Contemporary Music Biennial closes today in Aveiro

The 5th edition of the Reencontros de Música Contemporânea, a biennial event organized by Arte no Tempo in co-production with Teatro Aveirense, comes to an end today. Over two long weekends, Aveiro hosted concerts, premieres and meetings between performers and composers, establishing itself as a national center for contemporary music creation. The last concert of the biennial will take place at 6:30 pm this afternoon, in the Sala Estúdio of Teatro Aveirense. On stage will be the string quartet of the ensemble ars ad hoc, which will perform three works written between 1997 and 2018. The choice fell on compositions by Mariana Vieira (1997), Isabel Soveral (1961) and Oscar Bianchi (1975), in a proposal that, although it does not include absolute premieres, focuses on revisiting works to deepen the interpretation and offer new readings. Mariana Vieira's quartet, commissioned by Arte no Tempo and premiered in 2023 at the Évora Contemporary Music Festival, starts from a simple musical gesture - the crescendo - to reflect on the tension between history and the present. “Anamorphoses V”, by Isabel Soveral, written in 1997, dialogues with a work for solo cello from the same series, revisiting materials and ideas in a new instrumental context. “Pathos of Distance”, by Oscar Bianchi, premiered in 2017 by the JACK Quartet in Germany, introduces vibrating objects to string instruments, expanding their sound resources and proposing an ethical and political reflection on otherness and migration.

By opting for works that have already been presented previously, the ars ad hoc ensemble emphasizes the importance of continuing to work on contemporary repertoire beyond premieres, countering the tendency towards ephemerality that often marks this type of artistic production.

The 5th edition of the Reencontros de Música Contemporânea, a biennial event organized by Arte no Tempo in co-production with Teatro Aveirense, comes to an end today. Over two long weekends, Aveiro hosted concerts, premieres and meetings between performers and composers, establishing itself as a national center for contemporary music creation. The last concert of the biennial will take place at 6:30 pm this afternoon, in the Sala Estúdio of Teatro Aveirense. On stage will be the string quartet of the ensemble ars ad hoc, which will perform three works written between 1997 and 2018. The choice fell on compositions by Mariana Vieira (1997), Isabel Soveral (1961) and Oscar Bianchi (1975), in a proposal that, although it does not include absolute premieres, focuses on revisiting works to deepen the interpretation and offer new readings. Mariana Vieira's quartet, commissioned by Arte no Tempo and premiered in 2023 at the Évora Contemporary Music Festival, starts from a simple musical gesture - the crescendo - to reflect on the tension between history and the present. “Anamorphoses V”, by Isabel Soveral, written in 1997, dialogues with a work for solo cello from the same series, revisiting materials and ideas in a new instrumental context. “Pathos of Distance”, by Oscar Bianchi, premiered in 2017 by the JACK Quartet in Germany, introduces vibrating objects to string instruments, expanding their sound resources and proposing an ethical and political reflection on otherness and migration.

By opting for works that have already been presented previously, the ars ad hoc ensemble emphasizes the importance of continuing to work on contemporary repertoire beyond premieres, countering the tendency towards ephemerality that often marks this type of artistic production.

The 5th edition of the Reencontros de Música Contemporânea, a biennial event organized by Arte no Tempo in co-production with Teatro Aveirense, comes to an end today. Over two long weekends, Aveiro hosted concerts, premieres and meetings between performers and composers, establishing itself as a national center for contemporary music creation. The last concert of the biennial will take place at 6:30 pm this afternoon, in the Sala Estúdio of Teatro Aveirense. On stage will be the string quartet of the ensemble ars ad hoc, which will perform three works written between 1997 and 2018. The choice fell on compositions by Mariana Vieira (1997), Isabel Soveral (1961) and Oscar Bianchi (1975), in a proposal that, although it does not include absolute premieres, focuses on revisiting works to deepen the interpretation and offer new readings. Mariana Vieira's quartet, commissioned by Arte no Tempo and premiered in 2023 at the Évora Contemporary Music Festival, starts from a simple musical gesture - the crescendo - to reflect on the tension between history and the present. “Anamorphoses V”, by Isabel Soveral, written in 1997, dialogues with a work for solo cello from the same series, revisiting materials and ideas in a new instrumental context. “Pathos of Distance”, by Oscar Bianchi, premiered in 2017 by the JACK Quartet in Germany, introduces vibrating objects to string instruments, expanding their sound resources and proposing an ethical and political reflection on otherness and migration.

By opting for works that have already been presented previously, the ars ad hoc ensemble emphasizes the importance of continuing to work on contemporary repertoire beyond premieres, countering the tendency towards ephemerality that often marks this type of artistic production.