Many of us, expatriates, love classic music. In Lisbon there are theatres with excellent acoustics, such as the Gulbenkian and São Carlos. Some churches have very good acoustics and excellent organs, such as S.Vicente de Fora. They are used very often.
In the Algarve, some of the new sites for congress/ theatre/ music also have good acoustics, such as in Faro, Albufeira and Ferragudo, but are seldom used. The few groups or winter-shows, like the piano festival in Portimao, are sold out in advance, 250-300 seats.
In 1147 D. Afonso promised to build a temple to São Vicente, if he won the siege of Lisbon. In 1580 Filippo Terzi began the work of architect Juan de Herrera. Baltasar Álvares continued, and completed it in 1627. It is in the medieval area of Lisbon from the 16th century, with plenty of Gothic/Baroque. It has around 100 thousand tiles from the Baroque period, fables by La Fontaine, marbles and paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries. Currently, that monastery houses the Curia of the Patriarchate.
The largest modern organ in Portugal is in Mafra. The largest historical organ is there. Built in 1765 by organ maker João Fontanes and restored in 1994, it has 60 half-registers in a total of 3,115 pipes.
For decades, under the sponsorship of the Patriarchate of Lisbon, Luís Gomes and João Vaz, from Althum, have organized almost monthly concerts there, with European musicians, which attract many hundreds of classical lovers to that historic church.
For some years the Região Turismo Algarve sponsored a program, “365”, which boosted artistic activities during winter, which brought to our theaters visitors from other regions and Spain. If such a program was well marketed in Andalucia, Algarve and Lisbon, we could make use of those scenes which today are closed.
The organ in a church in Faro has also an outstanding sound. With a small support the Curia could bring the best organists from Portugal and Spain eight times a year, which could lead a couple of classes during two days and play at the church on a Saturday at 4pm, which would allow visitors to many other activities during a weekend. YES, WE CAN – TOGETHER!
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