Monday 21 June to Friday 9 July

This year, the City of London Festival (21 June to 9 July) is celebrating music, dance, poetry and art from the Portuguese-speaking world including Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Goa, Mozambique and Portugal itself. Supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Festival director, Ian Ritchie, says, “Each year the City of London Festival explores and develops artistic and economic connections between the City and the rest of the world via our ‘Trading Places’ theme. In 2010, our spotlight falls on Portugal – Britain’s oldest ally – and the rest of the Portuguese-speaking world. We looking forward to a wonderful three weeks celebrating the rich cultural diversity found within and between these countries and would like to thank the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for helping us to do that.”

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, UK, director, Andrew Barnett says, “One of our key aims is to help improve people’s perception of each other by providing opportunities for interaction through culture and between cultures, which, in 2010, has embraced the promotion of Lusophone art, music and literature in translation. We are particularly delighted that the City of London Festival carries forward, through an outstanding range of musical genres, our previous support for the Atlantic Waves festival of contemporary Portuguese music.”

The Festival opens on 21 June with the UK debut of the Portuguese Chamber Orchestra when Pedro Carneiro conducts the virtuoso Brazilian pianist Cristina Ortiz playing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No 2. The Festival’s major commission this year is from one of Portugal’s leading contemporary composers Miguel Azguime whose new work for the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, (ThS)inking Survival Kit, has its UK premiere as part of a programme of Portuguese works (6 July). The brilliant Portuguese pianist Artur Pizarro, former winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition, makes three Festival appearances – with the English Chamber Orchestra (24 June), as a soloist performing the great Heitor Villa-Lobos alongside Bach, Chopin and Schumann (1 July) and in an outdoor performance with the London Symphony Orchestra (9 July). Villa-Lobos – acknowledged as the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music – will be heard throughout the Festival in chamber music, songs and solo works.

Other classical highlights include Goanese soprano Patricia Rozario and Brazilian cellist António Meneses (23 June), Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Choir (30 June), A Capella Portuguesa (25 June) and Pedro Caldeira Cabral, the world’s leading authority on the Portuguese guitar (6 July). On a light-hearted note, wine expert Charles Metcalfe is joined by three of Portugal’s best young fado singers and some of the country’s finest wines for a tasting and a quiz in Vintners’ Hall (7July).

The City of London Festival is known for its wealth of free outdoor events and this year the open spaces of the Square Mile and beyond will be filled with the rhythms of music from the Portuguese-speaking world. Mozambican Deodato Siquir’s trio (25 June), the six Los Piratas from Colombia and Brazil (2 July) and Mano de Dios (9 July) will be providing Commuter Music at Liverpool Street Station from 6-6.30pm. Angolan septet Lindu Mona (28 June), Portuguese quintet Sons da Gente (28 June) and Brazilian accordion superstar Renato Borghetti (30 June) are amongst those offering Music in the Yard at Guildhall Yard at lunchtimes and at the end of a long working day. In the last in the Jazz in the Yard series, Claridade fuse some of Brazil’s most beautiful rhythms and songs with a jazz sensibility with vocalist Clare Foster singing in both English and Portuguese.

Once again, dance plays a major part in the City of London Festival. Choreographer and capoeira master Mestre Ponciano Almeida pitches ephemeral human form against monumental architectural structure in Moment and Monument, a fusion of capoeira and contemporary dance at some of the City’s most iconic locations (5 and 7 July). Ponciano Almeida has also choreographed In-Flight Entertainment, a unique event with the Aurora Orchestra (9 July). Western baroque, 20th century and modern music are combined with capoeira-inspired choreography from Almeida and his Cordão de Ouro group. Critically-acclaimed aerial theatre company Ockham Razor’s will give the outdoor première of daringly dramatic new piece The Mill on 1 and 2 July. For those interested in doing as well as watching, dance workshops will be led by two Forró dancers as part of Forró Friday in the Guildhall Yard (2 July). Finally, Brazil’s leading contemporary choreographer Deborah Colker presents her new work Cruel at the Barbican (29 June to 3 July).

The Festival’s Family Day: A Day of Discoveries on Hampstead Heath on 27 June offers a fun-filled afternoon for all ages. Lisbon-based musician and programmer Firmino Pascoal introduces the best new bands from around the Lusophone world including Tonecas (São Tomé), Sons da Gente (Portugal) and Lindu Mona (Angola). Also on the bandstand will be Alô Irmão, uniting the solo talents of one of Guinea Bissau’s most famous musician Manecas Costa and award-winning Galician singer Fran Pérez. Activities throughout the afternoon include Nu Urban Gardeners, Willow Sculpture, capoeira workshops and a traditional Portuguese dance performance.

The Portuguese-speaking world is also represented in this year’s series of spoken word events and lectures. A portrait of Portugal’s greatest poet Fernando Pessoa features Inês Pedrosa, Director of Fernando Pessoa House in Lisbon, Dr Seabra Pereira from Coimbra University, Simon Jenner from Perdika Press and Richard Zenith, the celebrated Penguin translator of Pessoa’s poetry (22 June). A screening of Mariza and the story of fado (7 July) marks the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s new publication of Saudade, the first ever anthology of Fado poetry in English. A recital by The Contemporary Lusophone Poets (8 July) features Corsino Fortes (Cape Verde), Ana Paula Tavares (Angola) and Valter Hugo Mãe (Portugal). Owen Rees’ lecture Adventures of Portuguese ‘Ancient Music’ in Eighteenth Century London (25 June) reveals how the music of a Portuguese composer – Duarte Lobo – made its way into London’s cultural life. Professor Thomas Earle, the King John II Professor of Portuguese Studies at the University of Oxford, speaks on Portugal and England 1386-2010: a complex web of political, economic and intellectual relations (2 July).

The Barbican has programmed a series of films Music in Portuguese Cinema which includes screenings of Fado, Story of a Singer (Fado, História d’uma Cantadeira), My Voice (Nha Fala),
Perpetual Movements: A Cine – Tribute to Carlos Paredes (Movimentos Perpétuos – Homenagem a Carlos Paredes) and The Cannibals (Os Canibais). (From 25 June).

Listings information for all events follows.

BNY Mellon is the lead sponsor of this year’s City of London Festival.

Press contact Martha Oakes or Sue Lancashire on 020 8854 5460 / 07798 626555 / [email protected]

Notes to editors
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a charitable foundation established in Portugal in 1956 with cultural, educational, social and scientific interests. Its founder, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, was an Armenian born in Turkey. Multicultural and multilingual he spent his career bringing people from different cultures and nationalities together. The purpose of the UK Branch, based in London, is to help enrich and connect the experiences of people in the UK and Ireland and secure lasting, beneficial change. For more than 50 years we have initiated and supported pioneering social, cultural and educational developments. One of our core aims is to improve cultural understanding, including through initiatives to promote Lusophone culture in the UK.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Box office 0845 120 7502 / www.colf.org

Classical

21 June, 6pm, St Vedast Alias Foster, Foster Lane, EC2 Meta4: Felipe Salles Nimet (World première); Shostakovich String Quartet No 7; Schumann String Quartet No 3; part of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists

21 June, 7.30pm, Guildhall Old Library, Gresham Street, EC2, Portuguese Chamber Orchestra, Pedro Carneiro (conductor), Cristina Ortiz (piano): Braga Santos Nocturno for Strings Op 11; Chopin Piano Concerto No 2; Luís Tinoco Chant for East Timor; Beethoven Symphony No 1

23 June,1.05-1.55pm, St Olave Hart Street, EC3, Musicians of the Guildhall School: Julian Philips An Amherst Bestiary; Mihaud Catalogue de Fleurs; Poulec Le Bestiare; selection of Portuguese and Brazilian songs; part of Tomorrow’s Artist’s Today

23 June, 7.30pm, Drapers’ Hall, Throgmorton Avenue, EC2, Patricia Rozario (soprano), António Meneses (cello), cellists from the Guildhall School: Goan and Brazilian folksong arrangements by Mark Troop (World première, Festival commission); Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No 1; JS Bach Cello Suite No 3 in C major BWV 1009; Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No 5

24 June, 6pm, St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, 10 Giltspur Street, EC1, Elias Quartet: Villa-Lobos String Quartet No 1; Mendelssohn String Quartet Op 80; part of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists

24 June, 7.30pm, Goldsmiths’ Hall, Foster Lane, EC2, English Chamber Orchestra, Artur Pizarro (piano), Garry Walker (conductor): Carneyro Memento; Fernandes Piano Concerto; Elgar Serenade for Strings; Mendelssohn String Symphony No 11

25 June, 7.30pm, St Bartholomew-the-Great, Cloth Fair, EC1, A Capella Portuguesa (choir), Owen Rees (conductor): Music for the Portuguese Monarchy from the 16th & 17th Centuries Cristo; Cardoso; Carreira; Magalhães; Rebelo; Ancient Music popular in City of London Purcell; Lobo; Byrd

25 June, 8pm, St Ethelburga’s, Bishopsgate, EC2, Alô Irmão: Manecas Costa and Fran Perez, Adriano Adewale support

28 June, 1.05-1.55pm, Southwark Cathedral, Peter Wright (organ): programme to include works by Manuel Rodrigues; Coelho; Alfred Hollins; Franck and Vierne

29 June, 6pm, St Margaret Pattens, Rood Lane, EC3, Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord): Portuguese harpsichord music from the illustrious eighteenth-century Lisbon court of John V, including works by Scarlatti; Seixas; João de Sousa; Carvalho and Juan Bautista José Cabanilles; part of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists

30 June, 7.30pm, St Bartholomew-the-Great, Cloth Fair, EC1 Gulbenkian Choir, Jorge Matta (conductor): Brazilian sacred polyphony of the 18th & 19th centuries and Creole vilancicos of 17th century Africa

1 July, 6pm, St Andrew Holborn, EC4, Daniela Lehner (mezzo-soprano), Jose Luis Gayo (piano): Schumann Songs from Liederalbum für die Jugend; Reinecke Acht Kinderlieder Op 138; Nin-Culmell Cuatro Canciones Populares de Salamanca; Ginastera Dos Canciones Op 3; Halffter La corza blanca; Guastavino Milonga de dos hermanos; Braga O’Kinimbá; Villa-Lobos Xangô; Braga Nigue-Nigue-Ninhas; Villa-Lobos Samba classico; part of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists

1 July, 7.30pm, Stationers’ Hall, Ave Maria Lane, EC4, Artur Pizarro (piano): JS Bach French Suite No 3 BWV 814; Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No 4; Schumann Waldszenen; Villa-Lobos Saudades das Selves Brasileiras; Chopin Nocturne Op 55 No 2; Villa-Lobos Hommage à Chopin

2 July, 1.05-1.55pm, St Andrew Holborn, EC4, Musicians of the Guildhall School: Wagner Prelude to Tristan & Isolde; JS Bach arr.Villa-Lobos Two Preludes and Fugues; Schubert Three Songs from Schwanengesang; Sollima Violoncelles, vibrez! part of Tomorrow’s Artists Today

2 July, 6pm, Innholders’ Hall, College Street, EC4, Adam Walker (flute), Morgan Szymanski (guitar), O Duo: Oliver Cox & Owen Gunnell (percussion): Villa-Lobos Choros No 1; Distribution of Flowers; Bachianas Brazileiras No 5 Chopin Etude; Minute Waltz, Pujol The Bumble Bee, Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the Bumble Bee, improvisations on Brazilian samba and Portuguese rhythms

5 July, 7.30pm, Mansion House, Walbrook, EC4, Britten Sinfonia, Joanna MacGregor (piano), Adrian Adewale (percussion): JS Bach Concerto in D minor; Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No 9; Egberto Gismonti Forrobodo, Frevo; JS Bach Concerto F minor BWV 1056; Brazilian piano solos, Brazilian popular songs arr MacGregor for piano and strings

6 July, 6pm, St Giles’ Cripplegate, Fore Street, EC2, Jennifer Pike (violin), Tom Poster (piano/organ): JS Bach Sonata for Violin and Keyboard BMV 1017; Mendelssohn Violin Sonata Op 4; Villa-Lobos Fantasia; part of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists

6 July, 7.30pm, Mercers’ Hall, Ironmonger Lane, EC2, Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, Pedro Carneiro (percussion), Frances Lynch (voice), Paula Azguime (video artist), Miguel Azguime (sound design), Jean-Sébastien Béreau (conductor): Luís Tinoco O Silêncio e as Pedras; João Pedro Oliveira Lâminas Líquidas; Flo Menezes O farfalhar das folhas (UK première); Miguel Azguime (ThS)inking Survival Kit (UK première)

6 July, 7.30pm, Apothecaries’ Hall, Blackfriars lane, EC4, Pedro Calderia Cabral (guitar), Joaquim António Silva (classical guitar), Duncan Fox (double bass): Pedro Calderia Cabral traces the 500 year history of the Portuguese guitar and its music

7 July, 6pm, St Mary Aldermary, Watling Street, EC4, Khatia Buniatishvili (piano), Chopin 3 Scherzos, Ivo Cruz Aguarelas Nos 3 and 4, Prokofiev Piano Sonata No 7 Op 83, part of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists

7 July, 7.30pm, Vintners’ Hall, Upper Thames Street, EC4, Charles Metcalfe (presenter), Ana Sofia Varela, Liana, Ricardo Ribeiro (fado singers): An evening of Portuguese wine and Fado

8 July, 6pm, St Bride’s Fleet Street, EC4, Atos Trio: Bright Sheng Four Movements for Piano Trio, Cassadó Piano Trio; Schumann Piano Trio No 2 in F major Op 80, part of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists

9 July, 6pm, St Giles’ Cripplegate, Fore Street, EC2, BBC Singers, Celso Antunes (conductor): Miguel Azguime O Centro do Excentrico do Centro do Mundo; Maconchy Creatures; John Tavener Butterfly Dreams; Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No 9

9 July, 7pm, Canada Square Park, Canary Wharf, E14, London Symphony Orchestra & Artur Pizarro (piano), David Afkham (conductor): Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture: Fingal’s Cave; Beethoven Piano Concerto No.3; Mendelssohn Symphony No 4: Italian; part of Canary Wharf

9 July, 8pm, LSO St Luke’s, Old Street, EC1, Aurora Orchestra, Nicolas Collon (conductor), Mestre Ponciano Almeida (choreographer), Cordão de Ouro (capoeira group): Stravinsky Danses Concertantes; Rameau Suite from Platée; Arvo Pärt If Bach had been a Bee Keeper; Julian Anderson Khorovod; Balakirev (arr Iain Farrington) Islamey

Jazz and world music

25 June, 1.30-2pm, West steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, Adriano Adewale & Umpatacum

27 June, 1.30-6pm, Family Day: A Day of Discoveries, Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath, NW3: 12–12.40pm TutinMick’s; 1.30-2pm Tonecas; 2.40–3.20pm Alô Irmão: Manecas Costa and Fran Pérez; 4–4.40pm Sons da Gente; 5.20–6pm Lindu Mona

25 June, 6-6.30pm, Liverpool Street Station, EC2: Deodato Siquir Trio Commuter Music

28 June, 12.30–2pm, Guildhall Yard, Gresham Street, EC2: Lindu Mona Music in the Yard

28 June, 5.30–7pm, Guildhall Yard, Gresham Street, EC2: Sons da Gente Music in the Yard

30 June, 12.30–2pm, Guildhall Yard, Gresham Street, EC2: HuwWarren Trio: Hermeto+ Music in the Yard

30 June, 5.30-7pm, Guildhall Yard, Gresham Street, EC2: Renato Borghetti Music in the Yard

2 July, 12noon-2pm, Guildhall Yard, Gresham Street, EC2, Forró Friday: Banda da Ladeira and dance workshops, Music in the Yard

2 July, 5-7pm, Guildhall Yard, Gresham Street, EC2, Forró Friday: Gustavo Marques and ForroDaki Band and dance workshops, Music in the Yard

2 July, 6-6.30pm, Liverpool Street Station, EC2: Los Piratas Commuter Music

8 July, 5.30– 7pm, Guildhall Yard, Gresham Street, EC2: Claridade, Jazz in the Yard

9 July, 6-6.30pm, Liverpool Street Station, EC2: Mano de Dios Commuter Music

Dance

27 June, 12noon-6pm, Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath, NW3, Portuguese dance and capoeira workshops

29 June–3 July, 7.45pm, Barbican Theatre, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2, Cia De Dança Deborah Colker, Cruel

2 July, 12noon-2pm, Guildhall Yard, Gresham Street, EC2, Forró Friday: Banda da Ladeira and dance workshops, Music in the Yard

2 July, 5-7pm, Guildhall Yard, Gresham Street, EC2, Forró Friday: Gustavo Marques and ForroDaki Band and dance workshops, Music in the Yard

5 & 7 July, 12.30 & 6pm, Tower of London, Monument & The Royal Exchange Building,
choreographer Mestre Ponciano Almeida with students from Laban and Central School of Ballet, Moment & Monument

9 July, 8pm, LSO St Luke’s, Old Street, EC1, Aurora Orchestra, Nicolas Collon (conductor), Mestre Ponciano Almeida (choreographer), Cordão de Ouro (capoeira group): Stravinsky Danses Concertantes; Rameau Suite from Platée; Arvo Pärt If Bach had been a Bee Keeper; Julian Anderson Khorovod; Balakirev (arr Iain Farrington) Islamey

Spoken word and lectures

22 June, 7pm, St Bride Foundation,14 Bride Lane, EC4 Fernando Pessoa – a portrait of Portugal’s greatest poet

25 June, 6pm, Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn, EC1, Owen Rees, Lecture: Adventures of Portuguese ‘Ancient Music’ in Eighteenth-Century London

2 July, 6pm, Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn, EC1, Professor Thomas Earle, Lecture: Portugal and England, 1386-2010

7 July, 6pm, Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, EC1, Mariza and the story of Fado, screening in celebration of Calouste Gulbekian Foundation’s new publication Saudade

8 July, 7pm Clifford Chance, 10 Upper Bank Street, E14 Contemporary Lusophone poets

Film

25 June–3 July, Barbican Cinema, Silk Street, EC2, Cinema of Brazil – music and rhythm, various films

26 June, 2pm, Barbican Cinema, Silk Street, EC2, Fado, Story of a Singer (Fado, História d’uma Cantadeira), Sound & Film: Music in Portuguese Cinema

26 June, 4pm, Barbican Cinema, Silk Street, EC2, My Voice (Nha Fala), Sound & Film: Music in Portuguese Cinema

27 June, 2.30pm, Barbican Cinema, Silk Street, EC2, Perpetual Movements: A Cine – Tribute to Carlos Paredes (Movimentos Perpétuos – Homenagem a Carlos Paredes), Sound & Film: Music in Portuguese Cinema

27 June, 4pm, Barbican Cinema, Silk Street, EC2, The Cannibals (Os Canibais), Sound & Film: Music in Portuguese Cinema

7 July, 6pm, Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, EC1, Mariza and the story of Fado, screening in celebration of Calouste Gulbekian Foundation’s new publication Saudade

Art and exhibitions

21 June-9 July, open every weekday from 8.00am–5.30pm except Wednesday 12noon–2.00pm, Thursday 12noon–1.00pm, St Botolph-without-Bishopgate, Bishopsgate, EC2, Installation on Cloth: Angolan and Mozambican Capulanas

21 June-11 July, ordinary Cathedral times apply, St Paul’s Cathedral, Images of Transformation: Swords to Ploughshares – weapons into sculpture

22 June-9 July, 10.00am–5.00pm, Sunday 12.00–4.00pm, Guildhall Art Gallery, Um Mundo Belo: Young Artists’ Exhibition

23 June-16 July, Tuesday – Friday 12.00 – 6.00pm,Saturday 11.00am–4.00pm, Wallspace, All Hallows on te Wall, EC2, Methodist Collection New Acquisitions exhibition including F N Souza’s Crucifixion