Basic Instinct in operatic mode

The theme of this year’s OPERAFEST LISBOA is Basic Instinct in the sense of fatal instinct, evoking our attraction to extreme situations, that lead us on the verge of total destruction. This fifth edition also celebrates the 500th anniversary of the birth of the brilliant and fascinating Luíz Vaz de Camões, considered to be Portugal's greatest cultural figure, one of the greatest poets of all time and the father of modern Portuguese.

This time around, Operafest will feature both new venues and programme partners, spreading its wings to Oeiras town and the sumptuous Gardens of Marquês de Pombal Palace - a national monument. The 18th-century heritage site boasts extensive and arresting gardens that offer a dreamlike setting, right on the edge of Lisbon. Once the former residence of the man who invented modern, post-earthquake Lisbon (the Marquis of Pombal), the gardens offer various pedestrian and leisure areas, allowing for a unique operatic experience and will host opera for the very first time, boosting audience numbers. The new epicentre of Operafest in Lisbon will be the Amphitheatre of Calouste Gulbenkian. This stage for major shows and open-air events in recent decades now will host opera. Other venues include The Lisbon Triennale in the beautiful Sinel de Cordes Palace, in Santa Clara, Cinemateca Portuguesa, el corte inglés and night club by Tagus river, Titanic sur mer.

Operafest kicks off with not one but two great classics, in the shape of "Cavalleria Rusticana" (1890) by Pietro Mascagni and "Pagliacci" (1892) by Ruggero Leoncavallo, which will be performed in the gardens of the Marquês de Pombal Palace, part of the new programme partnership in Oeiras.

These one-act masterpieces and paradigms of the Italian verismo movement praise the authenticity of feeling and singing. This can be raw and aggressive, while direct, with real emotions, where tragedy, honour killings, domestic spats, human conflicts move into the popular sphere, with no mediation or pretty words.

Now it's the inhabitants of a Sicilian village - poor people that work in the fields, who run a tavern, or clowns from a travelling circus - who are the heroes of the tragedy, usually resolved with knives in the public square, for all to see. Actress and director Mónica Garnel oversees this double bill, ably assisted by musical director Osvaldo Ferreira. The cast is led by Spanish tenor Andeka Gorrotxategi and soprano Catarina Molder and supported by great Portuguese talent, accompanied by the Orquestra Filarmónica Portuguesa.

For the very first time, the Marquês de Pombal Palace gardens will stage opera, dressed in the garb of an authentic Sicilian village to welcome Operafest!

The same gardens are then transformed into the forest of fairy tale imagery. For future audiences, and making its national premiere, it's now the turn of a little hero who, thanks to his intelligence, manages to escape from the Basic Instinct of all those who try to kill him and his siblings. Little Thumb tale opera by Isabelle Aboulker, based on the tale by Charles Perrault. Directed by Sandra Faleiro, with Portuguese version written by Luís Rodrigues. 

Another great classic, Don Giovanni by the brilliant W. A. Mozart, performed at the epicenter of the capital, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation's open-air amphitheatre. Once again, the Basic Instinct theme, but this time in a palatial context. Lorenzo da Ponte’s masterful libretto tells the tale of the serial seducer who became a victim of his own scheming. The performance features the energy and provocation of actor and director João Pedro Mamede, who makes his operatic debut in a new interpretation of this myth, under the musical direction of conductor Pedro Carneiro, led by columbian baritone Christian Luján and Luís Rodrigues as Leporello and a great Portuguese cast.

To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the beacon of Portuguese culture – poet Luís Vaz de Camões, Operafest organized a very special homage, commissioning and presenting in Trienal’s Palácio Sinel de Cordes, the absolute premiere of  Torment - cantata performance created by multifaceted artist Gustavo Sumpta with music by Nuno da Rocha, based on Canto V (Adamastor) from the epic poem The Lusiads. We also announce the commission of Symphonic Poem Lusíadas  based on homonymous epic masterpiece, in partnership with Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, to be premiered in December of 2025.

In this fifth edition, the Portuguese contemporary opera competition - Maratona Opera XXI - has expanded to become a platform News Dynamics for Today’s opera, investing in several areas: training and specialization, commissions, national competition and biannual international competition. All of this is aimed at helping today's opera flourish, fostering new audiences conquest and re-conquest of established opera audiences for contemporary opera, supporting creators, creatives and performers, to bring contemporary opera closer to today’s world and audiences!

This year, the focus is on libretto. two Libretos reflecting on today’ life: artificial intelligence, in a context of ever-increasing dehumanization and the new geography of ghost cities, were commissioned to Portuguese dramaturgists with a recognized body of work, to provide material for a Call for Composers. Two selected composers will receive a scholarship for the composition period of two operas, of one hour long each, to be presented in Operafest 2025 and win Carlos Pontes de Leça Award- New Operas.

Offering new perspectives and insights for opera exploring, Opera Satellite also presents Lyric Machine, proposing vocal discovery at all ages. Or workshops unveiling musical writing and its evolution; conferences about verismo and the myth of Don Giovanni, as well as the previously mentioned Cantata/Performance Tormento, closing with the unmissable Operatic rave in Basic Instinct with a "sexy" dress code, for a party celebrating the fusion of opera with electronica, pop, afrobeat and dance music, with performances by Enapá 2000, the urban goddess Dj Nídia and much more in the trendy bar by Tagus river - Titanic sur mer!

Finally, based on the multitude of connections between opera and cinema, the cine-opera cycle created in partnership with Cinemateca Portuguesa launches celebrating Camões 500th birth with No, or the Vain Glory of Command (1990) and The Old Man of Belem (2014) by Manoel de Oliveira. For the younger ones, within Cinemateca Junior the marvelous peace manifesto by Joseph Losey The boy with green air. Promising film versions of the great classics featuring: Juan (2010) by Kasper Holten, Pagliacci (1982) and Cavalleria Rusticana (1982) Franco Zefirelli. This way Operafest finishes with the same verismo pearls of its start!

Welcome to Operafest and the tragic world of opera!