Welcome to the 1st edition of the Bragança ClassicFest International Music Festival! Bragança ClassicFest!

It is with great satisfaction and enthusiasm that we launch the Bragança ClassicFest in 2021—a year indelibly marked by tragic moments related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Amid these immense challenges, the extraordinary mobilization of numerous individuals and institutions made it possible to initiate this festival of unquestionable international excellence, allowing us to celebrate life in Bragança united by great music.

Bragança is an unmissable historical and cultural reference in our country. I recall, still in my adolescence, the impact of my debut in the city, in a piano recital at the Paulo Quintela Auditorium, performing works by Bach and Shostakovich. It was the early 1990s, and since then I have had the pleasure of performing in Bragança many times, from 2004 onwards invariably at the magnificent Teatro Municipal de Bragança, where each return is a joyful occasion, reconnecting with warm, multi-generational audiences.

The Bragança ClassicFest opens on World Music Day, October 1, launched in 1975 by the renowned violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin, then President of the International Music Council of UNESCO, to “promote the value of musical art across all sectors of society, building peace and understanding through a common language”—Music—a noble goal embraced by the Bragança ClassicFest!

Among the many highlights of the 1st Bragança ClassicFest are: the St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, one of Russia’s great cultural ambassadors, under the direction of Maestro Yuri Gilbo; concerts dedicated to the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, marking the centenary of his birth, including some of his most iconic works and a performance of his only opera, Maria de Buenos Aires. Bragança will host some of the world’s leading Piazzolla interpreters, including the renowned New York–based Argentine bandoneonist Héctor Del Curto, who performed with Piazzolla himself; the Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo, considered one of today’s most brilliant violinists, performing on her famous 1703 Stradivarius “Aurora”; and singers Ana Karina Rossi, Daniel Bonilla-Torres, and Rubén Peloni, distinguished Piazzolla interpreters. The program also features masterpieces of music history, including Vivaldi’s Four Seasons—with rising star soloist Diana Tishchenko—as well as compositions by Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, and Dvořák, performed by renowned national and international musicians. Portuguese music opens the festival with Carlos Seixas’ Symphony in B-flat Major, honoring one of the main Portuguese composers of the 18th century.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to the institutions that made this first edition of Bragança ClassicFest possible, especially the Câmara Municipal de Bragança, Teatro Municipal de Bragança, and the DSCH Musical Association, organizers of this commendable initiative, as well as to the principal patron BPI/Fundação “la Caixa”, and to the support of the Direções-Gerais das Artes and Ensino Superior, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, and the Diocese of Miranda-Bragança.

The Bragança ClassicFest International Music Festival positions itself as a cultural event of international dimension and reference for the city, region, and country, offering a harmonious intersection between Music and the Historical, Cultural, and Architectural Heritage of Bragança, preserving and cultivating its identity. Bragança ClassicFest is thus a festival celebrating Music and an open door for regular and new audiences, national and international, with the goal of dignifying, enriching, and energizing the region, contributing sustainably to prosperity and promoting access to Culture for All.

With heartfelt thanks!