposal is indeed somewhat simpler than the current system. It streamlines the treasury of the regions by reducing the system of advance payments. Although the results are ultimately interpreted in terms of relative rather than absolute gains, this is a model that, based on providing more funding, allows for the declaration that all regions "win."

The fifth concert of the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra's season was filled with some unusual names, from the composers to the soloist and the conductor. Regarding the latter two, it goes without saying that having Frank Peter Zimmermann as soloist is a true luxury and, of course, a privilege. Zimmermann also brought with him a Spanish premiere, the Violin Concerto, by Swiss composer Frank Martin. A piece based on The stormShakespeare's, with the character of Ariel as a permanent musical allusion, with a structure that is, at least, peculiar.Allegro tranquil-Andante molto moderato-Presto— and a whole series of references ranging from dodecaphony to jazz, which intertwine to form a homogeneous kaleidoscope that culminates spectacularly in the final movement. A demanding piece, in which both the orchestra and the soloist displayed both immense energy and masterful ensemble playing. The performance was rewarded: Zimmermann returned for two encores, one of them no less literary than the composition itself. The King of the Elves Schubert's work, inspired by a melancholic and fantastical poem by Goethe. This exercise in complicity between the protagonists also had a name: Pietari Inkinen, the prestigious Finnish conductor, whose resume boasts, among other achievements, conducting Wagner's Ring Cycle in Bayreuth in 2023, and who drew out the full potential of the orchestra. So much so, that the musicians gave him a warm and resounding ovation as he left the stage.

If I had to choose just one play, I'm sure it would be Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand's play, which I'm almost certain is the one I've seen adapted the most times in my life. Seeing it advertised at the Teatro Principal in Ciudad, with Salvador Oliva's adaptation by the company La Impaciencia—founded by Rodo Gener, Salvador Oliva, and Xavi Núñez, and directed by Luis Venegas—evokes at least two opposing feelings. On the one hand, the enjoyment of being able to see and hear the words, adventures, and misadventures of someone whom it's impossible not to admire, envy, and never even come close to. On the other, I confess, the doubt of how far this daring group can go with only three actors and four wooden boxes as scenery in just an hour and a half of performance.

Once again, an incomparable setting welcomed the equally incomparable Bach. The Cathedral was transformed into a Bach-infused spectacle. To the popular and widespread messianic tradition of George Frideric Handel, we must add this small but significant glimpse of the immense and marble-like master. Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 The Capilla de la Seu, directed by Joan Company, and the Illes Balears Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pablo Mielgo, have been performing for several years in the cathedral's presbytery, beneath Gaudí's baldachin and alongside Jujol's transgressive and incendiary paintings. And if the setting can only be described as sublime, the concert shone equally brightly, with soprano Irene Mas, countertenor-soprano Rafael Quirant, tenor Bryan López, and baritone Tomeu Bibiloni as vocal soloists. As for the orchestra's soloists, Emma Goillot, on the piccolo trumpet—a small, four-valve instrument tuned to D—consolably captivated the audience. Bach trumpet— in his speech, performing with Tomeu Bibiloni an excellent Gosser Herr, or Starker König.

The auditorium on the seafront was packed to capacity to hear what was supposedly Ludwig van Beethoven's last symphony. Theoretically, because there was a later one, the Tenth, which was only missing one movement. So much so that on May 7, 1824, when the... Symphony No. 9, Op. 125, in D minor at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna, with the composer present and on stage —which they had to turn towards the audience so that he could enjoy the intensity of the applause; If it is not vero, it is well trovato—, the three movements that the genius from Bonn had already completed were also performed. An anecdotal circumstance, since the Novena It has overshadowed everything. Undoubtedly, and without getting into rankings that might seem purely sporting, what is clear is that this "last" one is the most imposing of the eight preceding ones. The description monumental It has become a prefix for the Ninth Symphony, for the simple reason that it takes both a heart and an orchestra large enough to reach this great musical summit.