Música da vida | Summer festival of old music

ABOUT THE CONCERT

The second concert of the festival will feature the phenomenal Portuguese ensemble Sete Lágrimas with a theme that is specifically linked to the family – rites of passage in the music of the Iberian Peninsula and the Portuguese diaspora. Folk customs and traditions have always been deeply embedded in the fabric of everyday life. The birth of a child, welcoming a new member into the family, love and courtship, blessings, and wedding ceremonies uniting not only individuals but entire family clans… However, peace and tranquility was often disrupted by various conflicts, breakups, or separations, ideally followed by reunions and reconciliations. The endless family cycle was ultimately brought to an end by death, which was not only a moment of grief, but also a time for thanksgiving and celebration of the transition to a new life.

The concert programme will take the audience through all the stages of life from birth to death, illustrated by examples of both the artificial and traditional musical heritage of Iberian culture across centuries, continents and confessions.

Performers

Sete Lágrimas

Filipe Faria | voice, percussion, artistic director
Sérgio Peixoto | voice, artistic director
Tiago Matias | vihuela, Baroque guitar
Juan de la Fuente | percussion
Mário Franco | double bass

Programme

Anonym
San Giuseppe e la Madonna
Dorme, dorme meu menino
Amor loco
Bastiana
Meu bem bê à bá
Kon-In No Uta
Hashivenu
Cantiga sua, partindo-se
Senhora del mundo
A la villa voy
Džizuki uta
É tarde, ela dorme
A partida que me aparta

Gaspar Sanz (1640–1710)
Folia

Santiago de Murcia (1673–1739)
Fandango

Eugénio Tavares (1867–1930)
A força de cretcheu

Sete Lágrimas

Founded in Lisbon in 1999 by Filipe Faria and Sérgio Peixoto, Sete Lágrimas takes inspiration from the collection of dances by John Dowland (Lachrimæ, or Seaven Teares, 1604). Focused on dialogues between early and contemporary music, Sete Lágrimas brings together musicians from different musical backgrounds around conceptual projects fuelled both by original musicological research and innovative and creative processes centred on sounds, instrumentation and memories of early music.
 
Since its foundation, the consort has performed hundreds of concerts in Europe, Asia and Africa, with notable performances at the Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon), Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon), Casa da Música (Porto), Laeiszhalle (Hamburg), Opéra de Lille, Flemish Opera (Ghent), BOZAR (Brussels), Music Center DeBijloke (Ghent) and Philharmonie Luxembourg, as well as at festivals such as Stockholm Early Music Festival, Festival de Sablé, Festival de Música Antigua de Gijón, Festival de Música Antigua de Úbeda y Baeza, Macao International Music Festival, Festival van Vlaanderen in Gent, Stavanger Konserthus, Summer Festivities of Early Music (Prague), Varaždin Baroque Evenings (Varaždin and Ludbreg), etc. Sete Lágrimas has premiered works written especially for their consort by composers Ivan Moody (Great Britain), João Madureira (Portugal), Andrew Smith (Great Britain/Norway), Christopher Bochmann (Great Britain), and by members of the ensemble themselves – Filipe Faria and Sérgio Peixoto.
 
With a discography of 16 titles – from “Lachrimæ #1” (2007) to “BACH” (2024) – the consort has gained international renown in early music. The “Diáspora” trilogy (2008–2012), which topped the FNAC sales chart, remains a milestone in its career. Between 2018 and 2022, it developed the Les Explorateurs trilogy at the Philharmonie Luxembourg, with a total of sixty-seven sold-out performances.
 
In parallel, the consort explores cross-disciplinary projects such as Se chovesse um oceano (2021), receiving awards at international screendance festivals. In 2024, it premiered L3 Leipzig Lisboa Luanda, a dialogue between Bach, contemporary sounds and dance, at the GREC de Barcelona and Bachcelona Festivals. Between 2025 and 2027, the consort plans to release the complete songbook of Portuguese Renaissance music Cancioneiro de Elvas (16th century).
 
Since 2003, Sete Lágrimas has been supported by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture and DGArtes, and since 2012, by the Municipality of Idanha-a-Nova. It is represented by Arte das Musas.

The concert is held with the kind support of the Instituto Camões, I.P., and in collaboration with the Prague City Gallery.