Concert to celebrate the 90th birthday of Canon António Ferreira dos Santos
The Porto Cathedral Choir (CSCP) is organising a concert to celebrate the 90th birthday of Canon António Ferreira dos Santos, to be held on 26 June at 9.30 pm at Porto Cathedral. This celebration is also a tribute of deep gratitude to the founder of our choir, which he established in 1971.
The performers will be the CSCP, five soloists and the Maia Classical Orchestra, conducted by Martin Lutz and Tiago Ferreira.
The repertoire for this concert consists of three Magnificat:
• Magnificat BWV 243, by J.S. Bach
• Magnificat SWV 468, by Heinrich Schütz
• Magnificat, by A. Ferreira dos Santos
The Magnificat compositions by Bach (BWV 243), Schütz (SWV 468) and Ferreira dos Santos share the celebration of Mary’s canticle, though they present historical and stylistic variations. Bach places his work within the Lutheran tradition with a balanced structure for choir and orchestra; Schütz explores polyphonic textures and varied instrumentation reflecting Protestant and Catholic practices; Ferreira dos Santos incorporates contemporary Portuguese elements and highlights expressive contrasts.
Each composer imbues the work with their own distinctive characteristics in terms of liturgical context, instrumentation and expressiveness, yet all converge in their celebration of the biblical text through choral-symphonic music.