This year’s tributes highlight the works of poet A. M. Pires Cabral and composer António Victorino d’Almeida through colloquiums, discussions, poetry readings, and a recital featuring sopranos Ana Maria Pinto and Marina Pacheco, accompanied on piano by Olga Amaro and Cristóvão Luís,” stated Jorge Maximino, founder and director of the Foz Côa Poetry and Music Festival.
The event is scheduled from April 30 to May 3, with programs centered at the Cultural Center of Vila Nova de Foz Côa and the local School Grouping.
Also featured are authors such as Ana Zanatti, Fernando Pinto do Amaral, and Rui Lage, actors Rui Spranger and Ana Couto, as well as musicians including composer and double bassist Alejandro Erlich-Oliva and singer-songwriter Mafalda Veiga.
This literary festival, the oldest in the country, established in 1984, “remains an open space for poetic expression and artistic creation, one of its essential premises,” indicated Jorge Maximino.
Organizers state that the Poetry Festival also aims to strengthen the educational connection by involving the local School Grouping in a pedagogical partnership during the authors’ visit.
“School sessions will involve children’s stories, singing workshops, music and theater, a training session for teachers, and discussions with authors attending the Festival,” they add.
The students will reciprocate with the community by reading poems by Luís de Camões, marking 500 years since his birth, and by displaying an exhibition titled “Friendship in Art” in the school library.
Throughout the festival, the usual Poetry Book Fair, promoted by Snob Bookstore and Publisher, will take place alongside the scheduled events.
The festival will take place in the Small and Large Auditorium of the Foz Côa Cultural Center as well as the Hall, hosting the book fair and where an installation by artists António Barros and Augusta Villalobos will be featured.
The session “Penguin Outdoors” will recreate the ‘Monday reading’ tradition from Porto’s Pinguim, which has promoted poetry to the public for over 30 years.
In terms of performance, Balleteatro students will bring poetry to the streets, including locations like the Market, Rua de S. Miguel, Praça do Tablado, and Praça do Município.
In the large auditorium of the Foz Côa Cultural Center, local students will present the poetic show “Message to Distant Friends.”
The Foz Côa Poetry and Music Festival will conclude on Saturday, May 3, with a conversation-concert by singer and composer Mafalda Veiga, following a roundtable discussion and poetry session with guest poets.
The festival opens on Wednesday, April 30, with a Literary Train departing from S. Bento Station in Porto towards Pocinho, passing through the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Douro landscape to Vila Nova de Foz Côa.
The Foz Côa Poetry and Music Festival is organized by SOMA – Association of Art and Culture in partnership with the municipality of Vila Nova de Foz Côa.
All sessions and performances are free, subject to room capacity.
