Ruy de Carvalho, Tony Carreira and a tribute show to Natália Correia are some of the highlights of the Coliseu Micaelense’s cultural agenda for 2024, a project that brings together national artists and cultural production from the Azores.
The president of the board of directors of the Ponta Delgada concert hall, Cila Simas, told Lusa that, since she took up the post at the beginning of 2023, she intends to “promote synergies between two worlds [Azores and mainland] that are separated by sea, but that speak the same language and feel the same Portuguese soul”.
“There’s nothing better than bringing together artists from the continent and abroad with Azorean musicians on stage,” she says.
As part of the 2024 line-up, Ruy de Carvalho will take to the stage of the Coliseu Micaelense on Saturday with his “História devida”, the result of an 80-year career and 96 years of age.
Next on the agenda are the Coliseu’s traditional carnival balls, which mobilize thousands of people, and the month of February closes with Catarina and António Raminhos, as part of the project “Não prometemos para ninguém mais”, where a couple “will talk on stage about the arguments, fears and secrets of their 16-year marriage”.
Cila Simas also points out that the El Açor Festival is on the agenda, as well as the presence of Rui Massena, with the compilation of his four albums, an initiative that will involve eight students from the Ponta Delgada Regional Conservatory.
The Banda Harmonia Mosteirense will perform with José Cid, while the Tremor Festival will pass through the Coliseu Micaelense with the Ponta Delgada Regional Conservatory Wind Orchestra, under the direction of guest conductor Paulo Martins.
The Coliseum stage will also host the band Os Quatro e Meia on two nights, while the Ponta Delgada Regional Conservatory joins the 25 de Abril Civic Association to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the “Carnation Revolution”.
In the meantime, around 200 choir students will accompany an instrumental ensemble made up of students and teachers, who will present a repertoire entirely dedicated to Portuguese songs from the 1970s, with soloists André Jorge and Anita Medeiros, along with Romeu Bairros.
The arrangements are by Ana Paula Andrade, Marco Torres and Rafael Fraga.
Katia Guerreiro will also be on stage at the Coliseu Micaelense, and Tony Carreira will be at the Festa do Emigrante, which takes place as part of the Santo Cristo dos Milagres festivities.
“Natália é quando uma mulher quiser” (Natália is when a woman wants), a show part of the celebrations for International Women’s Day and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Natália Correia (1923-1993), will be on stage at the Coliseu Micaelense, with 12 female voices: Ana Bacalhau, Amélia Muge, Áurea, Elisa Rodrigues, Katia Guerreiro, Mafalda Veiga, Patrícia Antunes, Patrícia Silveira, Maria João, Rita Redshoes, Sofia Escobar and Viviane.
The band Nossa Senhora das Neves will take to the stage in the company of Black Mamba, and the Brazilian foundation band will perform “Os Miseráveis”.
Other events are planned to be announced at a later date.
The Coliseu Micaelense, the largest concert hall in the Azores, was inaugurated on May 10, 1917, in Ponta Delgada, on the initiative of a group of Micaelenses chaired by José Maria Raposo do Amaral.
