From July 9 to 20, Viseu will once again host a festival that makes music a place of encounter, discovery and transformation. The 13th edition of What Jazz Is That? is packed with unmissable concerts, unlikely encounters and experiences that cross musical, geographical and social boundaries.
On July 18, the garden of Casa do Miradouro will host one of the most unique moments of this edition: the meeting between Emanuel and Toy Matos, musicians with gypsy roots recognized by the authenticity and intensity of their interpretations, with saxophonist, composer and improviser João Mortágua, one of the most restless voices in national jazz. The trio will be in residence in Viseu in a creative process that combines different languages, memories and influences. The result will be an unprecedented concert, which promises to open new paths of dialogue between tradition and contemporaneity, between orality and experimentation.
On July 19, the festival will host a concert by Swiss pianist Marie Kruttli, one of the most interesting names in the new generation of European jazz, at the emblematic Teatro Viriato. Her compositions rise like true sound architectures, combining rigorous writing with a lyrical and deeply cinematic approach. Her trio proposes a musical journey that alternates between delicate introspection and rhythmic energy, challenging the audience to enter a universe of open forms and dense emotions.
True to its mission of expanding access to culture by bringing concerts to people who are unable to attend them and crossing paths with people, the festival once again invests in the Jazz at Home and Jazz on the Street initiatives. This year, the young trumpeter Jasmim Pinto is responsible for the original soundtrack for the silent film “The Playhouse” by Buster Keaton, taking this film-concert to venues such as the Viseu Prison, the Victor Fontes Boarding School and the Viseu Psychiatric Hospital. A symbolic but, above all, concrete action that affirms the universal right to culture. On the streets, the sound festival is provided by the wind and percussion instruments of the Escola Profissional da Serra da Estrela, which invade squares, balconies and street corners, bringing jazz closer to people’s daily lives.
The peak of the program takes place from July 17 to 20, where jazz is a meeting, manifesto and celebration with a series of concerts that reflect the diversity and artistic scope of this edition.
Mano a Mano presents the project “Trilogia das Sombras” (July 17, Museu Nacional Grão Vasco), a luminous tribute to the work of visual artist Lourdes Castro, in a show where music, words and movement intersect between shadows and light. Camilla George, a major figure in the new London scene, will perform in a unique concert in Portugal (July 18, Parque Aquilino Ribeiro), a politically conscious and musically hypnotic concert, between jazz, hip hop and Afrofuturism, reflecting the memories and heritage of the African diaspora. Analogik, a project led by Zé Almeida (July 20, Casa do Miradouro), reveals itself to be a quartet that floats between a jazz trio, an improvisation ensemble and a quasi-string quartet, in a show that promises to surprise. New Max (July 20, Parque Aquilino Ribeiro) leads the closing party with groove, soul and a celebration of black music and Portuguese culture.
This edition also includes a concert by João Rocha Quarteto, a young talent who recently won an award at the international competition held by the University of Aveiro, a tribute by Gira Big Band to singer Vera Lúcia, a renowned figure in Brazilian music with roots in Viseu, and a vibrant show by Coletivo Gira Sol Azul with Tito Paris, who brings the Portuguese-speaking world to the stage, first in Tondela (Tom de Festa festival) and then in Viseu.
And because Que Jazz É Esse? is also a space for sharing and education, the festival includes the 16th edition of the Viseu Jazz Workshop, jam sessions and a radio workshop. Reinforcing the commitment to young talent and the construction of musical communities, the 1st “So What?” schools meeting will take place.
The full program can be found at https://quejazzeeste.com/
All activities are free of charge, but the festival reiterates its invitation to make conscious donations. Because culture should be accessible, but also sustainable. And because supporting those who make it is ensuring that jazz — and the freedom it represents — continues to happen.
Always confirm with the concert hall or promoter the conditions of access, confirmation of the date or time, ticket place of sale, price, and availability.
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