The Season “Music in S. Roque”, which runs from next Wednesday to 22nd, brings contemporary premieres of Sérgio Azevedo and Pedro Rodrigues, as well as rescues of Baroque works, with emphasis on the cello Stradivarius “Chevillard-Rei de Portugal”.
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08/11/2026
by
Lusa
A Season “Music in S. Roque”, during the next Wednesday until the 22nd, has scheduled absolute premieres of works of Sérgio Azevedo and Pedro Rodrigues, and modern works of Baroque, rescued by the investigation of the interpreters.
In this season, which for the first time ends in Mafra, the National Museum of Music (MNM), it will be possible to hear the cello Stradivarius “Chevillard-Rei de Portugal”, classified as a national treasure, by cellist Diana Vinagre, in the opening and closing concerts.
The opening concert, next Wednesday, in the Church of S. Roque, in Lisbon, “recreated the unique sound of the ‘orquestra’ of serious instruments specific to the Patriarchal Chapel of the eighteenth century, with the ‘Messa a quattro voci’, by António de Padua Puzzi, according to the organization.
The Mass will be played by the Ensemble Bonne Corde, under the direction of Diana Vinagre, who will play the Stradivarius cello from the MNM collection, partner in this 38th edition of the Music Season of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML).
Diana Vinagre again uses King Louis I's old cello at the closing concert on 22nd at the MNM in Mafra, in the district of Lisbon, also starring in his ensemble.
Titled “A Concerto for Maria Barbara” – daughter of João V who was a disciple of Domenico Scarlatti – in it will be heard pieces of this composer and his father, Alessandro, and also, of Francesco Suprani, Giovanni Bononcini, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and Santiago de Murcia, among others.
The cello Diana Vinagre will use is the only instrument of Antonio Stradivari cordophone builder (1644-1737), existing in a public collection in Portugal.
In addition to MNM, the two other scenarios of this season are the Church of S. Roque and the Convent of S. Pedro de Alcântara, in Bairro Alto, in Lisbon.
The Chapel of São João Batista, located in the Church of S. Roque, in Lisbon, classified as a national treasure, gives a motto to the Season.
The chapel is the first asset of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML) that received the distinction of national treasure. The chapel was commissioned by João V, whose reign (1707-1750) serves as a reference to the Season, proposing “a musical dialogue between Lisbon and Rome”, Lusa told the agency the director of Culture of SCML, Teresa Nicolau.
The choice of the Royal Building of Mafra, where the MNM is installed, is a “historical coincidence”, because it was ordered to build by the monarch referred to as “the magnanimous”.
The different musical groups presented proposals for the Season programming that were appreciated by a jury composed by Teresa Nicolau, Edward Ayres de Abreu, director of MNM, and ethnomusicologist Leonor Losa, conservative of the Museum's instrument collection.
To Lusa, Teresa Nicolau stressed that modern premieres result from the “investigation of each of the groups” musical.
The first modern premieres are on the 13th, by Ludovice Ensemble, under the musical direction of Miguel Jalôto.
It is an organ toy, an anonymous author of the 18th-century Roman school, and the “Motetto Elisabeth, Zachariae a 4” by Giovanni Giorgi. The program also includes works by Francesco Grassi for the Chapel of John V, Tomás Luis de Victoria and Gaetano Franzaroli.
The following day, in the Convent of S. Pedro de Alcântara will be the absolute debut of two compositions by Sérgio Azevedo, by Camerata Atlântica under the direction of Ana Beatriz Manzanilla: “Piccola Symphony Scarlattiana”, for string orchestra, and “Seixiana”, for cloves and strings, in a reference to the two composers of the time of João V (Domenico Scarlatti and Carlos Seixas). The program includes a symphony and two concerts for Seixas cloves.
On the same day, in S. Roque, the Americantiga Ensemble and New Vocal Age groupings Ensemble presents the concert “From Rome to Lisbon, with splendor”.
The program includes the modern debut of the “Laudate Pueri Dominum”, for 16 voices and continuous bass, by Niccolò Jommelli, and works by João Rodrigues Esteves and Jerónimo Francisco de Lima.
On the 15th, at the Convent of S. Pedro de Alcântara, will be the Baroque accordion recital by Paulo Jorge Ferreira, which includes pieces, among others, by Alberto Gomes Correia, Carlos Seixas and Domenico Scarlatti, adapted by the accordionist.
In S. Roque, the group Capella de S. Vicente, under the direction of Pedro Rodrigues, presents “Veni Creator Spiritus: three scenes of the Holy Spirit”, a program that proposes an auditory route for six centuries of liturgical music in Portugal, inspired by the scenes of the Annunciation, Baptism and Pentecost of the Chapel of Saint John the Baptist.
The program includes works in cantochão, including the modern debut of “Veni Creator Spiritus”, by Frei João de Padua, whose original is part of the Musical Fund of SCML, and the absolute debut of “Veni Creator Spiritus (Hino of Pentecost for the Church of St. Roque)” by Pedro Rodrigues, alternated with the interpretation of “Solesmes, of the Roman Graduate, “Veni Creator Spritus”, in Gregorian chant.
This concert includes another contemporary piece, namely by John Vaz, “Hocical confirmation of God (Offering Antiphons for the Church of Saint Roque)”. There will also be a talk by musicologist Rui Vieira Nery, “The theatricality in sacred music joanina”.
The Song Season in S. Roque is “a celebration of the beauty of this joanina era”, Teresa Nicolau told Lusa, stressing the identity of more than 500 years of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia, which also goes through “bringing new music, opening the possibility that contemporary music and new musicians can celebrate their art and beauty”.