Noctámbula debuted in Tenerife with Tomorrowland Symphony of Unity and a strong electronic program
Santa Cruz de Tenerife gained a new major electronic event on September 12, 2026: the first edition of the Noctámbula festival was held at Recinto Ferial de Tenerife, a multifunctional trade fair and congress venue in the capital of Tenerife. The central attraction of the program was Symphony of Unity, the official orchestral project associated with the Belgian festival Tomorrowland, which had its only announced performance in Spain during 2026 in Tenerife. According to Tenerife's official tourism platform, the project brought together more than 60 musicians for the occasion and transferred well-known electronic compositions into an orchestral format. The festival was conceived as an all-day experience combining club music, large-scale audiovisual production, gastronomy and accompanying activities. The premiere edition thus placed Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the map of major September electronic events in Spain, with an emphasis on the combination of international performers and the local Canary Islands scene.
Symphony of Unity as the centerpiece of the premiere edition
Noctámbula's biggest program highlight was Symphony of Unity, a concept that does not treat electronic music as a background for an orchestra, but as material for a complete symphonic reinterpretation. According to official information from Tomorrowland, the project was created in 2015 at the edition of the festival called Secret Kingdom of Melodia, when the orchestra took on the role normally held by DJs on large electronic stages. Since then, Symphony of Unity has developed into an international project with performances in Belgium, Amsterdam, Dubai, Las Vegas and Brazil, and in 2026 the debut album "Orchestral Selection I" was also released. The album contains orchestral arrangements of well-known electronic compositions, including "Insomnia" by Faithless, "Universal Nation" by the project Push, and "Reload" by Sebastian Ingrosso and Tommy Trash with John Martin. Such a repertoire explains why the project is simultaneously attractive to audiences of major EDM festivals and to listeners interested in the fusion of contemporary electronics with classical orchestration.
For the Tenerife performance, organizers and local promotional materials cited an ensemble of more than 60 musicians, which is more than the approximately 50 members with whom Symphony of Unity often performs on other stages. It was precisely this orchestral scale that formed the foundation of the identity of the first Noctámbula festival. Instead of a program based exclusively on DJ sets, the organizers positioned the main evening highlight as a large-format concert production, with strings, wind instruments, percussion and other orchestral elements integrated into the rhythm and dramaturgy of electronic music. According to Tomorrowland, the purpose of the project is not merely to transfer familiar melodies to acoustic instruments, but to give electronic anthems a new dynamic and emotional structure through symphonic arrangements. In the context of Noctámbula, such an approach served as a clear distinction from the standard festival format in which performers rotate behind the DJ booth.
From the afternoon "prelude" to the main evening program
According to the festival's official website and Tenerife's tourism organization, the doors of Recinto Ferial were scheduled to open in the afternoon, with activities preceding the main evening program. The organizers called this first part of the day the "prelude", and it included gastronomic zones, a terrace, a relaxation area, games and other experiential activities. WebTenerife described the program through two blocks: a daytime section with gastronomy and accompanying activities, and an evening segment with DJs and performances on the main stage. The event was intended for an adult audience, and the starting ticket price in the official tourism announcement was 75 euros. Such a structure shows that Noctámbula was not conceived merely as a few hours of concerts, but as a multi-hour festival format in the indoor and adjoining outdoor areas of the fair complex.
Recinto Ferial de Tenerife is also an important part of the whole story. It is the Centro Internacional de Ferias y Congresos de Tenerife, a large multifunctional venue in Santa Cruz de Tenerife that hosts trade fairs, congresses, sporting, cultural and musical events. The venue's official calendar lists Noctámbula for September 12, while on September 13 the Tenerife 40 Pop pop festival was already scheduled at the same location, showing how intensive the production weekend was at the complex. For an electronic festival such as Noctámbula, the advantage of such a venue lies in the possibility of installing extensive lighting, LED surfaces, a sound system and controlled stage effects without the restrictions that often accompany historic urban locations or smaller concert halls. The organizers therefore highlighted the technical transformation of the venue as one of the key elements of the premiere.
Almost 600 lighting devices and 400 square meters of LED screens
Noctámbula's production ambition was visible months before the doors opened. Materials published by the organizer cite approximately 600 lighting devices and around 400 square meters of LED displays, along with a synchronization system based on timecode. The lighting design was associated with Juanjo Beloqui, and according to information reported by Diario de Avisos, every effect was programmed to align precisely with the music and visual content. Such infrastructure is particularly important for a project such as Symphony of Unity, in which the classical concert image of an orchestra is combined with the aesthetics of major electronic festivals. Instead of a static orchestral concert, the result was conceived as a synchronized audiovisual experience in which lighting, large screens and musical arrangements function as a unified stage whole.
A similar approach also accompanies the broader development of Symphony of Unity. During 2026, Tomorrowland presented the project as an increasingly powerful standalone musical experience, while its new audiovisual program "Horizon" in Belgium further emphasized the cinematic dimension of the orchestral arrangements. Although the Tenerife performance was not simply a replica of other productions, the arrival of the project brought local audiences a format that in recent years has outgrown its initial role as a festival specialty. The release of the album "Orchestral Selection I" in April 2026 further strengthened that transition: arrangements that originally existed primarily as a live experience now also gained a separate recording life. For Noctámbula, this meant that the main performance concept arrived in Tenerife at a moment when it was internationally expanding both its concert and recording identity.
B Jones was announced, but did not perform
In the initial announcements for Noctámbula, Spanish DJ B Jones was among the prominent names. However, that information changed before the festival and it is important to distinguish it from the final program. At the beginning of August, the organizers announced that B Jones would not be able to perform on September 12 for health reasons and that her participation would be moved to the 2027 edition of the festival. Diario de Avisos reported the organizers' statement according to which the artist's medical team recommended a period of recovery, which forced her to withdraw from the performance. The same statement said that part of the festival's proceeds would be allocated to Asociación Ángela Navarro, which provides support to people facing oncological illnesses.
In the final program, her place in the international section of the lineup was taken by Indira Paganotto, which was confirmed by several local sources before the festival. Paganotto, a DJ and producer born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and raised in Madrid, has in recent years built an international career primarily associated with psytechno and techno sound. Alongside her, the program included Mattia Vitale, a member of the Italian project Meduza, as well as Michenlo, while the Canary Islands scene was represented by Claudia Rutten, Dani Chueca, DJ Jonay and Tay de León. The program therefore retained a combination of performers with international festival experience and musicians connected with the Canary Islands. The claim that B Jones performed at the premiere Noctámbula is therefore not correct according to the updated program: she was among the names announced earlier, but her performance was canceled more than a month before the event.
The Canary Islands electronic scene gained a new large-format stage
Alongside the international names, the organizers also emphasized the presence of performers from the Canary Islands. Such a balance is important for an event that wants to position itself beyond a one-day attraction and build a recognizable local identity. In its final announcement, Tenerife Live cites DJ Jonay as a performer present on the Canary Islands electronic scene since 1993, with experience in rave, hardcore, drum and bass and breakbeat, while Dani Chueca has been active on the islands' club circuit since 2014. Claudia Rutten combines deep house, funky house and minimal deep tech, while Tay de León brings experience from performances on club and festival stages. In the company of Indira Paganotto, Mattia Vitale and Symphony of Unity, such a lineup enabled different branches of electronic music to meet within the same program.
From its first edition, Noctámbula thus tried to avoid the impression of a festival relying on only one big name. Symphony of Unity was the main marketing and artistic magnet, but the rest of the lineup filled the space between orchestral spectacle, large-scale festival house and techno sound, and styles present on the Canary Islands club scene. Such programmatic breadth also corresponds to the global development of electronic festivals, which increasingly combine concert, audiovisual and DJ formats instead of strictly separated genre evenings. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, this model gained an additional local dimension thanks to performers professionally connected with the islands' music circuit. Whether Noctámbula will become a permanent fixture on the international festival calendar in the long term will depend on the continuation of the program and future editions, but the organizers have already confirmed the intention of B Jones returning in 2027, which points to planning for the next edition.
Why the Symphony of Unity performance was particularly important
The exclusivity of the Spanish performance in 2026 was one of the main arguments with which Noctámbula built visibility beyond Tenerife. WebTenerife, the island's official tourism platform, clearly stated that this was Symphony of Unity's only performance in Spain during the year. This gave the premiere festival a rare program distinction: instead of a standard appearance by a DJ who performs at dozens of European locations during the season, the audience received a production whose logistics and number of performers are considerably more demanding. More than 60 musicians on one stage, together with a large audiovisual system and festival infrastructure, represent a production challenge that cannot simply be transferred from club to club. This is precisely why Symphony of Unity functions as an event within an event, rather than merely another name on the poster.
The project also illustrates the broader convergence of electronic and orchestral music. Tomorrowland states that since 2015 Symphony of Unity has built its repertoire around songs that marked the history of dance music, but reinterprets them through richer harmonies, dynamic transitions and cinematic arrangements. In such a format, the audience immediately recognizes familiar melodies, while their structure changes through orchestral sound. This creates a different relationship with material that was originally created for clubs, radio airwaves and festival main stages. At Noctámbula, this fusion served precisely as a symbol of the festival's program concept: electronic culture remains at the center, but is presented through a broader range of performance and visual languages.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife as a festival location
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the island of Tenerife and one of the two capitals of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands, already has developed infrastructure for major public and cultural events. Recinto Ferial is located in the urban area near Auditorio de Tenerife and the coast and was designed as a multifunctional complex for trade fairs, congresses, concerts and other large-scale events. The venue's official website confirms that the organizer of Noctámbula was Encaro Factory, and the festival date was September 12, 2026. Such a location gives organizers controlled technical conditions, while allowing visitors to access the event in an urban environment instead of at a remote festival site. For international audiences, additional importance comes from the fact that Tenerife is one of the busiest tourist destinations in the Canary Islands, with two airports and large accommodation capacities distributed across the island.
Noctámbula therefore had the potential from the outset to attract not only local audiences but also visitors who combine a trip to Tenerife with a music event. Nevertheless, the premiere edition should primarily be viewed as a test of a new festival brand: the organizers had to prove that an ambitious combination of orchestra, electronic performers, the local scene and extensive technical production could be connected into a coherent whole. The official information available so far confirms the scope of the program and production, but as of September 14, complete independently verified data on the number of visitors, final attendance or the economic impact of the festival had not been published. Such figures should therefore not be estimated or inferred from promotional materials. What has been confirmed is that on September 12, Noctámbula in Santa Cruz de Tenerife opened its first chapter with a program led by Symphony of Unity and a lineup that connected the international electronic scene with performers from the Canary Islands.
Sources:
- Turismo de Tenerife / WebTenerife - official Noctámbula announcement, date, location, program structure, prices and Symphony of Unity's only performance in Spain in 2026. (link)
- Noctámbula - official information from the organizer about the festival concept, zones and technical production (link)
- Diario de Avisos - final program announcement, technical data on lighting and LED screens, and confirmed performers ahead of the festival (link)
- Diario de Avisos - announcement about the cancellation of B Jones's performance for health reasons and the planned return in 2027. (link)
- El Digital Sur - confirmation that Indira Paganotto replaced B Jones in the final Noctámbula program (link)
- Tomorrowland - official information about the history of Symphony of Unity and the album "Orchestral Selection I" (link)
- Recinto Ferial de Tenerife - official event calendar and confirmation of the festival date and organizer (link)