30 MAY to 27 JUNE 2025
Almada, Portugal
Artistic Director: Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro

Capuchos Festival 2025
Between Worlds

Welcome to Capuchos Festival 2025!

In its fifth consecutive edition since its revival in 2021, the Festival dos Capuchos presents the theme Between Worlds, offering an artistic reflection on interculturality, diversity, fascination, and dialogue across multiple dimensions—civilizational, temporal, and spiritual—that intertwine and reveal themselves through Music, a universal language present in all societies.

Between 30 May and 27 June, Almada once again becomes the stage for this major cultural event, bringing together artists of national and international renown. Concerts will take place at the Convento dos Capuchos, the spiritual heart of the Festival, as well as in other venues across the city, such as the Teatro Municipal Joaquim Benite, the Fernando Lopes-Graça Auditorium, and, for the first time, the Parque da Paz, which will host an open-air symphonic concert.

Among the major highlights of this edition is the Portuguese debut of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra “Musica Vitae”, which will open the Festival with two concerts directed and led by the virtuoso Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid. In the opening programme, works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky build bridges between traditions and geographies. In the second concert, Schmid presents his project Jazz Violin Concertos, which explores the fusion of classical composition and jazz improvisation, in an absolute premiere on Portuguese soil.

The “between worlds” spirit continues with The Naghash Ensemble of Armenia, in a programme that blends medieval Armenian sacred music with contemporary influences, jazz, and post-minimalism. Another remarkable moment will be the concert “The History of Tango”, led by bandoneonist Marcelo Nisinman, a direct disciple of Astor Piazzolla, in a tribute to the roots and evolution of Argentine tango.

In the field of early music, the Festival presents two concerts of significant historical and poetic scope. “A Música da Lírica Camoniana”, performed by Concerto Atlântico under the direction of Pedro Caldeira Cabral, commemorates the 500th anniversary of the birth of Luís de Camões, reviving Renaissance musical practices. Meanwhile, the Ensemble Barroco Tra Noi presents “Telemann goes East”, exploring the dialogue between German Baroque and the folk traditions of Eastern Europe.

In the realm of contemporary music and musical thought, the centenary of Pierre Boulez will be commemorated with a recital by clarinetist Jérôme Comte, soloist of the Ensemble Intercontemporain of Paris, founded by Boulez himself in 1976. The program “Boulez 100” includes works by Boulez, Berio, Donatoni, Grisey, and Stravinsky, showcasing various languages of European musical modernity. Meanwhile, the concert “Noite Transfigurada” pays tribute to Daniel Barenboim, bringing together soloists from the Barenboim-Said Academy and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, performing works by Brahms and Schönberg, symbols of a transfigured and visionary Romanticism.

The national presence is strongly felt with renowned names such as: the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, conducted by Pedro Neves, performing at the Parque da Paz the celebrated “New World” Symphony by Dvořák, along with works by Rossini and Brahms; the DSCH – Schostakovich Ensemble, presenting Dvořák, Schubert, and the world premiere of a work by composer Sérgio Azevedo; the quintet 100 Caminhos, leading an original “concert-walk” through the Convento dos Capuchos. Additionally, the João Barradas Trio will perform Aperture, a contemporary jazz project with a strong compositional component.

In the field of piano, there will be two recitals: Dang Thai Son, the legendary winner of the Warsaw Chopin Competition, will perform a program focused on Chopin and Debussy; and I will pay tribute to the poetic and transcendental genius of Franz Liszt, on a journey through dream, love, and virtuosity.

The Festival dos Capuchos is also a space for reflection and sharing. The Conversas dos Capuchos, curated by Carlos Vaz Marques, precede the Festival with three sessions dedicated to the centenary of José Cardoso Pires, the centenary of the publication of The Trial by Franz Kafka, and a reflection on the Festival's very theme – Between Worlds.

Other parallel activities enrich the Festival: the Prelúdios dos Capuchos — pre-concert talks moderated by João Almeida; the Caminhada dos Capuchos in the Protected Landscape of the Fossil Cliff of Costa da Caparica; the Guided Visit to the Convento dos Capuchos; and the Masterclasses dos Capuchos, with distinguished professors from the Universities of Salzburg, Oslo, and Lucerne.

With special delight, we also present, for the first time, the initiative Ópera para Crianças, featuring performances of the opera Bastien et Bastienne by Mozart, in a production directed by António Wagner Diniz, aimed at Preschool and 1st Cycle audiences.

The realization of the Festival dos Capuchos 2025 is made possible thanks to the support, first and foremost, of the Câmara Municipal de Almada, the patron BPI/Fundação “la Caixa”, and the Direcção-Geral das Artes. Our thanks also go to the partners Companhia de Teatro de Almada, Âmbito Cultural do El Corte Inglés, and RTP Antena 2. A special word of recognition is due to His Excellency the President of the Republic for the High Patronage granted to the Festival.

We invite you to journey with us through these sonic and symbolic “worlds.” 

May Music guide us, inspire us, and bring us together – between worlds and beyond.

Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro
Capuchos Festival Artistic Director