Santiago do Cacém hosts on Saturday, 9 May, “the most original, but also the riskiest program of Terras sem Sombra in 2015, incorporating eight works from the XNUMXst century into its repertoire”, assures Juan Ángel Vela del Campo, artistic director of the Festival.
In a unique experience in the approach to religious music, the Festival Terras sem Sombra promotes a dialogue between guitars, celebrating half a century of the career of this great performer from Alentejo.
The concert counts with the presence of one of the geniuses of the guitar of our days, the German Jürgen Ruck, and with a diversified program, which includes two world premieres.
On 9th May, at 21 pm, Santiago do Cacém brings, for the first time, António Chainho to its remarkable Igreja Matriz.
Entitled Time and Mode: Guitar Conversations, this concert, marked by the fact that the popular and the erudite live side by side, is part of the program of the 11th edition of the Festival, an initiative of the Department of Historical and Artistic Heritage of the Diocese of Beja, in this case in partnership with the Municipality of Santiago of Cacém.
On Sunday, as usual, an action in favor of biodiversity will highlight human occupation and the consequent evolution of the Santo André lagoon ecosystem.
All concerts and activities at Terras sem Sombra – which will run until July 4th – are free of charge, offering unique opportunities to discover a different South.
With the world premiere of “If it stills, let's go”, by a Portuguese composer of the new generation that triumphs in Germany, Rita Torres, this night will be marked with the “strength of new creations and the eternity of the usual ones”, highlights the artistic director of the festival.
Rita Torres is finishing a PhD in Science and Technology of the Arts at the Catholic University of Portugal, having already graduated in Chemical Engineering, Guitar, Musicology/Musical Informatics and Composition.
Choosing the Caprice that lives up to its name, against the backdrop of the fusion of the divine and the human that springs from Goya's compositions, this piece “will interpret the black silhouette as the symbol of the Devil about to arrive”.
But there will be yet another premiere, “This is what you are reading", by the Uruguayan Eduardo Fernández, another reference figure in international music.
“It is in this way, bringing unprecedented experiences to the Alentejo, in a way unrepeatable, that Terras sem Sombra”, stresses its general director José António Falcão, “puts the great pages of the past and contemporary creation into dialogue; we invoke for this a visionary tradition of artistic patronage of the Church, as a promoter of the arts”.
António Chainho, 76 years old from Alentejo, “will evoke in this concert, in the seat of the county where he was born, the interior feeling of a country and its inhabitants: fado, melancholy, emotions at the surface”, explains Vela del Campo .
With a 50-year long career, starting at the famous Severa, in Lisbon, he is a deep connoisseur of the potential of the Portuguese guitar. He is also a creator, who helped to disseminate the potential of this instrument on a global level, bringing it to the forefront on major stages around the world and promoting the interest of young composers and performers in it.
José António Falcão goes even further: “Mestre António Chainho tried and managed to free the Portuguese Guitar from the shackles of Fado”. “It gave it a new dimension, marrying her with other instruments, other voices, other cultures and ways of living music, as the success of his discography attests very well”, he adds.
Alongside Chainho, the evening will be accompanied by the classical guitar of Jürgen Ruck, the most notable German guitarist today, who, on the occasion of a concert at the Staatsgalerie, in Stuttgard, challenged several composers: write short pieces, but incisive, where the starting point was one of whims, by Francisco de Goya.
“The authors of Goyesque whims they are some of the most outstanding representatives of New Music”, emphasizes Jürgen Ruck, “and their musical pieces are very unique works of art, which follow certain intramusical rules, and it is fascinating to observe how each of the guests reacted to «their» whim”, confesses the artist.
The repertoire to be performed in Santiago do Cacém stands out for its daring international scope, with different compositions from Portugal, Spain, Uruguay, Australia, Italy and Germany.
Juan Ángel Vela del Campo also highlights, in this studied program, the “Species breviary”, by Sevillian composer Elena Mendoza, currently Professor of Composition at the Universität der Künste, Berlin. “Mendoza, who will attend the concert, caused a deep commotion in the opera-theatrical sector with his latest opera, «Fog», based on a text by Unamuno, of strong spiritual resonance”, says Vela del Campo.
Also part of this program are works by the Spaniard José María Sánchez Verdú, the Australian Cathy Milliken, the Italians Bruno Dozza and Maurizio Pisati and the German Bernd Franke. “The XNUMXst century demands its prominence”, adds Juan Ángel Vela del Campo, “and it does so with the novelty of new creations and with the eternity of the usual ones”. The experience promises to be exciting.
Highlight the human footprint in the lagoon ecosystem of Santo André
Early in the morning of Sunday, May 10, a new action will take place aimed at safeguarding biodiversity, under the motto “Wetlands: Biodiverse and Fragile Systems”.
The initiative has the support of the Natural Reserve of Lagoas de Santo André and Sancha, the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests, and will bring several specialists to Santiago do Cacém.
According to Pedro Rocha, Regional Director of Conservation and Nature and Forests in Alentejo, “wetlands are extremely rich systems, but at the same time, very vulnerable”.
And it underlines: “they provide numerous and valuable ecosystem services, including flood control, aquifer recharge and climate change mitigation”.
José António Falcão, general director of Terras sem Sombra, corroborates this idea: “this is a key sector of the Alentejo coast, very sensitive to the pressure of human activity, and that requires, for this very reason, extra attention on the part of of civil society”.
This action invites, to join it as volunteers, artists, public and members of local communities, without forgetting the political leaders, with the firm intention of walking together along the coast of Lagoa de Santo André and adjacent spaces.
There, the various natural elements that characterize a landscape of marked Atlantic nature and their relationships with human presence will be observed, sensitizing the participants (and, through them, the "global village") to the need to reconcile the anthropic uses of natural resources existing species – in this humid maternity area of countless species, a privileged shelter for many of them.
Along a pedestrian path, burning themes such as pollution, silting, intensive fishing and tourist pressure will be highlighted, with space to highlight the faunal richness of this Nature Reserve, with the observation of water birds.
Comments