The Around Classic – Festival de Música Clássica de Lisboa, organised by Lisboa Cultura/EGEAC and the cultural association MegaClassic, features institutional partnerships with the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos and RTP. It is led by Miguel Leal Coelho, the former operational manager of events at the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB), and programme director Paula Fonseca, also a previous CCB leader.
Spanning an entire weekend, the festival’s aim is to “challenge perceptions [of classical music] and make this world more accessible to everyone,” with a mission to “democratize” access to the art form, according to the organizers.
Enlisted for the festival are historic orchestras Os Músicos do Tejo and Ludovice Ensemble, cellists Filipe Quaresma and Pavel Gomziakov, harpsichordist Kenneth Weiss, pianists Artur Pizarro and Miguel Borges Coelho, saxophonist Ricardo Toscano, and accordionist João Barradas, among others. Their performances will revolve around Bach as the world marks 340 years since the composer’s birth.
The opening concert, scheduled for the evening of Friday, May 30, will take place in the Sala Manoel de Oliveira at Cinema S. Jorge. Pianists Artur Pizarro, Rinaldo Zhok, Vita Panomariovaite, and Ludovico Troncanetti will accompany the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa under the direction of Ligia Amadio to perform Bach’s six concertos for two, three, and four harpsichords and orchestra.
This program will be revisited the following day at the same venue, transformed by the jazz of Daniel Bernardes. Bernardes will perform at the piano with “some of the greatest names in Portuguese jazz,” as he noted: Ricardo Toscano (saxophone), João Barradas (accordion), Demian Cabaud (double bass), and Joel Silva (drums).
On Saturday, May 31, Marcos Magalhães will lead Os Músicos do Tejo in a performance at S. Jorge, drawing from one of Bach’s early sacred cantatas, “Christ lag in Todesbanden” (“Christ lies in death’s bonds”), blending with the Orchestral Suite No. 3, the aria “Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen” (“Fall asleep, you tired eyes”) from “Ich habe genug” (“I have enough”), and “Widerstehe doch der Sünde” (“Stand firm against sin”), a deeply profound yet festive piece by Bach, according to the concert notes.
This performance features soprano Johanna Falkinger, countertenor Arthur Filemon, tenor Marco Alves dos Santos, and bass Hugo Oliveira. Pedro Castro will play the oboe, Marta Araújo the harpsichord, and Marcos Magalhães both organ and direction.
Bach’s Suites for solo cello, which showcased the full maturation of the instrument, will be presented by Pavel Gomziakov and Filipe Quaresma at Teatro Variedades on Saturday, May 31, and Sunday, June 1, respectively.
Renowned harpsichordist Kenneth Weiss will perform at Teatro Variedades on Saturday with his new concert program “Bach — Quaerendo Invenietis,” demonstrating the “genius of Bach’s contrapuntal works,” which will include selections from “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” “The Musical Offering,” “Goldberg Variations,” and “The Art of Fugue,” culminating in the famous “Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue.”
Preceding this, the same stage will feature Alexander Hrustevich’s accordion transpositions of works by Bach and his contemporaries Antonio Vivaldi, Tomaso Albinoni, and Johann Pachelbel.
Flautist António Carrilho and harpsichordist José Carlos Araújo will revisit works originally written for organ, viola da gamba, or transverse flute and harpsichord, capitalizing on the ‘plasticity’ of Bach’s music. Their concert will occur at Capitólio on Saturday, followed by Sofia Diniz and Fernando Miguel Jaloto’s performance of the three Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord, showcasing the composer’s maturity.
Capitólio will close the second festival day with five Bach motets performed by Voces Caelestes and organist Sérgio Silva, under the direction of Sérgio Fontão.
The festival’s final day, Sunday, June 1, opens with the “Magnificat” performed by the Coro e Orquestra de Câmara from the Colégio Moderno Music School at Cinema S. Jorge. Later, the Ludovice Ensemble, led by Fernando Miguel Jalôto, will present “The Musical Offering,” described as “one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most important, famous, relevant, and influential works,” in the program notes.
The closing concert at S. Jorge combines works by Bach and Mozart. From Bach, the Concerto Ibérico – Baroque Orchestra, with soloists Bertrand Cuiller and João Janeiro, will perform concertos for harpsichord, “one of the most emblematic repertoires in European music history.” From Mozart, the pianists Marta Zabaleta and Miguel Borges Coelho will play the Sonata for Two Pianos K.448.
Beyond the indoor locations, Bach’s music will also be heard on the open-air stage at Parque Mayer on the festival’s last day. Performers include Violinhos, Academia de Música Santa Cecilia, students from Escola Luis António Verney, and Orquestra Geração.
On May 31 at Capitólio, commentator Luís Osório will discuss Bach in a session titled “Nome Bach: Uma Vida.”
Additionally, “Pastéis de Nata para Bach,” a play with dramaturgy by Pedro Proença and Teresa Gafeira from Companhia de Teatro de Almada, will be performed at Cinema S. Jorge on May 31 and June 1, featuring Portuguese Sign Language to engage audiences of all ages, starting from three years old, with Bach’s music.
Ticket prices, now on sale across platforms, range from 7.5 to 25 euros, with discounts available according to the number of tickets purchased (at the Variedades and S. Jorge box offices) and for individuals with specific needs and their companions.
The concentration of 15 concerts over a single weekend in municipal performance venues between Parque Mayer and the nearby Avenida da Liberdade echoes previous initiatives such as Os Dias da Música (2007-2019) and the Festa da Música (2000-2006) at CCB, which drew tens of thousands of spectators for over a hundred concerts. The inaugural edition of Festa da Música in 2000 was dedicated to Bach, marking 250 years since the Leipzig master’s death.
