The Portuguese Manuel Cardoso was director of music at the Carmelite convent in Lisbon. He wrote three books of Masses, the last of which he dedicated to the Spanish king Philip IV. In 1631, when Portugal was governed by the Habsburg dynasty, Cardoso paid a visit to Madrid. There he met the court musicians and got in touch with Mateo Romero, the master of the royal chapel. Cardoso was generously rewarded and the king invited him to conduct the musicians of the royal chapel. La Grande Chapelle, specialized in the early Spanish repertoire, presents in this programme diverse compositions by Cardoso, among them the six-part Missa Paradisi Portas. The ensemble is a group of experienced artists from all over Europe. This particular constitution provides La Grande Chapelle with its characteristic tone colours and its rich sonorous contrasts.

Performers
Albert Recasens, artistic direction

22 August, 2011 11:00 -- AMUZ

Composer João Lourenço Rebelo enjoyed a privileged position as a childhood friend of the Portuguese king João IV. It was he who was responsible for the king’s budding passion for music, encouraging him to compose music himself as well. During his career at the court Rebelo developed a style of his own that was much more modern than mainstream music in Portugal in those days. His privileged access to the rich royal music library enabled him to discover the Venetian particularity of multiple choirs. This factor and other elements such as chromaticism Rebelo masterly arranged with a personal twist, kneading it into individualist music that was far ahead of its time. The psalm settings that Huelgas offers you have been written for singers and wind players. The eight-part lamentations are a capella and immediately betray Rebelo’s penetrating style: an exceedingly fascinating repertoire that demands the characteristic expressiveness of Paul Van Nevel and his ensemble!

At 10:15 p.m. this festival evening will continue with Café Saudade.

Uitvoerders
Paul Van Nevel, artistic direction

22 August, 2011 18:00 -- St.-Pauluskerk

“In the twenty years that I listen to fado, I have never heard one single gratuitous, not one dishonest moment. Fado singers do not act out another personality when they sing. With dignity they express the omnipresent tears of Lisbon, a solitude that they manage to alleviate somewhat with their agile sounds.” Paul Van Nevel has been enthralled by Portugal and its authentic culture for quite some time already. Together with hostess Fien Sabbe he engages in conversations with guests such as Tessa de Loo, who lost their hart to Portugal as well. Steeped in the melancholy atmosphere of the ‘saudade’ we embark on a quest for the soul of Portugal, drinking in the poetry. Fado troubadour António Rocha proves a perfect soundtrack. (Dutch Spoken)

i.c.w. Behoud de Begeerte
 

 

22 August, 2011 20:15 -- AMUZ

The Portuguese Mediae Vox Ensemble specializes in medieval music and is therefore perfectly cast as performer of the earliest repertoire of this festival programme. Unfortunately very few sources have come to us from medieval Portugal. In 1990 a remarkable discovery was made by an American historian who found in the binding of a 16th-century book a much older parchment with melodies for love poems by the Portuguese troubadour-king Dom Dinis (1261-1325). Before that find the only known source with profane Galician-Portuguese music was the Vindel parchment, discovered in 1913. It contains songs by the 13th-century ‘joglar’ Martín Codax, a minstrel who – in contrast to the troubadour – was not of noble descent. Seize this opportunity to discover this age-old, rarely performed repertoire!

Performers
Carolina Figueiredo, chant | Manon Marques, chant | Monica Santos, chant | Filipa Taipina, chant & artistic direction

23 August, 2011 11:00 -- Elzenveld

The Portuguese vocal ensemble Officium has been applying itself for a decade to the little known 16th- and 17th-century religious music of Portugal. The group enjoys back home a reputation of absolute authority for the repertoire that originated at the cathedral school of Évora, with names such as Duarte Lobo, Estêváo Lopes-Morago and Manuel Cardoso. In the framework of Laus Polyphoniae Officium will recreate a Portuguese Requiem Mass with music by those composers, a matching counterpart of the Currende concert with its Nativity Mass. Officium’s well-underpinned concert programmes and its familiarity with the vocal techniques of the renaissance have redrawn the musical map of Portugal. Therefore AMUZ is exceedingly proud to be in a positon to present this leading Portuguese ensemble to you.

At 10:15 p.m. this festival evening will continue with Café Saudade.

Performers
Pedro Teixeira, artistic direction

23 August, 2011 18:00 -- St.-Jacobskerk

“In the twenty years that I listen to fado, I have never heard one single gratuitous, not one dishonest moment. Fado singers do not act out another personality when they sing. With dignity they express the omnipresent tears of Lisbon, a solitude that they manage to alleviate somewhat with their agile sounds.” Paul Van Nevel has been enthralled by Portugal and its authentic culture for quite some time already. Together with hostess Fien Sabbe he engages in conversations with guests such as Tessa de Loo, who lost their hart to Portugal as well. Steeped in the melancholy atmosphere of the ‘saudade’ we embark on a quest for the soul of Portugal, drinking in the poetry. Fado troubadour António Rocha proves a perfect soundtrack. (Dutch spoken)

i.c.w. Behoud de Begeerte
 

23 August, 2011 20:15 -- AMUZ