The Porto Pianofest international music festival returns from August 1 to 11, with José Ramon Mendez, Lisa Yui and Evan Shinners already confirmed, it was announced today.
In a statement, the organizers of the festival, which will take place in venues in Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia and Vila Nova de Famalicão, explain that the program for the 9th series of Pianofest starts this month with the presentation concerts, this time with European stages in Paris and Madrid, before the usual galas in New York and Washington.
Porto Pianofest, directed by Portuguese pianist Nuno Marques, “wants to bring classical music closer to new audiences” and the program includes concerts, masterclasses, artist residencies and sessions for families.
“The objectives for this year are to raise the bar in terms of quality and to continue promoting classical music for everyone, distributing concerts to the most beautiful venues in the city of Porto and dialoguing with the city in an open and inclusive way,” says Nuno Marques in the text.
The organization highlights the concert on August 2 by Nuno Marques, who will be joined by Lara Martins, a musical theater singer who has been starring in “The Phantom of the Opera” in London for more than 10 years, to give life to the “Mensagem” project, an unprecedented presentation inspired by Portuguese literature, with the 500th anniversary of the birth of Luís Vaz de Camões as its motto.
Before the shows in Portugal, the event will have presentation galas in the United States, Spain and France, with the first concert taking place on April 23 in Madrid, at the Teatro Real, followed on April 23 by another show starring Nuno Marques and deputy director Mariel Mayz, both pianists based in New York, with the special participation of Luis Fernando Pérez.
The festival will then perform in Paris on April 26 at the Portuguese Embassy in France, as part of the April 25 celebrations. The pianists will be accompanied by singer Lara Martins in a performance inspired by the songs of April, adapted to the piano.
The festival then heads to the United States, where it performs in New York on May 16 and on May 17 in Washington, with a concert at the Residence of the Portuguese Ambassador to the USA, with Nuno Marques, Mariel Mayz and Lara Martins in charge of both shows.
The first concert in Portugal will be on July 30, in Porto, Mercado do Bolhão, with the usual Piano Marathon of eight consecutive hours of piano performances.
