Concert that took the audience to heaven opened the Algarve Organ Festival

"If heaven exists, and I believe it does, then this is heaven." It was in this way that Isilda Gomes, mayor of Portimão, reacted to the opening concert of the Algarve Organ Festival, which this year, for the first time, took place at the Igreja Matriz in the capital of Barlavento Algarvio.

The concert, which had a full house, brought together organist Nuno Alexandrino and Coral Adágio, under the direction of conductor António Alves. And what was heard was…divine.

At the opening, even before the first notes of the pipe organ dated 1886 sounded, Patrícia Neto Martins, responsible for organizing the Festival, which, this year, comes out of the churches of Faro, highlighted the need for the instrument to be restored.

«This is an organ that is not in the best conditions and urgently needs restoration, it is necessary to put it to play properly», said Patrícia Neto Martins, in front of an audience that included, in the front row, the mayor, Isilda Gomes , the councilor of Culture Ana Fazenda and also Alexandra Gonçalves, regional director of Culture of the Algarve.

Turning to the assembly that filled all the pews of the church, the person responsible for the Festival urged: "this organ is yours, it is your heritage, the parish, the municipality, the diocese." In response, at the end of the concert, Isilda Gomes made a promise to try to secure funds for the restoration in 2017, probably involving the population and the local economy.

The concert was divided into two parts, the first with seven pieces by six composers from the XNUMXth, XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries (John Travers, S. Karg-Elert, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, Louis Nicolas Clérambaut and Maurice Greene), performed only, and masterfully (despite the announced shortcomings of the pipe organ), by Nuno Alexandrino.

This was followed by the interpretation of the play «Stabat Mater», composed in the XNUMXth century by the Portuguese João Rodrigues Esteves, and presented here by the Coral Adágio and the organist Nuno Alexandrino.

Conductor António Alves, responsible for the Coral Adágio, recalled those who, like him, for many years listened to the organ of the parish church in Portimão accompanying the liturgy and underlined that this would be «the first time we will hear it in the context of a concert. and not of liturgy».

O Algarve Organ Festival he will also return to Portimão on November 11, again at the Igreja Matriz, with the organist Rafael Reis. The next concert is scheduled for the 4th of November, at the Igreja Matriz in Boliqueime, with João Paulo Janeiro,

In this ninth edition, for the first time extended from Faro for the municipalities of Portimão, Loulé and Tavira, there will be 10 concerts, spread over five churches «with pipe organs in (reasonable) conditions to be played in public». A set of concerts that the organization even considers to be “a daring”.

And why daring? Due to the «geographic dispersion, with added difficulties in the scheduling and logistics of the event». Due to the “financial dimension, with greater obstacles to overcome and a greater number of partners to (and still to) conquer”. And finally, “a boldness in attracting a new audience for an event from scratch in new places”.

At the concert in Portimão, among the audience, in addition to many Portuguese and foreigners residing in Portimão and in neighboring municipalities, other languages were also heard, namely French, from tourists who discovered the event and did not want to miss it.

Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação