Renewing its commitment to promoting the arts and culture, Casa Morgado Esporão, in co-promotion with Évora City Council, the University of Évora and Eborae Mvsica, hosts this extraordinary event on 6 July at 21:30 in the courtyard of Casa Morgado Esporão. The event is also sponsored by CENDREV, the Students' Association of the University of Évora and Adega Monte Branco.

"Orfeo ed Euridice"

Opera in three acts, Mario Parenti version (1962).

Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 – 1787) Libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi (1714 – 1795)

Orfeo: Marta Marques, mezzo-soprano

Euridice: Marília Zangrandi, soprano

Amore: Inês Pinto, soprano

Eborae Musica Polyphonic Choir

Conductor: Eduardo Martins

Pianist: Eduardo Proença

Stage direction: Joana Leonardo

Synopsis:

In the first act, after a brief prelude, the curtain rises on Eurydice's tomb. Orpheus mourns the loss of his beloved, surrounded by his friends. Cupid then appears with a message: moved by Orpheus's grief, the gods allow him to descend to the underworld to bring Eurydice back. But there is one condition: Orpheus must not look at his beloved until they are back under a more clement sky. Orpheus is met in the underworld by the Furies and by Cerberus, Hades' three-headed dog. Faced with danger, Orpheus begins to sing, accompanying himself on his lyre, and manages to appease these terrible guardians. He thus reaches the abode of the blessed spirits, where he finds Eurydice. He takes her by the hand, without looking directly at her, and asks her to return with him. Orpheus has descended to the underworld to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living. He had been warned not to look at his beloved until he was in the safety of his own world. After a long journey Orpheus finally reaches Eurydice and asks her to follow him... Eurydice does not understand why Orpheus does not look at her even once. She attributes his attitude to coldness of spirit and gives Orpheus no chance to explain himself. It is then that, after many reproaches, Orpheus loses patience and turns to her. As a consequence Eurydice falls lifeless - one of the most eagerly awaited scenes of the whole opera, followed by the aria "Che farò senza Euridice?", sung by a despairing Orpheus. Cupid appears once more. Orpheus has proved himself worthy of Eurydice, so she is restored to life. In the final scene, in the temple of Cupid, Orpheus, Eurydice and Cupid join their voices with those of the shepherds and sing of the mysteries and the power of love.

Presentation:

This project aims to bring opera to the city of Évora and to broaden the experience of the students of the Master's in Singing at the University of Évora in the world of acting and opera. The opera chosen is one of the most acclaimed by the German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, for telling the mythical story of Orpheus and for being considered one of the operas that contributed most to the reform of opera. We are talking about the opera "Orfeo ed Euridice", which has three characters: Orfeo, Euridice and Amore; and the chorus, which plays a most important role. The characters will be played by students of the Master's in performance and teaching of Singing at the University of Évora, and for the chorus the Eborae Musica Polyphonic Choir, conducted by Eduardo Martins, was invited. The accompanying pianist is Eduardo Proença, an undergraduate piano student, and the stage director is Joana Leonardo, a former student of the Theatre course at the University of Évora.

Marta Marques

Born in Porto, she completed her degree in Theatrical Singing at the Conservatório Superior de Música de Gaia in the classes of Fernanda Correia and Sílvia Mateus. She continued her vocal training in Italy at the Florence Opera association, under Patrizia Morandini. She is currently studying for the Master's in Music Teaching, Singing strand, at the University of Évora, in the class of Professor Liliana Bizineche. She has also attended masterclasses with Ana Ester Neves, Saioa Hernández, Francesco Pio Galasso, Marc Tardue, Enza Ferrari, Mário Mateus and Manuel Ivo Cruz, among others. She has performed in opera galas, events and shows in several cities in Portugal, Italy and Spain. Her solo roles include Amore in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (Montecarlo di Lucca and Castelfiorentino, Italy), Papagena in Mozart's The Magic Flute (Florence, Italy), Suor Dolcina in Puccini's Suor Angelica (Prato, Italy), Amahl in Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors (Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal), Mozart's Requiem (Águeda, Portugal) and Vivaldi's Gloria (Amarante and Paredes, Portugal). She is a professional chorister and has been a member of the Chorus of the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Coro Casa da Música, Coro da Orquestra do Norte and Coro Divino Sospiro.

Marília Zangrandi

A soprano from Rio de Janeiro and a graduate of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, she is currently studying for a master's in performance at the University of Évora, Portugal. In 2016 she played La Musique in Charpentier's Les Plaisirs de Versailles, staged at the Maison de France. She was awarded Best Performer of a Song by Carlos Gomes, in Campinas, at the competition in honour of the composer. In May 2015 she sang the title role in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea in Surrey, England, to critical praise - the same role she had sung in 2014 at the Planetário da Gávea, directed by Graciela Araya, in the work's national premiere. In 2013 she took part in the Lotte Lehmann Akademie in Perleberg, Germany, where she had lessons with Karan Armstrong, Thomas Moser, Klaus Sallmann, Janet Williams, Denis Combe-Chastel and Angelo Raciti, among others. She has studied with Eliane Coelho, Nelson Portella, Valentina Valentini, Leila Guimarães, Adelaida Negri, Lício Bruno and Victor Olivares. She has taken part in masterclasses in Brazil and abroad with Rockwell Blake, Mirella Freni, Graciela Araya, Antonio Juvarra, Frieda Gebert, Karen Saillant, Fabio Centanni, Mitzuko Shirai, Jeffrey Gall, Maria Venutti and Lizzie Waisse. She also took part in the Integrative Meetings offered by the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome; was a scholarship holder at the Festival de Música das Esferas in 2012, in Bragança Paulista, and at the Festival of Colonial and Baroque Music of Juiz de Fora. She has been a member of several choral groups, such as the Brasil Ensemble, conducted by Maria José Chevitaresse, Cia. Bachiana Brasileira, directed by Ricardo Rocha, and the OSB Symphonic Chorus, in which she has sung under Julio Moretzsohn, Isaac Karabtschevsky, Roberto Minczuk and Lorin Maazel.

Inês Pinto

Born in Porto, Inês Pinto completed her degree in Lyric Singing at the University of Évora in the class of the mezzo-soprano Liliana Bizineche. She began her musical studies at the age of nine, completing the 5th grade in piano in the class of Luísa Ferreira and the Complementary Course in Music, Singing strand, in the class of José Corvelo, at the Conservatório do Vale do Sousa. She has worked in masterclasses and private lessons with Isabel Alcobia, Ana Paula Russo, Lúcia Lemos, Pedro Nascimento, Rui Taveira, António Salgado, Magna Ferreira, Luís Madureira, Cristina Miatello, Orlanda Isidro, Sasja Hunnego, Lenie van den Heuvel, Rita Dams, Pascal Bertin, Paula Morna Dória, Pierre Mak and João Lourenço. She has sung under conductors such as Paulo Lourenço, Christopher Bochmann, Pedro Teixeira, Owen Rees, Armando Possante, Peter Philipps, João Branco, Luis Antonio González Marín, Kodo Yamagishi, Ian Mikirtumov and Cesário Costa. She is a member of the Ensemble Vocal de Freamunde and the Coro Feminino do Vale do Sousa, both conducted by Sílvio Cortez, of the Ensemble Eborensis, conducted by Luís Henriques, and of the Ensemble All'Ottava Consort. Her solo roles include Juliet Brook and Sophie Brook in Benjamin Britten's The Little Sweep (Conservatório do Vale do Sousa, Porto), Barbarina in W. A. Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (CCB, Teatro Thalia and Teatro Luisa Todi, Lisbon), Papagena in W. A. Mozart's The Magic Flute with the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (Teatro Thalia, Lisbon), Dido in Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (Convento de Cristo, Tomar) and John Rutter's Gloria (Casa da Música, Porto). She was invited to record and premiere the piece "Súplica" by the composer Paulo Novado. In 2015 she took part in the 12th ESMAE/ESML International Early Music Course held at the Convento de Mafra and, in August of the same year, in the XXXVII International Early Music Festival of Daroca, Spain, where she performed, though not in full, Henry Purcell's operas "Dido and Aeneas" and "King Arthur". She took part in the 40th edition of the Voice & Body Workshop with Jorge Parente, from 19 to 23 March 2018. She is currently in the 2nd year of the Master's in Music Teaching at the University of Évora, Lyric Singing strand, and teaches at the same institution, in the Department of Performing Arts, on the Theatre course.

Eduardo Proença

Eduardo Proença was born in 1996 in Lisbon. He began his musical studies with private teachers and studied, between 2005 and 2016, at the Instituto Gregoriano de Lisboa, where he completed the Secondary Course in Music and the Secondary Course in Gregorian Chant, finishing piano with a mark of 19 out of 20 and winning 1st Prize in the IGL Piano Competition (Level V) in 2014. He attended the degree in Composition at ESML for a year and a half. He has worked as an accompanying pianist for the Associação Musical Lisboa Cantat and for the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. He is currently studying Piano at the University of Évora, in the class

of Professor Ana Telles.

Eduardo Martins

He was born in Ovar and began his musical studies at the age of 8. He graduated in Nursing in 2008 and has worked at the Armed Forces Hospital since 2009. He studied piano at the Conservatório de Música de Aveiro Calouste Gulbenkian, completing the course at the Conservatório de Música de Coimbra. He taught Music Theory, Recorder and Choral Singing in the Music Section of the Grupo de Ação Cultural de Válega – GAC from 2003 to 2011. He also taught music as part of the AECs (curricular enrichment activities) in the 2008/2009 school year in Coimbra. He is Artistic Director of the Grupo Coral Laudamus, which he has conducted since 1999, having organised the Festival Natal em Coro 2012 with the participation of six choirs from the districts of Aveiro, Porto and Lisbon. He was Artistic Director/Conductor of the Coral de Letras of the University of Coimbra in 2005 and 2006. He has taken part in projects and workshops with figures such as Fernanda Lapa, Leonor Barata, Carlos do Carmo, Helena Vieira, Fausto Neves and Eugene Rogers. He was a jury member of the 2nd International Piano Competition of the Municipality of Sernancelhe in 2008. He was also director and producer of the musical ~Fonte dos Amores~ in 2009. He is studying Choral Conducting and Music Theory at the Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon (ESML), working with the conductors Paulo Lourenço and Vasco Azevedo. He was baritone soloist in Mozart's Requiem at the Teatro Tivoli with the Nova Orquestra Sinfónica de Lisboa (2010) and in Arvo Pärt's Passio with the Orquestra Contemporânea de Lisboa (2013). He took part as a singer in the ESML Opera Studio's production of the opera Paride ed Elena, in partnership with the Companhia Clara Andermatt (2012). He was also a chorister in the Mixed Choir of the University of Coimbra between 2004 and 2008 and in the Choir of the Associação Musical Ricercare in 2011/2012. Internationally, he took part in the festival of Portuguese communities in Paris (2001) and in a piano concert at the Marriott Hotel in Cairo, Egypt (2004). This year (2013), as part of the ESML Chamber Choir, he performed Mahler's 8th Symphony at the closing of the Ankara International Music Festival, Turkey. Since May 2013 he has conducted the Coro Polifónico Eboræ Mvsica, in Évora.

Polyphonic Choir of the Associação Musical de Évora – EBORÆ MVSICA.

In September 1987, as part of the cultural event "Os Povos e as Artes", it gave its first public performance. The Polyphonic Choir has performed many times over the years, singing not only the polyphony of the Évora Cathedral School of Music (16th and 17th centuries) but also other works from different […] of Music of Évora Cathedral", an event which this Association organises every year in October, with the participation of internationally renowned conductors such as Peter Phillips, director of The Tallis Scholars, of London, and Owen Rees. It took part in the 1999 Christmas Concert, performing Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, which was recorded and broadcast by RTP, channel 2, and RTP Internacional, and in the 2000 Christmas Concert with the same orchestra. It took part in the initiatives organised by this Association for the tercentenary of the work of Diogo Dias Melgás and Frei Manuel Cardoso in 2000, in the concert cycles "Lent at the Évora Cathedral School of Music" and in the cycles "Musicando", "Música nos Claustros" and "Música no Inverno". Its international appearances include "Europália 91" in Belgium; the workshop "Évora Cathedral School of Music" in Košice, Slovakia, at the invitation of the Choir of the Technical University of Košice, which had taken part in the 2nd Conference on this theme in Évora in 1999; the XVI International Festival "Encounter with Polyphony" in Giarre, Sicily, Italy, in 2001; Denmark, in 2002, in an exchange with the Roskilde Choir as part of the MECINE Network; the 22nd Preveza Choral Festival and 10th Preveza International Sacred Music Competition, Greece, where it placed 3rd and won the bronze medal in 2004; and concerts in Ourense as part of the "Oralidades" project in 2012 and in Plasencia (Spain) in 2013. From its very beginning until October 1991 the Polyphonic Choir was conducted by its founder, Dr Adelino Santos, a figure long associated with musical life in Évora. From 1991 to 1997 it was conducted by Maestro Francisco d'Orey, of nationally and internationally recognised merit, and from early 1997 until May 2013 the group was directed by Pedro Teixeira. Since May 2013 it has been conducted by Maestro Eduardo Martins.

Joana Leonardo

Joana Ferreira Leonardo, born in 1997, lives in Évora. A dancer since 2010, trained at several schools in Portugal in contemporary and urban dance, she has been studying for a degree in Theatre since 2015 and has worked as a performer in creations by Ana Támen, Paulo Alves Pereira and Alexandre Pieroni Calado. Between 2010 and 2013 she performed with the dance group TAKE 5, regional School Sports champions. Since 2011 she has been a dancer and choreographer with the group NDance, regular participants in national and international exchanges and competitions. Between 2012 and 2015 she was vice-president of the Associação Desportiva, Cultural e Social Qualquer Um Dança, based in Évora. Choreographer of the piece «7 Pecados Mortais», presented at the Feira de São João in Évora in 2015. Artistic director of the piece «A Marioneta» by Rolando Galhardas (Serpa, 2014). Performer in the piece «Gatilho da Felicidade» by Ana Borralho and João Galante (Montemor-o-Novo, 2017). Creator and performer of the performance "Quem Sou Eu, Sendo o Outro?" in collaboration with the visual artist Vasco Araújo (Évora, 2017).

Co-promotion

Casa Morgado Esporão Câmara Municipal de Évora Eborae Mvsica

Sponsors

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