Capuchos Festival 2025
Between Worlds

Welcome to the Capuchos Festival 2025!

Now in its fifth consecutive edition since its revival in 2021, the Capuchos Festival presents the theme “Between Worlds”, offering an artistic reflection on interculturality, diversity, fascination, and dialogue between multiple dimensions — civilizational, temporal, and spiritual — that intertwine and reveal themselves through Music, the universal language present in all societies.

From May 30 to June 27, Almada once again becomes the stage for this major cultural event, bringing together renowned national and international artists. Concerts will be held at the Capuchos Convent, the Festival’s spiritual core, as well as in other venues across the city, including the Joaquim Benite Municipal Theatre, the Fernando Lopes-Graça Auditorium, and, for the first time, Parque da Paz, which will host an open-air symphonic concert.

Among the highlights of this edition is the Portuguese debut of the Swedish chamber orchestra Musica Vitae, which will open the Festival with two concerts led by the brilliant Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid. The opening program features works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky, bridging musical traditions and geographies. In the second concert, Schmid presents his "Jazz Violin Concertos" project, exploring the fusion between classical composition and jazz improvisation - an absolute first on Portuguese soil.

The “between worlds” spirit continues with The Naghash Ensemble of Armenia, presenting a program that blends medieval Armenian sacred music with contemporary influences, jazz, and post-minimalism. Another standout moment will be “The History of Tango” concert, led by bandoneonist Marcelo Nisinman, a direct disciple of Astor Piazzolla, in a tribute to the roots and evolution of Argentine tango.

No domínio da música antiga, o Festival propõe dois concertos de forte dimensão histórica e poética. “A Música da Lírica Camoniana”, pelo Concerto Atlântico dirigido por Pedro Caldeira Cabral, assinala os 500 anos do nascimento de Luís de Camões, recuperando práticas musicais renascentistas. Já o Ensemble Barroco Tra Noi apresenta “Telemann
goes East”, explorando o diálogo entre o barroco alemão e as tradições populares da Europa de Leste.

Na área da música contemporânea e do pensamento musical, o centenário de Pierre Boulez será assinalado com um recital do clarinetista Jérôme Comte, solista do Ensemble Intercontemporain de Paris, fundado pelo próprio Boulez em 1976. O programa “Boulez 100” inclui obras de Boulez, Berio, Donatoni, Grisey e Stravinsky, revelando diversas
linguagens da modernidade musical europeia. Por sua vez, o concerto “Noite Transfigurada” homenageia Daniel Barenboim, reunindo solistas da Academia Barenboim-Said e da West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, com obras de Brahms e Schönberg, símbolos de um romantismo transfigurado e visionário.

A presença nacional faz-se sentir com nomes de referência como: a Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, dirigida por Pedro Neves, que tocará no Parque da Paz a célebre Sinfonia “Do Novo Mundo”, de Dvořák, e obras de Rossini e Brahms; o DSCH – Schostakovich Ensemble, que interpretará Dvořák, Schubert e uma estreia absoluta do compositor Sérgio Azevedo; o quinteto 100 Caminhos, protagonista de um original “concerto-passeio” pelo Convento dos Capuchos. Também o João Barradas Trio apresentará Aperture, um projecto de jazz contemporâneo com forte componente autoral.

The piano will take center stage with two recitals: Dang Thai Son, the legendary winner of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, will present a program focused on Chopin and Debussy; and I myself will pay tribute to the poetic and transcendental genius of Franz Liszt, in a journey through dreams, love, and virtuosity.

O Festival dos Capuchos é também um espaço de pensamento e partilha. As Conversas dos Capuchos, com curadoria de Carlos Vaz Marques, antecedem o
Festival com três sessões dedicadas ao centenário de José Cardoso Pires, ao centenário da publicação de “O Processo”, de Franz Kafka, e a uma reflexão sobre o próprio tema do Festival – Entre Mundos.
Additional parallel activities enrich the Festival: the Capuchos Preludes - pre-concert talks moderated by João Almeida; the Capuchos Walk in the Protected Landscape of the Costa da Caparica Fossil Cliff; the Guided Visit to the Capuchos Convent; and the Capuchos Masterclasses, with distinguished professors from the Universities of Salzburg, Oslo, and Lucerne.

Com especial alegria, apresentamos também, pela primeira vez, a iniciativa Ópera para Crianças, com sessões da ópera “Bastien et Bastienne”, de Mozart, numa produção dirigida por António Wagner Diniz, destinada ao público do Pré-Escolar e do 1.º Ciclo.

The Capuchos Festival 2025 is made possible thanks to the support, first and foremost, of the Almada City Council, the patronage of BPI/la Caixa Foundation, and the Portuguese Directorate-General for the Arts. Our thanks also go to our partners: the Almada Theatre Company, El Corte Inglés Cultural Programme, and RTP Antena 2. A special word of appreciation to His Excellency the President of the Republic, for granting the Festival his High Patronage.

We invite you to journey with us through these symbolic and sonic “worlds.”
Que a Música nos guie, nos inspire e nos una – entre mundos e para além deles.