"The storm system that on Monday evening was threatening Mallorca deviated and headed towards Menorca: a reminder to keep in mind that, however good the models may be, there always remains a margin of uncertainty". With this reflection, the great Agustí Jansà, former provincial director of Aemet in the Balearic Islands, recalled a reality that we often forget when we talk about meteorology: predictions are always based on probabilities.

Twenty-nine editions of Teatre de Barra are many, almost very many. Therefore, it deserves that the sequence number goes in capital letters, but it also happens that day after day they fill to the brim the chairs that surround the counters of the different venues where the different stories unfold. Stories that for the occasion speak of the eighties, and it must be said that a high percentage of regular spectators of the event were already there. Five plays five.

Last September 27th was World Rivers Day and in the Balearic Islands almost no one remembered it. Perhaps because we think that we do not have rivers here. But we do have them: they are our torrents, which the Hydrological Plan recognizes as water bodies in the river category. There are 70 of them, totaling about 550 kilometers. We only talk about them when a flash flood arrives and the water reminds us of where it used to pass before we built over it. Once the storm has passed, they return to oblivion.

Puccini's Manon Lescaut promised to be extraordinary: firstly, for being the opera that inaugurated the Teatro Real season; secondly, for its secular silence at the 'Foro' and, finally, for a star like Sondra Radvanovsky at the helm of the performance. It remained, only, as a "not bad," but, above all, as "much room for improvement." Surely, the person most responsible for this 'highs and lows' was the artistic director of the co-production with the Oper Köln, Carlos Wagner. Not so much for a staging that turns out to be more aesthetic than functional, as for a direction of actors that meant nothing held together with a minimum of solidity; not for the imposture in every gesture, which also, but for a childish conception of the characters. Against the Venezuelan Wagner, Nicola Luisotti fought with his effective and silent instrument. So much so that the greatest applause of the evening was for him and the Teatro Real orchestra just after performing the famous Intermezzo, which they have moved from the beginning of the third act to the start of the fourth, with a projection of the vast sea as a visual element with which to bear witness to the journey that Des Grieux and Manon take towards their desert and North American destiny. This magical moment caused a packed-to-the-rafters Teatro Real to erupt, which seemed to be to unleash the audience's desire to applaud, which had been meager, and those that did emerge, a little too subdued.

Ibiza has grown much faster than its housing. In the last 25 years, the island's population has increased by almost 83%, while the number of homes has done so by about 40%. The imbalance between both growth rates places the accumulated housing deficit at 43.18%, according to data from the Balearic Housing Observatory (OHIB).

Aena is today the villain of the movie. Even worse: it is that secondary character in a gangster film, with a scar on his face and a defiant look, that no one wants to have nearby. Right now, no Ibizan politician in their right mind would want to take a photo with an Aena representative by their side. The truth is that the airport operator has earned it: a terminal sold to nightclubs, repeated polluting spills in Ses Salines, and boundless greed. That is how Aena has become the catalyst for popular indignation over a whole variety of problems, from housing prices to tourist saturation; at the 20-S demonstration in Ibiza –five thousand people according to the Government Delegation–, the most abundant protest sign was the cardboard silhouette of an airplane. Yes: a simple silhouette of an aircraft has become the symbol of the protest. That is enough, no slogan is needed: how do tourists arrive, if not by plane?

Some data from recent studies should not go unnoticed. Mallorca has lost 189 km² of agricultural land (1990-2018); 46% corresponds to new urban land (Chair of Insularity, UIB). Today, there are 55,256 buildings counted on the island on rustic land (Houses that do not exist, Miquel Rosselló). And, according to Terraferida, the rustic land has been denatured at a rate of 180 hectares per year (2021-2024). These are not anecdotal figures: they portray a rural world immersed in a context loaded with unsustainable trends that provoke a deep territorial transformation.

It is difficult to write about a concert that was not one as such. The second ‘concert’ of the monograph malherian it became a syncopated reading, or something similar, of Alma Mahler's memoirs. Paragraphs that did not contextualize the music that followed nor contributed anything interesting about either composer, except for the moment where it tells how Mahler forbade Alma from composing again. Although, without clarifying that he later rectified it, nor why he did so, which would have become a Sálvame deluxe in D minor. In any case, if tempo is a fundamental pillar of a composition, someone did not measure it at all. Furthermore, the tedious talk, read in fits and starts, was not in the program, just as there was no mention of the name of the person who became the protagonist of an evening that could have been a good concert. It was already surprising that it began with the reading of a text that did not fit with what would follow, by the string quartet and piano formed by Fabiola Tedesco (violin), King Wojdalska (viola), Zuzanna Sosnowska (cello) and Magí Garcías, at the piano. Promising was the first intervention of the ensemble with the interpretation of the only movement of the Piano quartet in A minor, by Gustav Mahler. A true example of the powerful solidity with which the group exhibited the essential cohesion to be able to enjoy so many and such solid elements in perfect harmony. It is proof that Mahler is very much Mahler, despite being only as a test, as a sketch from when he began his studies at the conservatory.Just after, another philippic arrived, in an exercise of coherence as decontextualized as the previous one, which gave way to the mezzo-soprano Begoña Gómez to perform two Lieder by Alma and two others by Gustav: Die stille Stadt and Bei dir ist es traut, by the former, and Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen and Es sungen drei Engel einen süßen Gesang by the latter. Impeccableperformance, colorful, with volume and consistency, well accompanied by Magí Garcías. We could say it was a brilliant moment, characteristic of the mezzo's voice, if between one Lied and the other, which have a duration of more or less two minutes, they had not included the corresponding bore, of much longer duration, eternal, which eliminated and dynamited any possibility of properly enjoying the subtle compositions.The ‘concert-reading’ concluded with the performance of the Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25, by Johannes Brahms. Forty magical minutes, without words, a mirage. The quartet once again showed its excellences, which were not few, but overlapped by a structure that did not hold up. It was not that.

There are not many cultural initiatives around us that can boast of having reached 30 years. The Nit de l’Art has achieved this, and that is no small feat. Born in 1997 as an initiative by some gallery owners in Palma such as Pep Pinya (Pelaires), Xavier Fiol, and Joan Guaita, among others, it was conceived with the desire to join forces—perhaps thinking that the more there are, the more noise is made—and, above all, with the purpose of bringing art closer to the citizenry. It has been many years since the Nit de l’Art achieved a good part of these objectives. But what does it leave us and what could the Nit de l’Art leave behind, with the strength it has gathered in these 30 years? Perhaps it is a good time to ask ourselves that.

“New York, New York!”, sang Frank Sinatra with his bass-baritone voice and exultant enthusiasm. With the same joy, or more, the news of the new direct flight between El Codolar and New York, specifically with Newark airport, about 24 kilometers from the city, has been received by the Ibizan tourism sector. “Great news for Ibiza”, said the Ibizan Council; a valuation that has been replicated by the Tourism Board, hoteliers, and travel agencies. It is certainly a remarkable fact that an airport named after a pebble beach connects directly with a city of 8.8 million inhabitants, one of the cultural capitals of the world; about 22 million people live in the New York metropolitan area, a figure that helps us calibrate the potential of the destination. The new route will begin in June 2027 with four weekly flights; tickets can already be purchased on the United Airlines website starting at 587 euros, prices that quickly climb towards 1,000 euros or more as the season progresses.

The Balearic Islands would need about 17,000 more homes to cover the population growth of the last 25 years, according to data from the new Balearic Islands Housing Observatory, a government tool that compiles 23 indicators on the evolution of the real estate market. As detailed this Thursday during its presentation, between 2000 and 2025, the population of the Islands grew by 46.3%, while the residential stock did so by 31.5%, a difference of 14.8 percentage points.

The Orquestra de Cambra de Mallorca seems, for a long time, since the day it was born, that growing is part of its character, of its DNA. The latest test by fire is, without a doubt, the challenge of facing Gustav Mahler in the monographs that each year they dedicate to a composer, behind the Pollença Festival and in the same enclave. But this is another story that we will have time to talk about, but which in some way has to do with the concert with which Bellver Castle rounded off the summer season. A farewell, on the one hand, and a presentation card, on the other. A great prelude and a program that to call demanding is an understatement, a great understatement.

Second to last concert of an edition, by Muffati-Brussels Baroque Orchestra, until then immaculate and with one of the concerts that for some was almost the cherry on top of a magnificent cake. An evening entirely dedicated to the one who was everything, Johann Sebastian Bach, with a tasty and rich program, like a small great demonstration of the undisputed condition of the great capoper of music history. For example, with the first piece, the "Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major BWV 1050, which treasuresa first majestic and original movement, the impeccable combination of the different solo instruments, harpsichord, flute, and violin crowned by an innovative sixty-four-bar cadence by the harpsichord, which until that moment in history only served as a fundamental but not very ostentatious basso continuo. Only with this Allegro initially we had enough ingredients to enjoy thoroughly. It wasn't like that. Just when it had barely started, a gust of wind blew away Frank Theuns's sheet music and perhaps here the elements allied against any possibility of enjoyment. Hope was placed in the cadence, but not even that. Violaine Cochard, at the height of her performance, seemed to be chasing the notes as if it were an obstacle race to align them with those coming from the original; a task that was almost impossible without the adequate (over)dose of virtuosity. It is easy to imagine that it was not simple to sort out the mess.

Pollença, the festival, is experiencing a time of monographic tributes. It was the case with the Ébène Quartet's dedication to Ludwig van Beethoven. It will be the case with Les Muffati-Brussels Baroque Orchestra's tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach. And it was the case with the Freiburger Barokorchester's performance on Saturday, exclusively featuring pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Three composers who share a common denominator: they are unfathomable. One could dedicate infinite monographic concerts to any of them and they would never cease to be of maximum interest. The one we are concerned with is not an exception, but rather a small, great selection that demonstrates the versatility of someone who made music almost unintentionally. Thus, the chamber orchestra, with twenty-four musicians, conducted by Éva Borhl on violin, began the task with the overture of The gardener's trick, early work, simple, with a lot of rhythm and prioritizing melody, where a gem arises from almost nothing. It was a prelude that in some way became a declaration of principles of what the concert would be, in which, once again, the cloister of Sant Domingo presented an unbeatable appearance, or what is the same, a full house.

The violent outburst at the end of the last and successful demonstration called with the aim of achieving less tourism, more life, is another indicator of a whole series of contradictory policies implemented simultaneously in our Autonomous Community. When the CAIB was constituted (1983), it assumed, among other things, competences in urbanism and territorial planning, but the State reserved the cards that could condition, directly or indirectly, urban and territorial plans: economic policy, taxation, justice, police, and large inter-community infrastructures, including the energy distribution network and ports and airports of general interest. Since then, the objectives of the policies implemented by both administrations have not always been consistent.

Continue the tradition. The Pollença Festival, more orchestral than ever this year, has once again incorporated the presence of the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra into its programming. It is the golden culmination of a always dense season, like a well-deserved gift of prestige. The occasion featured the direction of Patrick Hahn and the cellist Alban Gerhardt as soloist performing the "Cello Concerto in E minor Op. 85 by Edward Elgar. A mature work, his last orchestral piece, like a testament, that of an old and ill man who is figuring out the end of his existence and wants to explain his state with this intense and painful cry. Not a hint of enthusiasm from the initial lament of the solo instrument, which does nothing but foreshadow and confirm all that will follow, when the violas accompany him on this first, somber, and deep walk. A moderato adagio. Alban Gerhardt, a great protagonist, managed to draw out the immense melodic richness the composition holds from his instrument, with a very introspective reading that, in some way, brought fidelity to the spirit of the original. Patrick Hahn, the young Austrian conductor, on the one hand, and the Symphony, on the other, offered the essential balance and circumspection to achieve the ideal equilibrium of a score that concentrates beauty and sadness in equal measure. With a Prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach, Alban Gerhardt acted as if he had finished his performance.It wasn't like that. A detail that honors him, and it is not small. Significant. Alban Gerhardt joined the orchestra to perform the piece that crowned the function, the luminous Scheherazade op. 35 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, based on some of the tales of The Arabian Nights, which the protagonist who gives title to the composition recounted to Sultan Shahriar to appease his anger. But that is another story. The composition is a whole display of delicacies with which some of the instruments show off their best virtues. Thus, Spahiu, Bleuse, Miralles, Arnal and Fortea —violin, cello, flute and oboe— displayed many of their skills in a small great wonder that, being so colorful, never ceases to shine, just as it happened in this second concert of the Festival de Pollença. A second concert that began with a Prelude of Tristan and Isolde, which, in a way, suffered from the ailment of references, but which in any case served as a good prologue to the piece by the British. A German, a British, and a Russian... offered us another good concert of the level and prestige of the event that concerns us and will concern us all month of August.

Kick-off to the 65th edition of the Pollença Festival with the Sant Domingo Cloister packed to the rafters and a few extra chairs. Those responsible for this situation came with names and surnames of proven prestige, Daniel Harding conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Daniil Trifonov on piano. But for contrasts, those they offered us in the first piece of the program, the "Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15. A monumental and careful musical combat between the soloist and the ensemble of major subtlety and a modest reading, as if wanting to transmit with absolute fidelity all that was going through the composer's mind and heart. It was not spectacular, for the simple reason that it was not the author's purpose or intention – he took five years to finish it – but there was the contained tension to convey a whole series of subtle sensations that Trifonov's piano distilled with such a deep and gigantic Majestic. A first movementthat begins the orchestra with ninety energetic bars, until the solemn entrance of the soloist. Permanent, unfading communion, between the protagonists of a concert more symphonic than anything else, but which in some way draws from the sources of chamber music and with a duration that exceeds that of theEmperor of Beethoven. The collaboration between Trifonov and the Hardings was exemplary, reaching its peak in the exciting and moving Adagio which was so well received by the intended recipient, Clara Schumann. An introspective Trifonov displayed great, meticulous sensitivity, where each touch, each phrase, each silence, opened up a whole spectrum of emotions and numerous interpretations. Nor did the third movement, Allegro non troppo, increased the dose of vehemence, and the Rondo sounded with a more subdued tone than usual. It is a choice that somehow gave even more solidity to the whole. Strange the encore, mournful, gloomy, it can be a bit too much for a summer night. A tu cantem, by Pàvel Txesnokov.

Fourth and final concert of the Bellver Festival with the Orquestra Simfònica Illes Balears as the protagonist of this now consolidated event. Like an encore of the season, even though it is a different audience, this circumstance arises depending on where the activities take place. In any case, the four concerts by the ensemble at the emblematic castle are already a tradition and the venue is filled day after day. The last one was no exception and, while soloists had been the protagonists until now, for this occasion it was the British conductor Michael Francis who was in charge of putting his stamp on the concert. A British stamp, as was that of the program, made up of three composers of the same nationality and almost the same generation, such as Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The chosen pieces were performed in chronological order, so that one could discern a small evolution of classical music in the former empire in a short period of time.

Now that we have finished the course, teachers and families have more time for reflection. It is necessary, because many of us teachers think we are living a great lie. It seems that the Administration has chosen to hide the true level of the institutes. Over time, and more by omission than by direct action, a standard has been set that the teaching staff unanimously consider "lowered", which devalues the degrees obtained. While school should mitigate inequalities and offer opportunities, different governments have opted to turn it into a curtain that hides reality. A fiction that covers up, especially in places like Ibiza, the drama of precarious employment and an impossible housing market; a context of growing individualism, which leads families to uprooting and disconnection from their towns and neighborhoods, as well as from their own language and culture.

Second concert in Bellver. Unusual. Special. Affectionate. For various reasons. The first we find in the soloist, Josep Colom, the one in charge of interpreting the Piano Concerto No. 27 K. 595, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. An extraordinary musician in many ways, who is not legend, but history of music in print. An excellent and peculiar pianist, so much so that each of his interpretations has its own seal without betraying the original. Thursday evening was no exception, with a trademark cadence. Tireless. He would never stop playing. But, in addition, he has been a teacher about whom all his students speak wonders, with both affection and admiration. Pablo Mielgo, from the podium, explained that at 11 years old he had played in front of him and that, therefore, it was an honor to be able to accompany him. His interpretation of this late Mozart, although he was only 35 years old and had less than a year left to die, was careful, but when the best Colom emerged it was with the encore, the Rondo in A major K. 485, also by Mozart. It was as if the first intervention was a preparation. He certainly would have raised the level if he had continued playing. It is clear that seeing and hearing Josep Colom is always a luxury and, of course, a pleasure.Another of the reasons that the adjectives proclaim we find in the formation. Some members of the Symphonic accompanied by others from the Little Symphonic, formed by students between 10 and 16 years old, to whom, in addition to the prize of sharing the stage with the already professionals, Mielgo inoculated the first dose of the poison of applause. All of them showed that they were there on their own merits, with some solos that, with their eyes closed, we would not have figured out who was responsible. A success for Mielgo and an incentive for them, as in the second part the number of participants had increased. A second part that began with a selection of themes from La boutique Fantasque, by Ottorino Respighi, an orchestral suite from the ballet inspired by Rossini's music. Fun, cheerful, ideal. Next, a classic, The Moldau. Descriptive, suggestive, sweet. Everything in order, even a little surprising, the level of the concert. To end the party, rhythm, of quality, the Danzón No. 2, by Arturo Márquez. It goes without saying that the castle was once again full to the brim.