Testimonials
The Opinion of Several Personalities About Our Festival
As a regular spectator, this year has once again been extraordinary, not only because of the diversity of the programmes but, as always, because of the beautiful venues the programme-makers have chosen for each of the concerts.
Susana Santos
Communications Director at El Corte Inglés (Lisbon)
It's the 30th edition, so I must salute the persistence and resilience that this festival has had in Alcobaça. It's welcome that we're not in Lisbon and that we have international shows outside the country's capital.
Pedro Cegonho
Member of Parliament
Cistermúsica is an intangible asset because it brings the region's monuments and history to life. It's a unique music experience that attracts audiences to the Centre and West of Portugal. Here's to another 30 years of success!
Alexandre Marto Pereira
CEO United Hotels of Portugal
Congratulations! It's marvellous to have a festival with this longevity and we artists have to be grateful for finding people with the will to do this work, not once, but every year for thirty years!
Maria Jonas
Mezzo-soprano and director of Ars Choralis Coeln
Congratulations to the Cistermúsica team for having managed to survive 30 years in a cultural sector that isn't easy, but whose pleasure and rewards are enormous. I hope they continue for many years to come!
Dirk Fassbender
International Piano Week of Óbidos
Here's to another 30 years of Cistermúsica! I've been coming here for many years and I've experienced some absolutely extraordinary concerts.
João Chambers
Author/director at RDP Antena 2
Bravo to the Festival and the city! This place is marvellous, we had a very beautiful evening here.
John Hodian
Musician and musical director of The Naghash Ensemble
It was a pleasure to return, this time with the honour of reading poems at The Naghash Ensemble concert. It was a beautiful concert, with a transcendental dimension! I always applaud the Festival, it's marvellous to see art in the Western region.
Sónia Balacó
Actress and Poet
The concert we brought reminded me of how, at the time, the Monastery of Alcobaça was a kind of patron of culture, spreading polyphonic music to the monasteries that depended on it throughout the country. And it's what Cistermúsica does today too!
Tiago Mota
Alma Ensemble Musician
We thank the Cistermúsica Festival for allowing us to listen to music from other times, other places, which brings us closer to other cultural worlds.
Marta Betanzos Roig
Spanish Ambassador to Portugal
Cistermúsica is a festival that should be known by more people, with a quality that is unusual in small towns, held in a marvellous location and from which we always come away more enriched.
José Amaral Lopes
Former Secretary of State for Culture
Congratulations on a successful festival this year, in especially difficult conditions, and I hope we can see each other again in 2021!
Gustavo Sacadura Botte
Spectator
I wish you much success as it is well deserved.
Sandra Almeida
Spectator
Cistermúsica helps overcome fear. It presents the city (hungry for culture) with a programme that makes us breathe the beneficial air of music.
Fernando Ribeiro
Moonspell