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Concert - Q.Festival - Sérgio Azevedo, piano

Fado and other melancholies

No tempo de Camões - In the time of Camões
  António Carreira (1520-30? – 1587-97?) – Lyric with four glosses

Melancolias - Melancholies
  Carlos Seixas (1704-1742) – Menuet
  João Domingos Bomtempo (1775-1842) – Largo (van Sonata opus 13)
  Luiz de Freitas Branco (1890-1955) – Prelude
  António Pinho Vargas 91951) – Games

Fado’s
  João Gonçalves Simões (1895-1971) – Fado
  Ruy Coelho (1889-1986) – Fado de Lisboa
  João Maria de Abreu Mota (1914-1959) – Black Eyes (Fado)
  Sérgio Azevedo (1968) – Almost a fado… *#

Outras Melancolias - Other Melancholieën
  Sérgio Azevedo
    – Nokturny i Mazurki (selectionss)
    – Stukken voor kerkklokken
    – Album met Leoš Janáček I & II (selections) *
    – Flowing Waters – Music for Amsterdam *#

* World première
# Commissioned by Q.Art Events

This recital takes us through Portuguese keyboard music, which primarily evokes melancholy, a state of mind present not only in much of so-called classical music, but also essential to fado. This is the popular music form that best represents Portuguese culture. Starting with the Renaissance song written by António Carreira (and thus evoking the great figure of the poet Luís Vaz de Camões, whose 500th birthday was celebrated in 2024), we move through the music of Carlos Seixas, Bomtempo, and on to the present day. We hear pieces in which saudade, that typically Portuguese melancholy, the predominant feeling of fado (from "fatum" = fate), is unmistakably present. We would also like to mention the absolute premiere of two pieces by Sérgio Azevedo commissioned by Q.Art Events, one that evokes the idea of a fado (... almost a fado...), and the second that is dedicated to the city of Amsterdam (Flowing Waters – Music for Amsterdam).

Sérgio Azevedo, composer, was born in Coimbra, Portugal, in 1968. He studied with Fernando Lopes-Graça at the Academia de Amadores de Música and with Christopher Bochmann and Constança Capdeville at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (ESML), where he completed his degree in composition with the highest marks. He has won several national and international awards, including the United Nations Prize and the Prémio Autores (Portuguese organization SPA) in 2010. His works are regularly commissioned and performed by prestigious performers and orchestras, and can be heard on more than 50 CDs. He has published three books: “A Invenção dos Sons” [The Invention of Sounds], “Olga Prats – Um Piano Singular”, and “Christopher Bochmann: Sem música a vida seria um erro” [Without Music, Life Would Be a Mistake] and two more are in progress: “Guia dos Jovens para a Composição Musical” [Young People’s Guide to Musical Composition] and “A Música das Imagens” [The Music of Images], about the relationship between music and film. He also writes for “The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians” and since 1993 he has produced hundreds of programmes for the Portuguese Radio – Antena 2. Currently (2023) he is broadcasting “Ao Sabor da Corrente” [According to the Current]. Since 2021, he has been teaching two courses on classical music and film music at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Sérgio Azevedo holds a doctorate from the University of Minho and has been a lecturer in Composition and Orchestration at ESML since 1993.

More information: Azevedo

TICKETS: 9nov.stager

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14 November

Concert - Horizon Baroque