Just over a hundred years ago, Europe witnessed one of the most vibrant periods in the history of music. Any pretext was valid for breaking with the past and experimenting with new forms of artistic expression. One after another, the great composers of the 20th century emerged on a mission to reinvent the art of sound, at a time when all established models seemed to have been exhausted. Stravinsky was one of the leading figures of this movement. In the ballet *The Firebird*, he drew on a supernatural dimension to give free rein to frenetic rhythms that shocked the most conservative, yet captivated the whole world. This is the theme for this concert, which is complemented by the irreverence of two Portuguese composers who, in very different ways, have been shaking up our musical landscape for many decades. They never aligned themselves with any stylistic avant-garde movements. Yet they never turned their backs on modernity or the ‘spirit of the times’ either. Indeed, the works performed here are very much ‘of the moment’: the orchestral suite from the ballet that Armando Mota premiered in January 2025, and a concerto by António Victorino d’Almeida receiving its world premiere, featuring clarinettist Jorge Camacho.
O Pássaro de Fogo
Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa
Armando Mota Suite from the ballet Storm
António Victorino d’Almeida Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (world premiere)
I. Stravinsky Suite from the ballet The Firebird
Soloist: Jorge Camacho clarinet
Pedro Neves conductor
