Barcelona will play host to the third edition of Sampler Sèries, the new music festival. From 27 October 2016 to 18 June 2017, you will get a chance to witness first-hand the avant-garde propositions of this festival, mainly through improvisation.

The Banco Sabadell Foundation is taking part in this event again this year, in order to support and promote young emerging talents.

This year, unlike in previous editions, the concerts will take place in different spaces, with the Auditori as the main stage, but some of the concerts will also take place in the Joan Miró Foundation, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA), the Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture (CCCB) the Antoni Tàpies Foundation and the Santa Mònica Arts Centre.

More about the musicians taking part

Some of the musicians who will take to the stage in this third editions are:

–Plus-Minus: this group from London will kick off the season on 27 October in the Auditori with a sample of British avant-garde music, ‘Repetitions in extended time’, which explores musical tempo through the repeated use of audio materials which are shown from different angles and perspectives.

–Crossinglines: this group gives us ‘Spanish Paradox’, a programme which illustrates the significance of globalisation and migration in this new generation of emerging musicians. The concert will take place on 10 November in the Auditori.

–Thermal: Scotsman Andy Moor, guitarist in the Dutch punk band The Ex, Thomas Lehn from Germany, a multifaceted musician who has trained in classical and contemporary piano music, and Englishman John Butcher, on the saxophone, who is a composer and improviser, together form the trio Thermal. Three forces of European musical improvisation give us unique music for amplified saxophones, electric guitar and an analogue synthesiser. You can see them live on 12 January 2017 in the CCCB.

–Nao Albet & bcn216: Nao will play ‘Words’, a concert in which you will discover the universe of Samuel Beckett (author of ‘Words&Music’ for BBC radio) and the instrumental band bcn216 will play ‘Music’ in a mise-en-scène with seven musicians, two actors and a ballerina. It will take place from 27 to 29 January 2017 in the Auditori.

–Hèctor Parra: on 22 February 2017, composer Hèctor Parra and pianist and improviser Agustí Fernández continue with their series ‘Frec 3’, in which Parra’s compositional thinking and Agustí’s energy combine to form a new type of sound, by including an amplified ensemble of musical improvisation musicians including the expanded piano which has been the protagonist of this series.