2nd Edition of Leiria Creative City of Music Festival

Leiria

II Festival Leiria Cidade Criativa da Música with three days of music and 15 creations in absolute première.

The Leiria Cidade Criativa da Música Festival is returning to the city of Lis for the second edition on the 7th, 8th and 9th of December 2023, with three days of music in its absolute premiere on the theme “Natural and Architectural Heritage of Leiria”.

Responding to UNESCO’s action guidelines for Creative Cities, the Festival aims to celebrate musicians from Leiria, asserting itself as a moment of creative aggregation that puts local artists in dialogue with unavoidable names in the Portuguese musical panorama in the fields of Alternative Music, Jazz and Contemporary Music.

The fruit of this creative interaction around the annually proposed theme is presented over three days of concerts at the José Lúcio da Silva Theater and the Miguel Franco Theater. Emerging musical talent is a strategic point for the LCCM and, in order to stimulate it, we created the Leiria International Composition Competition, which sees its final phase at the Festival with the execution of the finalist works and the consequent awarding of prizes to young composers from areas of Jazz and Classical Music.

In addition to the competition, the focus is on four young performers from Leiria who have stood out at an international level: Diogo Alexandre and Eduardo Cardinho who perform as soloists in the Leiria Jazz Orchestra concert and Pedro Santos and José Guilherme Neves who perform as soloists at the AFCL Wind Ensemble concert.

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On December 7th, the Festival opens with one of the most important emerging names in Alternative Music in Portugal: Inês Só, who will be accompanied by the Camerata de Cordas de Leiria, presenting the show “Leiria Não Existe” in its absolute premiere. The artist from Leiria embraced the challenge of creating an original show written for Camerata de Cordas and which promises to take the public on a musical journey through the city, evoking, in a very personal tone, the vivid memories and adventures in iconic places in the city of Leiria.

On the 8th of December, one of the best bigbands in the country takes the stage, Orquestra Jazz de Leiria, which under the direction of César Cardoso, performed original works by composers from Leiria and unavoidable names in the history of Portuguese Jazz such as João Capinha, Joel Silva , Nelson Cascais, Jeffrey Davis, Zé Eduardo and Paulo Perfeito. The composers were challenged to write music inspired by spaces in the city, promoting with them an attentive look at this heritage and for those who have spent time in the city an emotional look at the experiences lived here. The pieces produced were inspired by Casa do Arco, Casa dos Pintores, or even Mercado Sant’Ana. In this concert we celebrate two young people from Leiria with an extraordinary musical career: Diogo Alexandre (drums) and Eduardo Cardinho (vibraphone) who perform as soloists in front of the Leiria Jazz Orchestra performing the works of Joel Silva, one of the greatest and most drummers in Portugal and Jeffery Davis, the most international vibraphonist in Portuguese Jazz.

Closing the festival, on December 9th, we solemnize the vast philharmonic tradition of the municipality of Leiria, with around four hundred active musicians. A group of extraordinary soloists takes to the stage, chosen from among the various Philharmonics of the Municipality of Leiria, thus composing the Wind Ensemble of the Philharmonic Association of the Municipality of Leiria, directed by Maestro Tiago Alves. The ensemble will perform music by Leirienses Mário Nascimento and Rui Lavos and by Ângela da Ponte, Pedro Lima, Telmo Marques, and Nuno da Rocha. The composers were inspired by places such as M|i|MO, the Nascente do Rio Lis, the Leiria Castle and Lapedo Valley.

This concert celebrates two young talents from Leiria who currently reside outside the country and who return to Leiria to perform as soloists in front of the AFCL Wind Ensemble, the young guitarist Pedro Santos currently studying in Weimar and who will premiere Nuno’s work from AFCL Rocha is a composer with credits established with works premiered by the Gulbenkian Orchestra, and the young Tubist José Guilherme Neves is currently studying in Amsterdam and who performed the work of Telmo Marques, an established name for composition in Portugal with a vast repertoire including works premiered by the most important groups and national soloists and where the close collaboration with Tubist Sérgio Carolino stands out.

Leiria is on the route of composition competitions, exclusively for young composers looking to assert themselves in the global market. It is these emerging talents that we want to attract to Leiria, creating a close dialogue between them and our ensembles and performers, thus promoting the international projection of the city and its musicians. The Leiria International Composition Competition stands out for its eclecticism with the Jazz and Classical Music categories.

During these three days, Leiria receives fifteen creations in absolute premiere, commissioned by Cidade Criativa da Música to creators of alternative, jazz and classical music performed here by musicians from Leiria, in a clear stimulus to contemporary musical creation and the empowerment of the local artistic fabric that ensures the artistic fulfillment of the entire festival. Leiria consolidates its position as a Creative City of Music in the UNESCO World Network of Creative Cities, reinforcing the central role of music and art for the city within the community and the UNESCO World Network of Creative Cities.

Biography of the artists: https://www.cm-leiria.pt/cmleiria/uploads/writer_file/document/8962/biografias_dos_artistas.pdf

Entrance to the festival’s shows is free, however, seat reservations are not required.

Info/reservations:

244823600

https://www.teatrojlsilva.pt/bilheteira/