Santo Tirso Guitar Festival with a tribute recital to Carlos Paredes

A concert by Australian musician Ken Murray celebrates the centenary of the birth of one of the most influential Portuguese musicians of the 20th century on the 18th. The five-day event—and eight shows—begins on the evening of the 15th with Trovoada by O Gajo.

An immersive experience, where music and image will unite to celebrate the creativity, innovation, and timeless spirit of Carlos Paredes, in the year that the famous Portuguese guitarist—who gave new worlds and global stages to the Portuguese guitar—would have turned 100. This will be the recital with which Australian virtuoso Ken Murray will evoke one of the greatest names in Portuguese artistic sound of the last century, during the 28th edition of the Santo Tirso International Guitar Festival (FIGST), from October 15th to 19th. This will feature the bonus of a film by Joaquim Pavão (director, composer, and guitarist), which will add a unique visual dimension to the tribute.

The concert will take place on the 18th (Saturday), at 9:30 pm, at the Fábrica de Santo Thyrso, in a moment that will revisit the legacy of master Paredes and his brand, offering the audience a “unique and immersive experience,” as highlighted by FIGST’s artistic director, Óscar Flecha.

Ken Murray, whose compositions have been performed by guitarists such as Slava Grigoryan, Alex Tsiboulski, Vladimir Gorbach, Tengyue Zhang, and Miles Johnston—a career that has made him famous for his interpretation of early 20th-century Spanish music, as well as Brazilian and South American musical genres—will also include in the Santo Tirso show works such as Stephen Goss’s “Hiraeth” and his own compositions, which engage with the Portuguese guitar tradition and explore new sonic heights. This will align precisely with the FIGST’s guiding motto, “Confluences – The Sound of Encounters.”

The opening show of the 28th edition of the Festival, on Wednesday the 15th at 9:30 pm, will be in the same vein. João Morais’s work, the work we’ve recently seen under the banner of O Gajo, also blends musical atmospheres that experiment with new formulas with contemporary rhythms inspired by tradition.

At FIGST, O Gajo will bring Trovoada, produced by Luís Varatojo, his fifth album released last March, where he reaffirms his adventurous spirit and uses his voice as an instrument for the first time. His inseparable viola campaniça will be joined in Tirsense lands by the accordion, cavaquinho, bagpipes, adufe, and a rhythm section, which intensifies a strong dose of groove in this latest work. Or perhaps Trovoada would not have been born from the turbulence of a world in constant conflict, at the hands of a restless musician.

An Eclectic Program

But the shows by O Gajo and Ken Murray are just two of the eight scheduled, with more top-notch performers, who will allow the audience to levitate to Cuba (thanks to the performance of Joaquín Clerch), Italy (Duosfera), Spain (Marcos Diaz), France and South Korea (Antoine Boyer & Yeore Kim), and, of course, Portugal, with the strings of Tiago Matias and Pedro Rodrigues.

From more classical sounds to out-of-the-box approaches, from fado to contemporary music, from gypsy jazz to creations for harmonica, the Santo Tirso International Guitar Festival makes the guitar resonate in multiple dimensions. As you’ll see from the concerts in the pipeline…

Tiago Matías – 16th, 3 p.m., Fábrica Santo Thyrso

Entitled “Codex 97,” Tiago Matías’s concert program at FIGST will feature a repertoire combining viola figures and fantasias, exploring the context of 17th- and 18th-century European music. This approach will provide a rich, engaging, and innovative musical experience. The works will be performed with theorbo and baroque guitar, instruments that reveal the nuances and rich sound of early music, offering the audience a true journey into the musical universe of the Baroque and Renaissance periods. It includes pieces by historical composers such as Kapsberger and Santiago de Murcia, interspersed with works by contemporary composers such as Sérgio Azevedo.

Duosfera – 16th, 9:30 p.m., Fábrica de Santo Thyrso

Daniele Fabio, described as “one of the most captivating contemporary voices on the guitar,” is a widely recognised musician. The “Duosfera” project offers a rich and immersive musical experience, interweaving different soundscapes, rhythms, and emotions, transporting the audience through diverse musical worlds. The repertoire includes reinterpretations of classical pieces by Piazzolla, Albéniz, Tárrega, Chaplin, De Falla, Bach, and Bartók, as well as traditional Italian pieces and original compositions by Daniele Fabio. This fusion encompasses echoes of the Renaissance, African rhythms, modal polyphony, jazz, Mediterranean sounds, and Nordic atmospheres.

Marcos Díaz – 17th, 3 p.m., Fábrica Santo Thyrso

He will present a program entitled “Cantos e Danzas” (Songs and Dances), featuring some of the most emblematic works in the guitar repertoire. The concert will feature pieces by renowned composers such as Agustín Barrios, Francisco Tárrega, and Joaquín Rodrigo, offering the audience a musical journey that explores everything from intimate delicacy to the rhythmic richness and expressiveness characteristic of the classical guitar.

Pedro Rodrigues – 17th, 6 p.m., Fábrica Santo Thyrso

In this recital-lecture, the musician explores the evolution of the classical guitar movement in Portugal. He will discuss how French and Spanish influences shaped guitar practice in the first half of the 20th century and how Emilio Pujol’s guidance contributed to the emergence of a national neo-Romanticism. The program includes works by composers representative of this period, such as António dos Santos Fonseca, António Simões Barbas, and José Duarte Costa, among others. Through a combination of performance and historical context, the recital-conference will allow the audience to understand the stylistic and technical transformations of the classical guitar in Portugal, offering a rich, educational, and engaging musical experience.

Joaquim Clerch – 17th, 9:30 pm, Fábrica de Santo Thyrso

“From Bach to Piazzolla” covers centuries of guitar music, from Baroque to contemporary tango. Among the works to be performed is the famous Chaconne from Partita II by Johann Sebastian Bach, considered one of the most demanding and emblematic pieces in the guitar repertoire. Clerch will also perform traditional Cuban works, offering the audience a musical journey that combines virtuosity, stylistic diversity, and emotion. This concert promises to be a unique experience, demonstrating the guitar’s ability to transition between different eras, cultures, and musical genres, always with profound technical and expressive rigour.

Antoine Boyer | Yeore Kim – 19th, 6 p.m., Fábrica de Santo Thyrso

The French-Korean duo’s program will present a range of styles, ranging from gypsy jazz to Antoine’s own original compositions. This musical encounter will showcase improvisation, expressiveness, and the ability to engage in dialogue, with vibrant and engaging performances that explore diverse sonic universes, from jazz to classical and contemporary influences.

Always confirm with the concert hall or promoter the access conditions, confirmation of the date and time, ticket sales location, price, and availability.

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Published on 2025.10.07