News

"Forbidden Love"

Operafest continues to win over audiences, establishing itself as the main
gateway for new audiences to opera in Portugal, as well as the main stage for
emerging talent, with a varied program meeting everyone!

The 6th edition of Operafest 2025, led by soprano Catarina Molder, with the production of the Ópera do Castelo, from August 7th to September 16th, brought the magic of opera directly to approximately 11.500 people during a month of stimulating programming around "forbidden love", combining great classics with avant-garde opera and national premieres. Always on the path of conquering new audiences and with full houses, it took place in new venues and with new programming partners, expanding in the greater Lisbon area. Once again establishing itself, nationally and internationally, as an "out-of-the-box" opera festival that is enjoyed with the passion of a pop festival!

“Impressive audience loyalty for this festival, with impressive vitality.”Opern Glass

“Operafest has accustomed us to unusual programs and a healthy convergence between novelty and tradition.”

Première Loge

“The cast offered unforgettable performances.” Scherzo Magazine

“Planetary alignment in the Lisbon sky: a dazzling production” Première Loge

10 opera performances

★

3 premieres

★

4 operas

★

1 national premiere

★

5 films in the Cine-Opera cycle

★

1 operatic rave

★

Workshops for diverse audiences and conferences

★

1 opera filmed for television

Operafest 2025 kicked off in Oeiras, in the perfect setting of the Cartuxa Monastery in Caxias, hosting opera for the first time, and one of the greatest operas of all time: "La Traviata" by Verdi (1853), based on "The Lady of the Camellias" by Alexandre Dumas. With a great main cast starring the Croatian soprano Darija Auguštan who enchanted the audience with the beauty and mastery of her singing, it featured the stimulating staging of director David Pereira Bastos, the musical direction of maestro Osvaldo Ferreira, accompanied by the Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra, which was also its co-producer.

This new venue revealed ideal conditions for enjoying opera on four warm summer nights, bathed in the full moon. In October, this production was presented at Europarque as part of Fimuv!

“The cast was remarkable. Darija Augustan successfully played the role of Violetta, perhaps the most complex in Verdi's repertoire.” L’opera internationale magazine

“Ermin Ašćerić is the ideal vocal and stage partner. [...] his instrument masters all the difficulties of the score with surprising ease”

“the Operafest Choir once again stood out for its ideal balance of theatricality and musicality.” Première Loge

“A more than deserved final ovation” Première Loge

Still at the Cartuxa monastery, it was the turn of the operatic rave bathed in pop and electronic music, with operatic touches to the sound of Tó Trip and Fake Latinos, Bateu matou and DJ Marfox!

The Aula Magna of the University of Lisbon hosted a production of the great Baroque gem "Dido and Aeneas" by Purcell, by the duo: Os Músicos do Tejo and the director Rui Horta. Transgressive, provocative, moving and genuine. A work that left no one indifferent, generating passions and hatred, in the best operatic style.

“Exciting!” Opera Magazine

“In keeping with the scenic creativity and vocal excellence of this production, conductor Marcos Magalhães [...] shows that Purcell’s opera contains many more treasures.”

“The formidable Operafest Chorus transformed into a bestial, belching pack." Première Loge

Marking the Operafest's debut at Culturgest, the long-awaited national premiere of the opera "Julie" (2005), by the Belgian composer Philippe Boesmans, who passed away in 2022, was presented, a 21st-century masterpiece based on the play "Miss Julie" by the Swedish playwright August Strinberg. Co-produced with Artway, it featured the remarkable setting and staging by German director Daniela Kerck, conducted by maestro Bruno Borralhinho, with a cast of virtuoso soloists, accompanied by the orchestral ensemble of Beira Interior.

“Daniela Kerck’s set design and Hannah König’s costumes emphasize social tensions, creating an austere and powerful visual atmosphere.” Première Loge

“Bruno Borralhinho strived for balance and clarity, conducting a demanding score with precision while allowing vocal expressiveness to shine through.” Première Loge

"The Beira Interior Orchestral Ensemble reveals remarkable quality, weighing each note with precision.” Fórum Opera

“The Kristin of the young Portuguese actress [...] Camilla Mandillo, makes a strong impression. [...] not only thanks to a well-mastered technique, but above all to a fascinatingly warm timbre.” Fórum Opera

It offered Alexander Technique workshops for singers and musicians, and conferences on literature, opera, and forbidden love, within the cultural framework of El Corte Inglés. The Cine-Opera cycle, in partnership with the Portuguese Cinematheque, evoked the theme and operas of this edition, as well as paying due homage to one of the greatest figures in Portuguese literature, Camilo Castelo Branco, on the two hundredth anniversary of his birth: "La Traviata" by Franco Zeffirelli (1982), "Bluebeard's Castle" by director Michael Powell (1963), the only opera and masterpiece of the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, "Miss Julie" by Alf Sjöberg (1951), and "The Day of Despair" by Manuel de Oliveira (1992).

It also had a remarcable media impact with a strong promotional presence, for a period of almost 5 months, intensifying in the last 8 weeks, across all media, with print ads, television, radio and digital spots and banners, on RTP, TSF and Antena 2, major newspapers: Público, Expresso, DN, Visão among others, magazines and national and international platforms and outdoor media, as well as a notable presence of international critic.

Its audience also included around two thousand young people and children, a growing and loyal following of varying ages and tastes who have enthusiastically enjoyed its challenges and offerings year after year!

This edition involved more than 220 professionals from multiple areas of the sector, from conductors, orchestras, choirs, singers, composers, musicians, creatives to producers, coordinators, stage directors, répétiteurs, front of house, and musicologists, from various generations.

Since its start in 2020, Operafest has been the entity in Portugal that has given the most opportunities to emerging talent to debut in opera, as well as the entity that debuts the largest number of Portuguese creatives in opera.

At Operafest there are no volunteers; all its production staff are properly remunerated.

The Lisbon and Oeiras Operafest 2025 ended on a high note, premiering at the Olga Cadaval Cultural Center with the most-watched opera of all time, "The Magic Flute" by W. A. Mozart (1791), directed by actress and director Mónica Garnel, from the production premiered in 2023, in the Portuguese version by Alexandre Delgado. Featuring a stellar Portuguese cast that delighted audiences and critics alike, with musical direction of Pedro Carneiro, accompanied by the Portuguese Chamber Orchestra. This version was filmed for RTP2, bringing the Operafest to the entire country!

In the aftermath of Operafest, the Ópera do Castelo also presented the national premiere of Samuel Barber's opera "Vanessa" at the São Luiz Teatro Municipal, sixty-seven years after its creation at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in a memorable production led by conductor Diogo Costa and stage director Daniela Kerck.

“The Portuguese audience could not have hoped for a better introduction to Barber's opera.”

"Daniela Kerck proposes a reading of refreshing integrity.”

“and above all his [Luís Rodrigues's] magnificent interpretation […] reveal a remarkable finesse in the dramatic incarnation”

“We retain several striking images from Volante’s performance”

“One is impressed by the way the Portuguese soprano [Catarina Molder] commits herself entirely, right from the start."Listening to and watching her on stage, one wonders what could have possessed Callas when she refused to create the title role in Barber's opera…”

“The Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Diogo Costa […] is an attentive and inspired accomplice to this luxurious vocal cast.”

“when the wonderful final Quintet ('To leave, to break…') arrives, we receive it as a true musical offering from singers and instrumentalists at the peak of their art.”

Première Loge

The Operafest and Ópera do Castelo thank everyone who made this edition possible and all the enthusiastic audience who enjoyed it!!

Long live Opera!

Long live Operafest!

“Warmly received by the public, the production confirmed the role of OperaFest Lisboa & Oeiras as a platform for innovation and risk-taking, giving space to emerging performers and proposing new interpretations of classic works.” Usia Magazine