The Terreiro do Paço, in Lisbon, is the stage tonight for the show “An Idea of the Future”, which includes ‘videomapping’ of photographs taken in April 1974 and a concert that will bring together 180 musicians on stage.
In what is one of Lisbon’s main squares and where the Captains’ Movement experienced some of its key moments, the 50th anniversary of April 25, 1974, will begin to be celebrated at 10 p.m., with the projection on the façades of the buildings of a ‘videomapping’ with photographs by Alfredo Cunha, one of the photographers who immortalized the ‘Carnation Revolution’, and music by Rodrigo Leão.
Videomapping will also be presented today in central locations in other Portuguese cities, such as Porto and Matosinhos.
In Lisbon, the ‘videomapping’ will be followed by “the songs of April”, which will bring together 180 musicians on stage.
According to the Empresa de Gestão de Equipamentos e Animação Cultural (EGEAC), “themes by José Afonso, José Mário Branco, Fausto, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Fernando Lopes-Graça and Carlos Paredes will be performed by the Orquestra Sinfonietta de Lisboa, the Santo Amaro de Oeiras Choir and the Choir of the Artistic School of the Gregorian Institute of Lisbon, joined by soloists Marina Pacheco (soprano) and Mário João Alves (tenor) and musicians Gaspar Varela (Portuguese guitar), Pedro Mourato (guitars), Francisco Santos (electric bass) and Sertório Calado (drums)”.
In addition, the unreleased song “Abril é sempre Primavera” will be presented, with lyrics by José Luís Peixoto and music by Luís Varatojo and Filipe Raposo, “featuring several well-known voices from Fado and Portuguese music”.
The show, conceived and directed by musician Luís Varatojo, will also feature storytelling by six young actors “about today’s Portugal and the path it has taken, and the projection of images that illustrate stories and songs”.
At the Terreiro do Paço festival, promoted by Lisbon City Council and produced by EGEAC, “carnations could not be missing and will be distributed in the form of pins”.
The carnations were made by inmates from the Tires Prison, “reusing materials from the Festas de Lisboa 2023 banners that have now been transformed into a symbolic object to mark the founding date of Democracy”.
According to EGEAC, around midnight there will be fireworks and a “final surprise”.
The show “An Idea of the Future” is free to attend.
