Partitura – December 2024

And so we reach the end of a special year at Casa da Música: the Year of Portugal. From Renaissance polyphony to the present day, our resident ensembles brought to life some of the finest pages of Portuguese musical literature, accompanied by internationally renowned conductors and soloists. We also heard works by great composers from other countries who, over time, left their mark and artistic heritage here. Opportunities were created for some of the best national performers to shine by tackling the most demanding scores. Under the auspices of the Música & Revolução festival and in symbolically rich programmes, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of April 25th. Across various musical genres, from established names to rising stars, countless Portuguese talents graced our stages. It’s fair to say, with a touch of playful nostalgia, “the party was beautiful, my friend”.

However, the truth is that before the “party” ends, other “parties” are already on the horizon – and at Casa da Música, the Christmas Concerts, always highly appreciated by our audience, are a cherished tradition. This year, the season’s celebrations culminate with what is probably the most famous choral work of all time, Handel’s Messiah, performed by Orquestra Barroca and Coro Casa da Música. Before that, in two other concerts, our Symphony Orchestra will host the prestigious Bulgarian conductor Delyana Lazarova, featuring a programme that includes two Christmas tales set to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov. These are unmissable moments in the final narrative of the year, Music for Christmas, inaugurated by our newest ensemble, Coro Infantil Casa da Música.

Meanwhile, Remix Ensemble bids farewell to 2024 with the closing concert of a special edition of the Academy bearing its name, under the guidance of the leading figure in so-called “instrumental concrete music,” Helmut Lachenmann. This concert will also feature the world premiere of a work by the Young Composer in Residence, Sara Ross. In other areas, amidst a diverse array of offerings, the spotlight falls on emerging national talent. This includes the finalist projects in the jazz and rock categories of the Future festival/contest, competing for the win this month, as well as a concert where students from Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo showcase their writing for big band. December also summons two acclaimed Portuguese names who traditionally close their respective seasons at Casa da Música – Tiago Bettencourt and UHF – and, as the cherry on top, through the unmistakable voice of Paulo de Carvalho, brings to mind a familiar question: and after the farewell?

A new year is already on the horizon, and with it come wishes cast to the four winds for another cycle. At Casa da Música, each of these ritual transitions also marks the start of a new concert season, filled with original offerings linked by a thread that will guide us through the next orbit around the Sun.

In the year now coming to an end, Portugal has inspired the programming at Casa, which has been deeply influenced by major works by national composers, alongside performances by Portuguese soloists and conductors. The year 2025 is shaping up around the theme Caminhos Cruzados (Crossed Paths), highlighting unexpected encounters between styles and geographies, illustrating how classical and popular music influence each other. The Composers in Residence embody this concept. Liza Lim (1966), an Australian of Chinese descent, blends Aboriginal sounds, Chinese traditions, and Western canons, while João Carlos Pinto (1998), a composer and multimedia performer, represents the new generation of multidisciplinary artists with a strong connection to tradition.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of April 25th, the date on which Portugal freed itself from Salazarism. One of the symbols of that “initial whole and clean day” was the song “E depois do adeus” (And After the Farewell), made famous by Paulo de Carvalho, a composer and performer who is celebrating 60 years of career – ten more than the Carnation Revolution – and, as he himself pointed out in one of his many classics for Portuguese music, “ten years is a long time”.

It is these references that connect us to the meaning of freedom, its cost, and those who risked their lives for it. Names such as Paulo de Carvalho, José Afonso, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Ary dos Santos, Fausto, Carlos Mendes, Fernando Tordo, anchored the ideal of freedom to values such as the common good, courage, or solidarity. And it is for this reason, in addition to the music, that the concert with which Paulo de Carvalho celebrates his 60th career anniversary – titled “E depois do adeus???” – acquires the dual meaning of recalling the beginning of national liberation and questioning what lies ahead when the artistic references of the struggle disappear. It should be seen as a symbolically special moment.