Martim Sousa Tavares, the artistic director of the Sintra Festival for the second consecutive year, emphasized on the festival’s website the continued focus on Portuguese artists. Highlights include performances by the Sintra Municipal Orchestra, the Algarve Orchestra, and a recital by Irene Lima and pianist Marta Menezes. The illustrious Maria João Pires is also set to perform.
The 80-year-old pianist will make her 14th appearance at the festival on June 15 at the Olga Cadaval Cultural Center (CCOC). Her recital will be preceded by a discussion on the same day a documentary about the festival, “the oldest of its kind in the country,” premieres, noted Sousa Tavares.
João de Santa Clara’s documentary “Festival de Sintra 1957-2025” will be one of the films shown at the festival. Another film, “Coda” (2019) by Claude Lalonde, focusing on pianist and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (1953-2023), will be screened on June 22.
Also on June 22, the ensemble from the Bang on a Can festival in the United States will perform a concert dedicated to Ryuichi Sakamoto’s legacy.
The opening concert on June 12 at the throne room of the Queluz Palace will feature pianist Christian Zacharias with the Leipzig Quartet. The program will include chamber music formats, namely the string quartet and the piano quartet, featuring Dvorák’s String Quartet in A-flat Major and Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major.
The festival will also feature its traditional walks as a tribute to nature. On June 21, at 5 a.m., a sunrise walk culminating in a concert by guitarist Bruno Pernadas at the Peninha parking lot will take place.
Later that day, at 7 p.m., a music-theater performance titled “Speak Low” paying tribute to composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950) will be staged. The production, with script and arrangements by Martim Sousa Tavares, is a co-production involving the Orquestra Sem Fronteiras, Lisbon’s S. Luiz Municipal Theater, and the Raiano Cultural Center in Idanha-a-Nova.
The performance, which combines Weill’s music with the poetry that shaped its form, aims to trace the composer’s journey from Weimar Germany to Nazi Germany and eventually to the United States, encapsulating an artistic and human journey, according to the festival website. It will feature film projection by Adriana Romero, musicians Sérgio Gladkyy (accordion) and Miguel Marôco (piano), and actress Catarina Wallenstein as narrator and singer.
A roundtable on diaspora, exile, and emigration will follow, moderated by Lís Barros, with discussions from individuals including Catarina Wallenstein, Franco-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, and Portuguese photographer Daniel Blaufuks.
Another walk is scheduled for June 14 at 11:30 a.m., from the Queen Dona Amélia courtyard to the Quinta de Mont Fleuri, with singer-songwriter Tiago Nacarato.
On June 20 at the CCOC, conductor Cesário Costa will lead the Sintra Municipal Orchestra D. Fernando II with Swedish clarinetist Martin Fröst as soloist. The program will include the opera symphony “Artemisia, Regina di Caria” by António Leal Moreira, Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major, and Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella” suite.
The “Pianist Duel,” scheduled for June 18 at the CCOC, will feature American Dan Tepfer and Portuguese Daniel Bernardes.
Irene Lima and Marta Menezes will perform on June 19 at Paço dos Ribafria, with a program consisting of Beethoven’s Cello and Piano Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Schumann’s “Fantasiestücke,” and Luís de Freitas Branco’s Cello and Piano Sonata.
The festival will also include a recital by pianist Joana Gama entitled “E as Flores,” the third part of a nature-themed trilogy, on June 14. A solo recital by Italian cellist Mario Brunello and the Portuguese debut of French mezzo-soprano Katia Ledoux will occur the same day, featuring piano accompaniment by Australian Bochlan Brow and French “chanson” from the early 20th century to the 1970s.
The closing concert on June 22, at the CCOC, will feature the Algarve Orchestra led by Spanish conductor Pablo Urbina, with Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti as the soloist. The program will include Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Symphony in E-flat Major, Mozart’s Violin Concerto in A Major “Turkish,” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.
Last year, the festival attracted 3,588 attendees, according to municipal data.
The festival’s schedule is available online at [Festival de Sintra Program](https://festivaldesintra.pt/programa.html).
