May is dedicated to Helena Sá e Costa, a seminal figure in 20th-century Portuguese music, revered on international stages and pivotal in the training of many prominent Portuguese pianists,” announced Casa da Música in a press release regarding its annual program honoring the pianist.
This year’s program runs from Friday through the 28th, opening with “3 pianos for Mozart,” a concert featuring Julius Zeman, Mona Asuka, and Shun Oi, accompanied by the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música.
The renowned British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is also set to perform at Casa da Música, presenting works by Brahms, Schumann, and Mussorgsky.
The various stages of Casa da Música will host hundreds of young performers from vocational music schools in a marathon that “attracts more participants each year.”
According to the institution, this year’s “Keyboard Marathon” will see the participation of “about 775 pianists and harpsichordists of various levels,” in a “borderless celebration of the vast keyboard repertoire.”
Pianist and educator Helena Sá e Costa was born in Porto on May 26, 1913, into a family of musicians: she was the granddaughter of Bernardo Valentim Moreira de Sá, founder of the Conservatory of Music of Porto, the daughter of pianist Leonilda Moreira de Sá e Costa and pianist and composer Luiz Costa. Her sister, Madalena Moreira de Sá e Costa, is also noted as one of the country’s most renowned cellists.
The Jornal de Letras, in her obituary published following her death on January 8, 2006, stated, “The contemporary history of the piano in Portugal can be summed up in one name, Helena Sá e Costa. Her journey encompasses the stages of great world performers and the establishment of a legacy for successive generations.”
