CYCLES AND CELEBRATIONS

World Music Day

Every year, on what is par excellence the day to celebrate music, the Educational Service makes a point of marking the date with proposals that are always different, demonstrating the uniqueness of the creative and renewing impetus that characterises its work. This year’s project is an absolute premiere and the return of the celebrations to the streets; Con Brio will bring contemporary music and circus to different venues in the city. An invitation to everyone to take an active part in the experience of music.

Con Brio

29 October

Radar 360º co-production

António Franco de Oliveira artistic direction and staging

Marco Freire musical direction

Julieta Rodrigues art direction and costumes

An open-air performance, Con Brio involves the audience in an odyssey of musical creation that takes the surrounding soundscape as its raw material. Contemporary circus artists join in the process and enhance the party, which also includes visual and graphic elements that stimulate the senses and imagination of those present.

29.10 Tuesday

11:00 a.m. and 02:30 p.m. various locations in the city

schools and the general public

free entry

CORO INFANTIL CASA DA MÚSICA

Formed in 2017, the Children’s Choir is Casa da Música’s most recent resident group and today has around 50 voices, aged between 8 and 17. Under the direction of Portuguese conductor Raquel Couto, this artistic and educational project has grown steadily and has already become an indispensable element of the Casa, much cherished by the public. The enthusiasm of the children and their recognition of the training and ongoing work carried out here is evident in the performances that this choir gives in its own name or alongside the other resident groups at the Casa.

CHRISTMAS STARS

Raquel Couto musical direction
Coro Infantil Casa da Música performance
Dalila Teixeira piano

If all Christmases call for the twinkling of stars, the Coro Infantil Casa da Música has some of the most sparkling ones. It is with a repertoire alluding to the season that the Casa’s newest group will perform in this concert, an excellent way to internalise and share the spirit of the season.

SING TO ME

Coro Infantil Casa da Música and Moira Smiley performance
Moira Smiley and Raquel Couto musical direction
Dalila Teixeira piano

A piece with a very special meaning in the life of the Children’s Choir, Sing to Me was prepared as the basis for an emotional video produced in the middle of lockdown. It’s also an invitation from our group of little singers to the American Moira Smiley, whose voice – and music – joins this concert.

Within Everyone’s Reach

Shows and workshops embody a moment for artists to excel, for audiences to come together, for art to be recognised as a powerful tool for inclusion, but Ao Alcance de Todos is more than that, more than a festival – it’s a showcase of the ongoing work that the Educational Service does in artistic projects of an inclusive nature. We’re talking about a full moment, which over the course of a week brings to the stage different people, with their own specificities, from many places, to involve them in the construction of an artistic event.

SING FOR YOUR HEALTH

Pedro Alvadia musical direction and performance
Alex Bastos, Joaquim Pereira and Paulo Adrade performance
Anabela, Filipa Cardoso, Ricardo Ribeiro and Toy guest artists

A tribute to traditional singing, “Cante pela sua Saúde” is an ode to Portuguese culture. But it’s more than that. It’s the result of a project that has helped promote the health and well-being of hundreds of socially vulnerable senior citizens. Based on scientific evidence that proves the benefits of singing for mental health and cognitive functions, singer Anabela is the mentor of “Cante pela sua Saúde”. For six months, five senior groups learnt breathing and singing techniques. The result is now on stage, with science giving reason to the popular wisdom: “Quem canta seus males espanta” (“Those who sing put their sorrow away”).

(RE)LIVING

Ana Isabel Oliveira and Ivo Brandão artistic conception
(Re)Viver performance

It all started with the Holograma project in 2021: the group formed and put on its first show. The energy and enthusiasm continued and today (Re)Viver is a collective that creates and sings every week. For the first time, it is performing at Casa da Música with its own creation that, above all, exudes the essential: the enormous will to live.

CROSSWORD PUZZLES

Paul Griffiths and Pete Letanka artistic conception
19.º Curso de Formação de Animadores Musicais (19^th Training Course for Musical Entertainers) and others performance

In twenty years, many words have crossed paths at Casa da Música. Spoken by musicians, communities and people who have shared their stage experience over time. From all this wealth of experience and art comes the motto for a show that, co-created by its many participants, aims to mark the celebrations of the Casa’s 20^th anniversary.

Children’s Choir Schools

The existence of a Children’s Choir at Casa da Música, as a resident ensemble, is due to this project, which began in the 2016/2017 school year and was developed with three schools in the Porto Metropolitan Area – Lomba (Porto), Quatro Caminhos (Matosinhos) and Quinta das Chãs (V. N. Gaia). It’s a pedagogical and artistic partnership geared towards working with voices. Every year, more than 300 students have weekly sessions with trainers from the Educational Service, where they not only stimulate creativity and a taste for music, but also rehearse repertoire, contextualised both in school life and in the Casa da Música programme.

SINGING SCHOOL 2025

António Miguel Teixeira, Dalila Teixeira, Duarte Cardoso, Ivo Brandão, Joana Castro and Raquel Couto musical direction and instrumental arrangements
António Miguel Teixeira, Joana Castro and Raquel Couto choral direction
Dalila Teixeira, Duarte Cardoso and Ivo Brandão instrumental accompaniment
Choirs from EB1 da Lomba, Quatro Caminhos and Quinta das Chãs performance

This meeting of the three school choir projects that we started in October 2016 is an emblematic moment in our programme. Over the years, thousands of children have had progressive contact with vocal practice. In May 2025, we will once again welcome around 350 children who will present the work they’ve done during the school year to the whole community and, at the same time, have an artistic experience in the Suggia Room, Casa da Música’s main auditorium.

Tribute to Madam Helena

Every year, on a weekend full of piano music, Casa da Música pays tribute to the pianist, concert pianist and teacher from Porto, Helena Sá e Costa (1913-2006), who, as well as teaching at a national level, enchanted audiences on stages all over the world. Her legacy lives on among several generations of pianists.

KEYBOARD MARATHON 2025

Spread throughout the different areas of the building, hundreds of young keyboard players from vocational music schools show their talent to the public, helping to create an atmosphere full of enthusiasm. It’s a festive artistic event that attracts more participants every year.

SUGGIA

The legacy of Porto cellist Guilhermina Suggia has been the inspiration for a special cycle that publicises the music of her instrument. Held every two years, the Suggia Prize is an opportunity to attend a series of high-level recitals and orchestral concerts by young talent arriving in Porto from various European artistic schools. Growing from year to year, the Maratona de Violoncelistas is a particularly intense and appreciated moment for the House to open up to schools and musicians with their eyes on the future.

CELLIST MARATHON 2025

Guilhermina Suggia’s legacy is celebrated with vocational students in the various spaces of the Casa da Música. Over the years we’ve had a great deal of participation from cellists: solo, in small groups or in large ensembles with dozens of players.

SONÓPOLIS 2025

Joana Araújo and Jorge Queijo artistic conception
19.º Curso de Formação de Animadores Musicais, others performance

The Curso de Formação de Animadores Musicais culminates with the show Sonópolis. It’s a meeting between diverse communities, and over time it has become an international benchmark in participatory art that seamlessly integrates professional and non-professional artists. Every year the festival is different, as are the musicians, who come from different parts of the country, the trainees and, of course, the music. Mirroring the work of the Educational Service, Sonópolis brings together around two hundred people on the Suggia room stage. It’s a show that for several years now has established itself on the national scene as the great celebration of music made with communities.