Resonances: Villa-Lobos

A featured composer throughout the season, Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) is a reference point in 20th-century music, with roots in tradition and ecological awareness. He was the great synthesiser of Brazilian popular traditions and European classical language, creating music with a national identity and universal reach. His exuberant and unique work unites Bach with the Amazon rainforest, folklore with modernity. Throughout this cycle, Casa da Música presents a rare complete performance of the Bachianas Brasileiras, interpreted at different times by the Symphony Orchestra, the Remix Ensemble and a cello ensemble. In addition to this important series of nine pieces for different formations, where we find a mixture of folk material with forms associated with Bach’s music, several other creations by Villa-Lobos appear in the programmes of the Casa da Música Choir, the Educational Service and various concerts. Also noteworthy is the performance of the Concerto for Guitar by Alice Brandão and the Symphony Orchestra, and the monumental Floresta do Amazonas (Amazon Forest), with scenography by visual artist Bianca Dacosta, whose images reflect the vital and symbolic issues that Amazonian spaces face in today’s reality.