Alcobaça Music Festival opened to a full house and continues with more unmissable events

Upcoming performances celebrate Ravel and bring major orchestras to the iconic Cerca do Mosteiro space in Alcobaça

It was a spectacular start with a full house: the inaugural concert of the 33rd edition of the Alcobaça Music Festival brought Giacomo Puccini's luminous Messa di Gloria to the monumental Central Nave of the Alcobaça Monastery, performed by the Ricercare Choir, soloists João Rodrigues and Armando Possante, and the Lisbon Sinfonietta Orchestra, conducted by Vasco Pearce de Azevedo. J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, one of the most important works ever written for the keyboard, was also performed to a sold-out audience and sublimely played by pianist Pedro Burmester in the D. Dinis Cloister of the Alcobaça Monastery.

But there is more, much more, to hear in the coming days: starting with Cistercian music, with the programme Divinum Misterium by Ars Choralis Coeln. The Cologne-based group returns to the Festival with a programme dedicated to the music and world of the Cistercian nuns.

This will be followed by the inauguration of the large stage at Cerca do Mosteiro, with a performance by the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra, a renowned youth orchestra from the United States, whose international tour The Places You'll Go will stop in Alcobaça in partnership with Lisbon Music Fest. Under the baton of conductor Christopher Cicconi, this concert offers an eclectic programme: from excerpts from the operatic repertoire — with Carmen by Georges Bizet and Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Bacchanale (from the opera Samson and Delilah) — to John Williams' Star Wars film music, as well as Liszt's universe. The orchestra also presents some contemporary works, notably the world premiere of a work by James Lee III.

In the same venue, the Algarve Orchestra, conducted by Pablo Urbina, travels around the emblematic Suite Ma Mère l'Oye. The work reveals Ravel's fascination and inspiration by oriental exoticism, 17th-century French tales and archaic court dances, in a modern evocation of the past. The programme also features other composers who shaped French musical expression, notably Erik Satie's Gymnopédies, orchestrated by Claude Debussy.

This will be the first concert in the Ravel Essencial programme, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel (1875–1937), a key figure in European musical modernity. Until the end of the Festival, we will hear some of his most emblematic works in various formations and interpretative approaches, from chamber music to orchestral music, including dance. It is precisely in dance that the Paulo Ribeiro Company will pay tribute to Ravel — in dialogue with the work of Luís de Freitas Branco — through the ballet Maurice Accompagné, at the Cine-Teatro de Alcobaça - João d'Oliva Monteiro (CTA).

From the county seat to the parishes, the Mosteiro de Cós welcomes the Ensemble São Bernardo, which will perform Gioachino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, a masterpiece of sacred music composed in 1863 that blends the solemnity of the mass with the composer's characteristic lightness and elegance. Then, the Parish Church of Benedita opens its doors to the ZêzereArts Vocal Ensemble with a programme dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the death of Orlando Gibbons, conducted by Brian MacKay. Comprising sacred works by W. Byrd, O. Gibbons, C. Gibbons and H. Purcell, it traces a continuous line from teacher to student, presenting a golden age of English choral music. Both concerts are free of charge upon reservation.

The Bosque space — which every Saturday in July explores other sounds in an intimate and relaxed setting — kicks off with jazz from Estardalhaço da Geringonça, a group founded in 1997 that is now coming together for a special concert to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of Old Tradition New Ignition, their first and only album. Also worth noting is the Junior and Families programme, which includes the Final Concert of the Orchestra Internships, at the CTA, with free admission.

The full programme is available at www.cistermusica.com and tickets are on sale at the Blueticket box office, as well as at the Alcobaça Music Academy.

Organised by ABA – Banda de Alcobaça Associação de Artes, the festival is supported by the La Caixa Foundation, in collaboration with BPI, and the Portuguese Republic – Culture / Directorate-General for the Arts. It is held in partnership with the Municipality of Alcobaça and Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, EPE /Mosteiro de Alcobaça, with Volkswagen as the official sponsor.