5,000 at FeMAP: Early Music Wins Over the Pyrenees

The Pyrenees Early Music Festival (FeMAP) has brought its 15th edition to a close on a strong note, attracting more than 5,000 audience members between 3 July and 23 August 2026, with eleven sold-out concerts. Held across 36 municipalities in the Catalan Pyrenees, Andorra and Northern Catalonia, the festival once again demonstrates the ability of early music to draw large audiences, even far from major urban centres.

Founded to bring together early music, heritage and the Pyrenean landscape, FeMAP takes place each summer in villages, churches, hermitages, castles and natural settings throughout the region. The closing concert, performed by Bach Collegium Barcelona, also sold out in Camprodon, while several other events achieved particularly high attendance rates.

This success is not unique within Spain. Earlier in the year, the Festival de Música Antigua de Sevilla (FeMÀS) attracted 8,500 audience members, achieving a 90% occupancy rate and 15 sold-out concerts out of 23 performances. Attendance increased by 16.6% compared with 2025, representing more than 1,400 additional spectators.

Alongside Seville and FeMAP, other specialist events reflect the enduring strength of the sector. The Festival de Música Renacentista y Barroca de Vélez Blanco, for example, celebrated its 25th edition in July 2026, with a programme combining concerts, training activities, research and heritage initiatives.

While these figures alone do not allow any firm conclusion about the overall growth of early music across the country, they nevertheless point to its vitality in Spain, supported by well-established festivals and, in several cases, by strong or growing attendance figures.

FeMAP website: https://www.femap.cat/en/