KATIA GUERREIRO - EVOCAÇÃO DO CENTENÁRIO DE AMÁLIA RODRIGUES
JUNE 29th 2021 - 9.00
CENTRO CULTURAL OLGA CADAVAL
Fado singer Katia Guerreiro has long been a household name, both in her home country and abroad, in this most Portuguese of art forms. Her concert at this year’s Sintra Festival is a tribute to great fado singer Amália Rodrigues, while at the same showing us how great music elicits differences between music genres to fade into the background. With her usual accompanists and Sintra’s ‘King Fernando II’ Orchestra (conducted by Cesário Costa) behind her, Kátia Guerreiro will perform songs from her latest album ‘Sempre’ (which translates as ‘always’), which made it to French newspaper ‘Le Monde’’s best albums of 2020 list. We couldn’t think of a better way to signal 10 years since UNESCO added fado to its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity!
Katia Guerreiro
Katia Guerreiro was born in South Africa, but her family returned to the Azores a few years later. Raised on São Miguel Island, she discovered her passion for music and fell in love with the “Viola da Terra,” a traditional guitar of the Azores at the age of 15. Later, she moved to Lisbon to attend the Medical School.“Fado Maior”, her first album, was released in 2001 and introduced Katia Guerreiro as one of the new generations Fado singers. From Portugal to the world was just a little step. Over the next few years, Katia and Fado were applauded in many different stages and countries such as France, Morocco, Belgium, England, Wales, Egypt, Switzerland, Spain, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Greece, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Tunisia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Canada, South Africa, New Caledonia, Turkey and India.
Katia Guerreiro, worthy heir to Amália Rodrigues, embodies the original voice of fado. She is the most adulated singer in Lisbon and one of the most popular in the world. His poignant singing and flawless technique trigger passions beyond Portugal. His heart-warming music relieves wounded souls. Her double life as a singer and a doctor gives her the experience of suffering and human emotions, a palpable generosity in each of her concerts.
She has released ten albums and has received several awards, including Order of Arts and Letters, Chevalier rank, from the French government, the Order of Prince Henry and the prize of best performer of fado by the very specialized Amalia Rodrigues Foundation.
Always ! Sempre. The name of Katia Guerreiro’s latest album sounds like a profession of faith in what is eternal in fado. This expression of the deep soul of the Portuguese people, which reflects with the same fervor their joys and their sorrows. The fado of yesterday and tomorrow, which she tackles without artifice or calculations.
With Katia Guerreiro nothing comes between the truth of feelings and her song, refined but spontaneous, free and sensitive. Sempre refers to the Carnation Revolution which in 1974 put an end to Salazar’s military rule. This tenth album is the result of a collaboration with José Mário Branco. Songwriter and arranger emblematic of the opposition to the dictatorship which arranges the song Grândola, Vila Morena, signal of the revolution. Sempre, which bears witness to the communion of spirit of two illuminating stars, is an event that marks the history of contemporary fado.
Katia Guerreiro was and is considered one of the most important fado singers between the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.
Cesário Costa, maestro
Cesário Costa is one of the most active Portuguese conductors of his generation. He has a degree on Piano (Paris), a master's degree in Orchestral Conducting (Würzburg Germany) and is a P.h.D. from Universidade Nova de Lisboa. In 1997, he won the III Fundação Oriente International Competition for Young Orchestra Leaders and, since then, he has been invited to direct numerous national and foreign formations. His repertoire extends from baroque to contemporary, including more than one hundred and thirty works in absolute debut. He was President and Artistic Director of the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Orquestra do Algarve, Orquestra Classica do Sul, Orquestra Classica de Espinho, the Musicare Chamber Orchestra Artistic Director of the Promenade Concerts of the Coliseu do Porto and Principal Conductor of OrchestrUtópica. He is a researcher at CESEM | Center for Sociology Studies and Musical Aesthetics (FCSH-UNL), Artistic Director of In Spiritum - Porto Music Festival, Titular Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sinfónica Orchestra Ensemble, Titular Conductor and Artistic Director of the Bomtempo Orchestra and Titular Conductor and Artistic Director of the Municipal Orchestra of Sintra - D. Fernando II.He has worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Nürnberger Symphoniker, the Gothenburg Opera Orchestra, the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Porto Symphony Orchestra - Casa da Música, the Madeira Classical Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Murcia, the Symphony Orchestra of Bari, the Symphony Orchestra of Liepaja, the Symphony Orchestra of Bilkent, the Opole Filharmonia, the Olsztyn Filharmonia, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Romanian Radio Chamber, the Nova Russia Symphony Orchestra, the Claudio Santoro National Theater Symphony Orchestra and several symphonic orchestras in Brazil.He participated in numerous international Music Festivals, including the Atlantic Waves Music Festival (London), Aberdeen (Scotland), Arhus (Denmark), Neerpelt (Belgium), Dresden (Germany), Murcia (Spain).Orquestra Municipal de Sintra - D. Fernando II
Sintra Municipal Orchestra/King Fernando II (SMO) is an innovative project from Sintra County Council that aims at providing Sintra County with a steady cultural offer in the classical music field, while adhering to the highest artistic standards. Their debut concert took place on October 5, 2020, at Sintra’s Olga Cadaval Cultural Centre, which serves as their home. Oporto-born Cesário Costa (1970) is the orchestra’s Chief Conductor and Artistic Director.
Apart from the canonic orchestral repertoire, SMO see as their mission, also, the programming and advancement of Portuguese composers and musical heritage. In this respect, several pieces by Portuguese composers from the 18th and 19th centuries had their modern premieres performed by SMO. Their focus is also set on pieces inspired by or related to Sintra’s heritage or landscape and have them performed regularly. One instance of this was the symphonic ode ‘A serra de Cintra’ by Carlos Adolfo Sauvinet (1836-1905).
SMO was a guest at the Lisbon&Sintra International Film Festival and they recently recorded a concert for the Portuguese embassy Beijing, as part of the cultural activities associated with the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
