Programming

The events we cherish

The events we cherish

Associação António Fragoso’s Cultural Program

Open Windows Concert

The Open Windows Concert is an annual event organized by the António Fragoso Association (AAF) in Pocariça, with the support of various local, regional and national entities.

The first Open Windows Concert was in 2018, at the time of the celebrations of the Centenary of António Fragoso’s death. Its success was such that AAF, with the support of Cantanhede City Council, decided to make this event an annual celebration.

Concerto Janelas Abertas - Associação António Fragoso

What is it?

A concert full of tradition and history

“Basically, this concert originated from the fact that in 1918 we were at war and here at home they had dinner at 7 in the afternoon to save electricity. Of course, at 8 o’clock they would go upstairs to the salons. 

Usually it was Uncle Antonio who started with the music because he was also a fantastic improviser. Of course, he was followed by the rest of the family: Aunt Céu was a violinist, Isabel was a cellist and my Grandpa Viriato, who had a pure ear, played 4 wind instruments and could accompany the music.

As these evenings took place during the summer holidays, António invited several other colleagues, like Fernando Leitão, Lourenço Varela Cid, António Fernando Cabral and even Francine Benoit.

The nights were warm. When it got hot, the windows would be opened. What would happen next was that people from Pocariça would pass under those windows and they would listen.

On the following day, beyond word of mouth, the listeners from the day before would take a chair so that they could comfortably listen to that beautiful music. By the middle of July, the square in front of the house was already full of chairs, covering the road from one side to the other.

This story was told to me by António’s godmother, with whom I lived until I was 16 years old, and I promised myself that one day I would bring back these concerts.

At the first Concert we had almost 1000 people who, in an almost sepulchral silence, listened to the music without seeing the artists who were playing. Only when the concert was over did the artists come down to the street to receive applause.”

Testimony from Eduardo Fragoso, António Fragoso’s nephew and President of the AAF, on the recreation of the Open Windows concerts

Testimonials

An event that captivates the public

Martim de Sousa Tavares

"Only those who saw hundreds of people sitting late at night, exposed to the cold and wind in the Largo António Fragoso in Pocariça, listening with devotion to the music coming out of the open windows, in a remarkable recreation of the musical evenings that António Fragoso used to command there, can have an idea of what the true celebration of a composer is, incorporating him in people's lives and making his work more present than ever.
I am also pleased to report that that event was not exclusively filled with Fragoso's music, as, by the way, were not the evenings when he sat at the piano. For it is exactly like that, in context and not exclusively, in a natural and not imposed way, that one should celebrate Fragoso."

Martim de Sousa Tavares

Maestro

Annual Cultural Program

The Associação António Fragoso annually organizes its season of cultural events, which includes varied events such as live concerts, colloquiums, conferences, cultural meetings and the launch of editions.

Concerts

The music that unites us

Patronage, Sponsorship and Partnership

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