You can already imagine what Sónar’s new life will be like as a festival with uninterrupted days of music between day and night after its most complicated edition, when the competition’s membership of the pro-Israeli American fund KKR, with businesses and real estate investments in territories belonging to the Palestinian state, caused a boycott of the festival. This Thursday, the organization unveiled around thirty artists, a third of the program of the 2026 edition, which will take place on 18, 19 and 20 June in a single space, the Fira Gran Via de L’Hospitalet, where until now the Sónar was only held at night.
In that enclave you can feel Frappethe cultural phenomenon of Kelis, the American R&B artist and neosoul-pop or the dirt of the British DJ and producer Skepta, who will present his new album Fork and knifescheduled for the beginning of 2026. Two new divas of the hardest techno also coincide at the festival: the Belgian DJ and producer Charlotte de Witte, who will present her recent album of the same name with a new show and her compatriot Amelie Lens will take to the stage AURAa new concept focused on shadows, light, movement and energy. A historic festival duo, Modeselektor, will present something new show alive and unpublished. Another live performance is that of the Danish trio WhoMadeWho, who will recall their latest works on the border between electronic and experimental pop.
The dose of nostalgia will arrive with Cabaret Voltaire, with the performance of Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson, two of the founding members of the Sheffield band who in 1973 managed to establish themselves in the British experimental electronic scene by mixing the post-punk and the synthesized pop passing through techno and acid house. For their part, the contemporary North American composers Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore will present their next album scheduled for 2026, Tragic magica work produced with instruments from the historic collection of the Philharmonie de Paris. It will be a concert between classic and modern, which will combine voice, harp and synthesizers. Other names on the advanced billboard this Thursday are the Germans Boys Noize, the French Ascendant Vierge, the Madrid-based Alba Franch, the Argentine La Sofy, the Brazilians Clementaum b2b LAZA and new clubbing superstars such as KETTAMA, DJ Gigola and the Colombians Funk Tribu.
Six scenarios
The new Sónar also inaugurates the director and CEO, François Jozic, founder and until now director of Brunch ElectroniK. The three founders of Sónar, Enric Palau, Ricard Robles and Sergio Caballero, and a fourth member who arrived later, Ventura Barba, left the festival permanently in October.
In a statement, Jozic opted for a new phase that returns ownership of electronics to the Catalan capital. “Barcelona must once again be the capital of electronic culture and Sónar 2026 will mark a decisive step towards the future. We have designed a festival that not only celebrates music, but also integrates technology, art and creativity into a unique experience, offering an ideal space for discovery. Barcelona will once again be the world’s epicenter of cultural innovation,” he said in the statement.
Sónar abandons the separation that defined its audience and commits in this new phase to emulating the rest of the city’s festivals, with a fusion of day and night for entire days. The festival has revealed that there will be six stages with exceptional continuous programming, which will preserve the spirit of the historic daytime events – with extended hours – and expand the nighttime content.
In total there will be three outdoor and three indoor stages. The popular SonarClub, SonarLab and SonarCar stages, which will continue in their usual locations, will coexist with the new SonarVillage stage. New spaces have also been incorporated, such as a larger, open-air SonarPark and a renovated and expanded SonarHall, which will allow for more live performances and DJ sets on each of the three days.
In parallel, the 14th edition of Sónar+D will be held in the city of Barcelona, in a space yet to be confirmed and, as announced by the organization, will expand its presence at the Fira Gran Via venue, with immersive installations, digital art and interactive proposals.
The festival closed the 2025 edition by ensuring it had broken the attendance record, with 161,000, but did not specify whether the number of tickets or passes returned due to the controversy had been deducted.
