The Verão Clássico Festival, which brings together “great masters” and young musicians from conservatories around the world, starts next Tuesday in Lisbon, the organization announced.
This ninth edition will feature 200 students from around 30 countries and more than 500 open classes on musical technique and interpretation, led by 15 musicians and teachers, including Swedish cellist Frans Helmerson, Paris Orchestra soloist clarinetist Pascal Moraguès, Latvian double bassist Gunars Upatnieks of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Italian flutist Silvia Careddu, soloist with the Orchestre National de France.
The artistic director of the Festival, the pianist Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, highlighted the presence in the Classical Summer of “world reference musicians”, such as the Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey, who has performed in Portugal several times, namely in the former Music Festival of the Belém Cultural Center, but who debuts in this festival, and the violinists Viviane Hagner, from Germany, and Andrej Bielow, from Ukraine.
The Royal Riding Arena of the Museu Nacional dos Coches will be the setting for ten concerts, including the opening one – on July 18, at 21:00 -, with works by Sergei Rachmaninov, Benjamin Britten, Robert Schumann and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, performed by soprano Anna Samuil, soloist of the Berlin State Opera, German violinist Stephan Picard and Norwegian viola player Lars Anders Tomter, among others.
Pinto-Ribeiro stressed to Lusa “the unique format of Verão Clássico, which brings together for two weeks, in Lisbon, renowned musicians with Portuguese students and [others] from all over the world”, also counting on “the unique acoustics” of the Picadeiro Real, where the Festival’s concerts are held and where there are also coaches and harnesses.
The Austrian composers Franz Schubert (1833-1897) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) will be featured in the concerts on July 22 and 26, respectively, both at 21:00.
The Festival ends on July 29 with a concert at the Picadeiro, consisting of pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven, Max Bruch, Dmitri Schostakovich, Francis Poulenc and Antonín Dvořák, performed by the musiciansPascal Moraguès (clarinet), Miguel da Silva (viola d’arco), Milana Chernyavska (piano), Silvia Careddu (flute), Mihaela Martin and Andrej Bielow (violins), Frans Helmerson (cello) and the pianist Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro.
The Verão Clássico Festival is organized by DSCH-Associação Musical and, since 2021, takes place at the Museu Nacional dos Coches and at the provisional facilities of the National Conservatory, at the Marquês de Pombal Secondary School. The first six editions of the festival, between 2015 and 2020, were held in co-production with the Centro Cultural de Belém.
Last year, the Summer Classic had 3,000 spectators, according to an official source.
The program is available at www.veraoclassico.com.