On Saturday, March 24, the Sines parish church was the stage for the kick-off of the 8th edition of the Festival Terras Sem Sombra, in a memorable concert in all titles that brought together some of the most beautiful voices in the international opera scene, the soloists María Bayo, María José Montiel, Alexandre Guerrero and Damián del Castillo, interpreted petite mess Solennelle, by Rossini.
The audience, which exceeded four hundred people, stood up and applauded the quartet's performance, accompanied by the São Carlos National Choir, pianists Marta Zabaleta and Miguel Borges Coelho, and even Kodo Yamagishi on harmonium.
It was up to conductor Giovanni Andreoli to hold the baton that kicked off the 8th Festival Terras Sem Sombra, the largest of its kind in Portugal and one of the festivals that mark the European script for sacred music.
O Shadowless Lands came to breathe new life into the religious monuments of the city of Sines in a weekend full of activities dedicated to music, heritage and biodiversity.
In the words of José António Falcão, director of the Heritage Department of the Diocese of Beja and responsible for organizing the Festival, this is, moreover, “a land with scrolls in terms of musical life, where the love of music has remained”, as demonstrated by Fully crowded main church, where young and old – including many national and foreign tourists – attended the “supreme manifestation of the genius of Rossini”.
The Festival Terras Sem Sombra continued on Sunday, in the middle of Praia da Oliveirinha, with a walking tour of observation of the intertidal zone of the rocky marine coast.
The action had the support of the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Biodiversity, the Laboratory of Marine Sciences at the University of Évora and the Municipality of Sines, and aimed to alert participants to the need to safeguard the coast.
Musicians, spectators and members of the local community accepted the challenge, which also included the presence of Professor Mário Ruivo, a pioneering figure in oceanographic studies in Portugal and awarded the “International Prize Terras Sem Sombra 2011”. The curious eyes of the participants focused on the behavior, predation and life cycles of native species on the Alentejo coast.
Comments