It is with great enthusiasm that I witness the growth of the Capuchos Festival. Since its revival in 2021, each successive edition has managed to combine the creative power of so many artists with a shared reflection that goes far beyond music.
It was no easy task to conceive and design a proposal following the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April. But if, last year, we celebrated the timeless expression of Freedom, in 2025, the theme proposed unfolds this precious value in a true spirit of “between worlds.” It is also an artistic spirit—one increasingly under threat—that finds in this festival a safe and stimulating haven, bringing together different generations and nationalities.
I am even prouder to see that, for the first time, we will enjoy a great moment of communion outdoors in Parque da Paz, with a symphonic concert. This year’s programme is filled with diverse and exciting cultures, without forgetting the national presence, which is so important to this event. There is no doubt that bringing back the Capuchos Festival was the right decision for Almada.
As expected, we are once again joined by great names of classical music—Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Schubert, and Tchaikovsky—in a programme that bridges the entire world. From intersections of Armenian sacred and medieval music to contemporary influences, jazz, and post-minimalism. Argentine tango will also be featured, along with a special concert celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Luís de Camões. Let us not forget contemporary music: works by Boulez, Berio, Donatoni, Grisey, and Stravinsky will be part of the celebration of Pierre Boulez’s centenary.
“Capuchos Talks” also return this year, curated by Carlos Vaz Marques, to commemorate the centenary of José Cardoso Pires and the centenary of the publication of Franz Kafka’s The Trial. These are moments of sharing between the past and the future, truly reflecting the identity of this festival.
One might think that the Capuchos Festival is just for adults. It is not. Music is an art that transcends all ages, and in this fifth edition, that idea has come to life. For the first time, we proudly present the initiative “Opera for Children,” with performances of Mozart’s Bastien et Bastienne for primary school audiences.
None of this would be possible without Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, the Festival’s Artistic Director. The dedication and effort of his team will be clearly reflected in yet another remarkable edition. Special thanks to the main patron and partner of the event, the BPI/La Caixa Foundation, and to all the other partners who continue to share in this cultural and democratic mission with us.
Welcome to the Capuchos Festival 2026!
After five editions which, since its revival in 2021, have established the Capuchos Music Festival as an event of excellence and a space for dialogue between cultures, eras, and artistic languages, we now propose a reflection on what is most intimate and universal to us: loves and humours, affections and states of mind.
Under the theme “Amores & Humores”, the 2026 Capuchos Music Festival draws inspiration from the duality and complementarity between love – in its many human and divine forms – and the “humours” of the soul, those subtle movements that oscillate between lyricism and irony, passion and invention, devotion and laughter.
Between May 23 and June 24, Almada once again affirms itself as the stage for one of the country’s most significant cultural events. The concerts will take place at the Convento dos Capuchos, the Festival’s spiritual heart, as well as in other venues across the city, including the Teatro Municipal Joaquim Benite, the Auditório Fernando Lopes-Graça and the Parque da Paz, which will host, for the first time, an open-air opera gala.
This edition features several international highlights: the return of the outstanding Orquestra de Paris “Consuelo”, opening the Festival; the 30th anniversary show of the acclaimed Austrian septet Mnozil Brass, often dubbed the “Monty Python of classical music”; concerts by the Leipzig String Quartet, regarded as one of the world’s finest string quartets, and by the award-winning vocal group SLIXS, performing in Portugal for the first time. The Festival will also welcome internationally renowned soloists, including the singers Anna Samuil, Peter Sonn and Mandy Fredrich; the violinists Viviane Hagner and Diana Tishchenko; the cellists Christian Poltéra, Victor Julien-Laferrière and Kyril Zlotnikov; the clarinetist Pascal Moraguès; and the pianist Eldar Nebolsin.
The national presence is strongly represented by leading names such as the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, conducted by Pedro Neves; the DSCH Schostakovich Ensemble, in collaboration with actress Maria Rueff; the Officium Ensemble, directed by Pedro Teixeira; the pianist Nuno Vieira de Almeida; and the actress Rita Blanco, among others. Also noteworthy are two concerts that bring together jazz and fado, featuring the award-winning singer Maria Mendes, who has been based in the Netherlands for several years, as well as the return to the Festival of pianist Júlio Resende and guitarist Bruno Chaveiro. True to its vocation, the Festival remains a platform for emerging talents, such as flautist Sónia Pais, percussionist Sofia Costa, singer Raquel Mendes and harpsichordist Rafaela Salgado.
In this edition, the now emblematic Capuchos Talks, curated by Carlos Vaz Marques, are dedicated to the centenary of the death of Camilo Pessanha, the 300th anniversary of the publication of “Gulliver’s Travels” and to a literary reflection on the theme of the Festival.
Other parallel activities enrich the programme, such as the pre-concert talks entitled Prelúdios dos Capuchos; the Caminhada dos Capuchos, in the Protected Landscape of the Fossil Cliff of Costa da Caparica; the Guided Tour of the historical heritage of the Convento dos Capuchos; and the Masterclasses dos Capuchos, aimed at music students.
Com especial entusiasmo, apresentamos, pela segunda vez, a iniciativa Opera for Children, desta feita com a A Flauta Mágica, de Mozart, numa produção dirigida por António Wagner Diniz.
A realização do Festival dos Capuchos 2026 é possível graças ao apoio, em primeiro lugar, da Almada City Council, the patronage of BPI/Fundação “la Caixa” and the Portuguese Directorate-General for the Arts.. O nosso agradecimento também aos parceiros Companhia de Teatro de Almada, Âmbito Cultural do El Corte Inglés and RTP / Antena 2.
The Capuchos Festival 2026 spans eras and borders, between the sacred and the profane, the classical and the popular, the Baroque and jazz, Romanticism and contemporary music. “Amores & Humores” is, ultimately, a portrait of the human condition: we love, suffer, dream, ironize, celebrate. Music – perhaps the subtlest of the arts – can convey all these states with a truth that transcends words and returns us to the essence of feeling.
We invite you to journey with us through this itinerary of emotions of the Festival dos Capuchos 2026 – where love sings, humor smiles, and art reminds us of the depth and beauty of life.
