Information
CAPUCHOS MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024
Artistic Director: Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro
29 MAY to 21 JUNE 2024
Almada - Portugal
All information at: FESTIVALCAPUCHOS.COM
Welcome to the 2024 edition of the Capuchos Music Festival!
In this year of 2024, as we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the 25th of April, the Capuchos Music Festival is inspired by the idea(s) of Freedom throughout the History of Music.
Between May 29th and June 21st, the Capuchos Festival will bring to Almada musicians and orchestras of national and international renown for a series of unmissable concerts, in the venue that gives its name to the Festival, the Capuchos Monastery, as well as at the Joaquim Benite Municipal Theater, and for the first time, at the Fernando Lopes-Graça Auditorium.
Renowned artists and ensembles will be present, among which it is worth highlighting, from the outset, the debut in Portugal of one of the most daring orchestral projects of recent years, the Paris Symphony Orchestra "Consuelo," which, under the direction of Victor-Julien Laferrière, will open the festival with Beethoven's 5th Symphony, an undeniable masterpiece and powerful evocation of the struggle against adversity and the triumph of Freedom. Also noteworthy are the debut concerts in Portugal of other ensembles from the European musical vanguard, such as the Paganini Ensemble from Vienna and the Berlin Chamber Orchestra "Metamorphosen," under the direction of Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.
Among the great international soloists who will be present in this edition, emphasis is placed on the legendary pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja, the German violinist Carolin Widmann, the Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra, and the young Ukrainian pianist Roman Fediurko, winner of the prestigious Horowitz International Competition in 2023, who will perform works by Chopin in what will be his debut recital in our country. National presence will be ensured by reference groups, including the Renaissance ensemble Arte Minima and the Schostakovich Ensemble, as well as musicians such as pianist Júlio Resende, with his Fado Jazz Ensemble, conductor Martim Sousa Tavares, and violist Sofia Silva Sousa, among many others.
Highlights include works by Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Chopin, Paganini, and Shostakovich; works by Renaissance composers such as the Portuguese Pedro de Cristo; and Philip Glass's opera "In the Penal Colony," based on Franz Kafka's eponymous story. Also noteworthy is the world premiere of a new work by the award-winning Portuguese composer, resident in New York, Andreia Pinto Correia, and the posthumous tribute concert to António Mega Ferreira, one of the greatest figures in Portuguese culture and thought after the 25th of April.
The cycle of the already emblematic Capuchos Talks, curated and moderated by Carlos Vaz Marques, will be dedicated to three literary centenaries of 2024 - the centenary of the death of Franz Kafka, the centenary of the birth of Sebastião da Gama, and the 500 years of Luís Vaz de Camões - with the presence of guests such as Alberto Manguel, José Carlos Seabra Pereira, Maria Bochichio, Nuno Amado, José Gardeazabal, and Viriato Soromenho-Marques.
In 2024, in what will be the fourth consecutive edition of the Capuchos Music Festival after the interruption of 20 years between 2001 and 2020, a set of training and awareness activities initiated in the 2023 edition will also be carried out: pre-concert conversations called Capuchos Preludes moderated by João Almeida, director of the radio station Antena 2; Visit to the cultural heritage of the Capuchos Monastery, built in the 16th century; Walk in the Protected Landscape of the Fossil Cliff of Costa da Caparica, where the Convent is located; and Capuchos Masterclasses, open classes for young musicians guided by teachers from the Conservatories of Leipzig, Lucerne, and Helsinki.
In this fiftieth anniversary of the 25th of April, we celebrate the ideals of Freedom in a program that reaffirms the mission of the Capuchos Music Festival as a benchmark event, nationally and internationally, thus promoting democratic access to culture.
Our heartfelt thanks to all those who make possible the realization of the Capuchos Music Festival, first and foremost to the Câmara Municipal de Almada and its municipal services, to the Direcção Geral das Artes, to the patron BPI/Fundação "la Caixa", to partners such as the Companhia de Teatro de Almada, the Âmbito Cultural El Corte Inglés, RTP Antena 2, and especially to His Excellency the President of the Republic for the renewed High Patronage.
Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro
Artistic Director of Capuchos Music Festival
All information at: FESTIVALCAPUCHOS.COM