Casa da Música, in Oporto, presents from Friday the new theme for the 2019 programming, the ‘New World’, through a cycle of concerts of resident groups that explore the music of the Americas.
The “Give New Worlds to the World” cycle, which frames North and South America as the region that guides the programming for the new year, starts on Friday with a concert of the Porto Symphony Orchestra, at 9:00 pm, which is scheduled the presence of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The “official opening” features “a fundamental Argentine composer, Alberto Ginastera, with extremely powerful and spasmodic music, opening thus with the evocation of some rhythms of South America“, explained the artistic director of the institution, António Jorge Pacheco.
A ‘Popol Vuh, La Creation of the Mayan World’, a play about Mayan mythology and the creation of that town, a play “never played in Portugal”, is followed by Symphony No. 9, ‘New World’, Czech Antonin Dvorak that he composed in New York.
On January 18, at 9:00 p.m., the Symphony returns to the stage of the “Suggia Room” for “Americas“, a journey through the music of composers such as the Americans George Gershwin (“Cuban Opening“), or Leonard Bernstein (“Opening Candide “), before the debut in Portugal of” Orion “, by the Canadian Claude Vivier,” a kind of Pasolini of music, for the troubled biography. ”
In the second part, Mexico is explored through “Sensemayá“, by Silvestre Revueltas, ending “in apotheosis” with “Amériques“, a work of the French Edgard Varèse that calls for “a gigantic orchestra“.
The following day, at 6:00 pm, the Remix Ensemble joins the Synergy Vocals to perform works by the Argentinean Mauricio Kagel and to debut another work by Vivier, for soprano and ensemble, before another unprecedented one on Portuguese soil, American Steve Reich, “Tehilim“.
The cycle ends on January 20, with a performance by Coro Casa da Música, directed by maestro Paul Hillier who intends to “launch bridges between the Old and New World, and between the past and the present“, with works by the Portuguese Filipe de Magalhães or Manuel Cardoso, but also of Arvo Part, Manuel de Sumaya, Abraham Wood or Julia Wolfe, among others.
The educational service of the Casa also joins the cycle, with “Sítio do Pica-Pau Amarelo“, a play with artistic direction by Mário João Alves who intends to “immerse himself in the magical folklore of Brazil” from the characters for children of Monteiro Lobato, by 16:00 on January 19.
A habit at the beginning of the year of the institution, the Open House cycle runs between January 16 and 20 and includes several types of initiatives, all free entry, and this year has “a much more intense schedule than usual,” inviting “ to visit part of the space that the public normally does not have access to. ”
“Usually they sit in the room with the concert ‘already done’. We want to show the other side of the House, the invisible and the day-to-day,” António Jorge Pacheco shot.
One of the highlights is a film series with cinematographers from the Americas, curated by the Cineclube do Porto, but also open symphony and remix Ensemble, “with augmented reality, an unprecedented experience in Portugal”.
“We are going to do this experimenting environment exactly because in a concert environment we make a point of telling people to turn off the mobile phones. We now invite you to do the opposite, to install an application, and from the ‘app’ we will have numerous cameras on the stage and the audience can follow only one musician, or score, or read the program notes, among other things, in an immersive reality, ” he explained.
The Open House also includes guided tours, shows of American roots dances, open rehearsals and artistic installations, as well as several lectures that contextualize themes and composers for 2019 and concerts.
The highlight is the “Non-Stop Night“, which starts at 10:30 p.m. and runs until 6:30 p.m. on January 20, at which time it will be “served hot chocolate to the sturdy ones“, after concerts a little by all the space, of names like HHY & The Macumbas, Bezegol, Conan Osiris or the German DJ Matias Aguayo.
