The Remix Ensemble made its debut on stage years before the inauguration of the Casa da Música, on October 20, 2000, at the auditorium of the University of Aveiro. The event was marked by the phrase, as recalled to Lusa by the former artistic director of the Casa and creator of the ensemble, António Jorge Pacheco: “The concert we are about to witness corresponds, without exaggeration or rhetoric of circumstance, to a historic moment for music in Portugal.”
Twenty-five years later, “the Remix is still here, it still exists and continues to fulfill its mission and the artistic profile originally designed,” stated António Jorge Pacheco, who stepped down from his role as artistic director of the Casa da Música earlier this year.
In agreement, composer António Pinho Vargas, involved in the creation of the ensemble as part of the Advisory Board of Porto 2001 and a long-time collaborator with the Remix, emphasized in a text shared with Lusa that the history of the Remix “over these 25 years has fully met its purpose.”
“For its undeniable quality, we celebrate its 25 years, we celebrate the creations that are part of its history, and we underline the importance of its future continuation on the same terms that until 2025 have favored its decisive establishment for Portuguese and European music, but also for its listeners who do not find elsewhere the specific repertoire at this level of excellence,” wrote the composer of “Six Portraits of Pain.”
António Jorge Pacheco recalled the hundreds of concerts by the ensemble, conducted by German Peter Rundel since 2005, across Portuguese territory and beyond, providing national audiences with the opportunity to “confront repertoire they were entirely unfamiliar with.”
Apart from its role as a promoter of contemporary music, in many concerts premiering national works or even composers, the Remix Ensemble has also functioned as a promoter of Portuguese music at the European level.
Questioned on whether he sees the ensemble’s future as enduring, António Jorge Pacheco responded that it depends on the definition of the word: “I believe that more than ever, the existence of this ensemble is justified. In a foreseeable future, the Remix Ensemble is neither dispensable nor disposable.”
“The set of European composers frequently present or associated with projects presented at the Casa da Música and the commissions, sometimes in coproduction mode, demonstrated the Remix’s entry into specific contemporary music circuits in Europe, where its prestige has allowed it to attain a difficult-to-reach status. There is no equivalent to it in Portugal, even after all these years,” wrote Pinho Vargas.
The concert on Tuesday at 9:00 PM, in the Sala Suggia, will feature German tenor Christoph Prégardien, with a program, in national premiere, presenting a new version of Schubert’s song cycle ‘Die schöne Müllerin,’ with Johannes Maria Staud responsible for the score.
