Baltar Cassola Guitar Duo

"In the Labyrinth of Paredes" pays tribute to the Portuguese virtuoso Carlos Paredes (Coimbra, 1925 - Lisboa, 2004), whose contributions to the development of the Portuguese guitar are still unique. In this concert, we propose a journey to the eye of the labyrinth across the different paths of his guitar music, but also music by Pedro Caldeira Cabral, Alcino Frazão and our own. Difficult not to get lost or scared when standing before such a giant. In this labyrinth though, there is no place for fear, because the strength, tenderness, inspiration and sensibility will guide us to find the way out.

July 25 | In the Labyrinth of Paredes @ Concert

Beatriz Ilari

Music training and child development: a review of recent findings from a longitudinal study. 

Evidence suggests that learning to play music enhances musical processing skills and benefits other cognitive abilities.
Furthermore, studies of children and adults indicate that the brains of musicians and nonmusicians are different. It
has not been determined, however, whether such differences result from pre-existing traits, musical training, or an
interaction between the two. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on
children’s brain and cognitive development. The target group of children was compared with two groups of children,
one involved in sports and another not enrolled in any systematic afterschool training. Two years after training, we
observed that children in the music group had better performance than comparison groups in musically relevant
auditory skills and showed related brain changes. For nonmusical skills, children with music training, compared with
children without music or with sports training, showed stronger neural activation during a cognitive inhibition task
in regions involved in response inhibition despite no differences in performance on behavioral measures of executive
function. No such differences were found between music and sports groups. We conclude that music training induces
brain and behavioral changes in children, and those changes are not attributable to pre-existing biological traits.

July 31 |  Music training and child development @ Conference

Eduardo Baltar Soares

In 1926, Alfredo Guimarães (1882-1958), writer and responsible for the installation of the Alberto Sampaio museum, still remembers having met people from Guimarães called “violeira”, that is, sons of those who made musical instruments.
They were the descendants of artisans of a trade that, in Guimarães, has been documented since the 17th century, but which for various reasons became extinct during the 19th century.
In this communication, we will see who these builders were, how they were organized, what instruments they built, and what places they occupied in the cities.

Sep. 19 | The construction of musical instruments in Guimarães: a forgotten craft. @ Conference

Louison Petit


Listen to classical guitar, performed by the winner of the 6th "Cidade de Guimarães" International Guitar Competition 2019 (Category F). The program includes pieces from Francesco Da Milano (1497-1543) ,  Luigi Legnani (1790-1877) , Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968). 



July 06 |  Louison Petit @ Classical Guitar

Mafalda Sousela

Every musician must know how to play a certain instrument. It takes years of practice and a lot of study throughout that path. But ever wondered how that path came into your life? And for the composers, is there a great argument for the upcoming elements that comes to your mind? And how does that seem to reach the mind of the audience? Music can really reach hidden parts of the mind you didn’t know existed. It even has the power to change the world. The goal of this presentation is to give a psychodynamic perspective of the power of the music in both the composer and the audience, through an example of the inspiration that came to Paul McCartney that led him to compose what came to be one of the most important musical pieces of The Beatles: Let it Be.

Sept 12 | Let It Be:The music as a rear window of the mind @ Conference

Margarita Escarpa

- Fernando SOR (1778-1839):   Fantasía nº 7 Op. 30  (“Fantaisie et Variations Brillantes sur deux Airs Favoris connus”, dediées á son ami D. Aguado)

- Manuel DE FALLA (1876-1946) : Escena, Canción del Fuego Fatuo *  (from El Amor Brujo)

- Mario CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO (1895-1968): Capriccio Diabolico ("Omaggio a Paganini"), Op. 85

- Agustín CASTILLA-AVILA (n. 1974)   - “El Silencio que mata”  for  M. Escarpa

- Roland DYENS (1955- 2016): Hommage à Villa-lobos:
                                   Climazonie
                                   Danse caracterielle et Bachianinha
                                   Andantinostalgie
                                  Tuhu

- Astor Pantaleón PIAZZOLLA (1921- 1992): Acentuado y Compadre from Cinco Piezas para Guitarra
 
*Transcription: M Escarpa

 July 05 | Margarita Escarpa @ Concert 

OPGB Soloists

The CIRCUM-NAVIGATION - MUSIC AROUND THE WORLD concert is an imaginary
soundtrack to the first voyage around the globe by Ferdinand Magellan, although located in
modern times and played in modern instruments. This tribute to the great portuguese
navigator tries to capture the sounds and well-known music and composers from several cultures and countries as well as guitar and mandolin do nowadays, easily going from classic to folk music, and from East to the West in a glimpse.

PROGRAM

Sevilla - Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)
Godfather Suite - Nino Rota (1911-1979)
Celtic Fairies - Bruno Szordikowsky (*1944) 
Suíte Mexicana op. 16 - Eduardo Ângulo (*1954) 
Libertango, Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Siberian Spring | Yasuo Kuwahara (1946-2003)

July 10 | Circum-Navigation: Music Around The World @ Concert

Ricardo Barceló

Por finais do século XVIII, depois da revolução francesa, foram abertas em Paris algumas escolas internas laicas para meninas e raparigas. Entre elas, em Saint-Germain, encontrava-se a
 pensão de Madame Campan, que chegou a ser muito famosa; mas houve uma outra que más tarde rivalizou com esta: a casa de Madame Migneron-Remy. Mencionamos estas duas escolas porque na primeira,  provavelmente, deu aulas de guitarra e harpa Guillaume Gatayes, e porque na segunda, tal como tem revelado a nossa investigação, foi docente o famoso guitarrista Fernando Sor.

Artists FIGG