Pianist Martha Argerich, considered one of the world’s great interpreters, will perform at the Póvoa de Varzim International Music Festival on July 20, the festival’s organizers announced today.
Martha Argerich, of whom the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Music Department highlights “her high level of interpretation”, will perform at the Garrett Theatre in Póvoa de Varzim, with trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov, in the interpretation of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1 for trumpet, piano and orchestra, accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Pedro Carneiro.
Martha Argerich’s name was added today to the line-up for the 46th edition of the Póvoa de Varzim International Music Festival (FIMPV), in the district of Porto, announced in May.
Martha Argerich was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, began her piano studies as a child with Vincenzo Scaramuzza and worked with pianists such as Friedrich Gulda, Nikita Magaloff, Madeleine Lipatti and Stefan Askenase. Winner of the Geneva and Ferrucio Busoni competitions and the Warsaw Chopin Competition, since the 1960s she has established herself as “one of the most prominent pianists in the world”, with a particular emphasis on her “high level of interpretation of the virtuosic repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries”, as the Gulbenkian Music Service’s biography puts it.
His discography has won major international awards, from the Grammy to the Gramophone prizes, not to mention the Choc Musique – Le Monde de la Musique, BBC Music, Diapason d’Or and the German critics’ awards (Deutscher Schallplatten Kritik).
In the 2021-2022 season, Martha Argerich and Maria João Pires came together to perform Mozart’s Concerto for two pianos KV365 with the Orchestre Suisse Romande, conducted by Daniel Harding, in what was defined as one of the events of the year in the field of classical music of the European tradition.
The Póvoa de Varzim International Music Festival kicks off on the 11th, with the usual lecture by musicologist Rui Vieira Nery, and this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of Póvoa de Varzim’s elevation to the status of a city.
The first concert will take place the day after, in the Mother Church, by Concerto Copenhagen, under the musical direction of Lars Ulrik Mortensen, in what will be the national premiere of “one of the great baroque orchestras” of our time, as the artistic director of the FIMPV, Raúl da Costa, described it when the program was presented in May.
The program includes international figures such as the Swiss Protean Quartet, which is also making its debut in Portugal, at the Church of São Pedro de Rates, the French-American harpsichordist Justin Taylor, the lute trio Joubran, by the Palestinian brothers Samir, Wissam, and Adnan, and the Hungarian orchestra Anima Musicae, with Barbanás Kelemen on violin and Katalin Kokas on viola d’arco, also making its debut in Portugal.
The festival will close on July 27 in Parque da Cidade with a joint performance by António Saiote with António Victorino d’Almeida and, hours later, with the Portuguese Symphonic Band, with Raúl da Costa himself on the piano and fado singer Katia Guerreiro on vocals.
The pianist and artistic director of the festival said that the two concerts in Parque da Cidade, with free admission, are dedicated to the elevation of the municipality to city status.
The festival’s program includes the 17th edition of the Póvoa de Varzim International Composition Competition, with António Pinho Vargas as guest, who will present the premiere of a work commissioned by the festival, with the Contemporary Ensemble under the direction of Nuno Coelho, with João Barradas on accordion.
On July 17, the Orquestra XXI takes to the stage of the Cine-Teatro Garrett, under the direction of Dinis Sousa, with violinist Alena Baeva, followed on the 18th by the resident Verazin Quartet with soprano Sara Braga Simões and pianist João Araújo.
On the 19th, Júlio Resende’s quartet is scheduled to perform “Sons of the Revolution”.
