UPDATE: Alto places are full. Last remaining places available for sopranos, tenors and basses.
We warmly welcome you back to the MARVÃO FESTIVAL CHORUS (MFC), the Marvão Festival Choir!
The Marvão International Music Festival (FIMM) is organising the festival choir once again, bringing together professional and advanced amateur singers from around the world. This creates an opportunity to collaborate and perform together for the public in a final concert at the Nossa Senhora da Estrela church, in Marvão.
The Festival Choir project is open to participants of all ages and nationalities and forms part of the 12th edition of FIMM. Daily rehearsals will be held in Castelo de Vide, beginning on 27 July in the afternoon and continuing until 1 August, the day of the final concert.
All individuals with some experience in choral singing are invited to participate in this edition, which will feature a programme entitled “Under Endless Stars – Music of Night and Stillness”, under the direction of conductor and choir director Pedro Teixeira, who will lead all rehearsals and the final concert.
We look forward to seeing you in Marvão!
REHEARSALS PERIOD: 27 July – 1 August 2026
REHEARSALS VENUE: Centro de Arte e Cultura – Fundação Nossa Senhora da Esperança, CASTELO DE VIDE
DATE, PROGRAMME AND CONCERT VENUE:
1 August, 16.00 – N. Sra. da Estrela Church, MARVÃO
PROGRAMME
“Under Endless Stars” – Music of Night and Stillness
Benjamin Britten (1913–76)
The Evening Primrose
Josef Rheinberger (1839–1901)
Abendlied
Judith Herrington
Stars Tonight
Fernando Lopes-Graça (1906–94)
Dormi, menino, dormi
Eric Whitacre (n. 1970)
Water Night
Morten Lauridsen (n. 1943)
Sure on This Shining Night
Eric Whitacre
The Seal Lullaby
Daniel Elder (n. 1986)
A Breathing Peace
Ēriks Ešenvalds (n. 1977)
Only in Sleep
Elaine Hagenberg (n. 1979)
The Music of Stillness
Ēriks Ešenvalds
Stars
MARVÃO FESTIVAL CHORUS
RODRIGO GOMES, PIANO
INÊS MONTOIA, PERCUSSION
PEDRO TEIXEIRA, CHOIR DIRECTION AND CONDUCTOR
REQUIREMENTS
All individuals with some experience in choral singing are welcome to participate in this project. The ability to read a musical score is required. It is not necessary to submit any links or audio files; however, we kindly ask you to indicate your experience in choral singing and your voice type.
The scores will be made available and sent in advance to all participants with confirmed registration, allowing time for the study and preparation of the programme during the weeks preceding the start of the project.
COSTS
Application / Admission Fee: €75
The Marvão Festival Chorus project is estimated to cost several hundred euros per participant, with the majority of this cost being supported by the festival’s sponsors and patrons.
Participants in the Chorus will be charged a one-time, non-refundable application fee of €75.
This fee is only payable after participation in the Chorus has been confirmed and accepted, and not during the application process.
Therefore, there are no tuition fees or any additional costs. However, all participants must fully cover their own travel, food, and accommodation expenses.
WHERE TO STAY
We recommend seeking accommodation in Castelo de Vide, within walking distance from the rehearsal venue, or in nearby areas such as Marvão and Portalegre, provided the participants can drive by themselves.
On the day of the concert, the festival organisation will arrange transportation for all Choir members between the rehearsal location (Castelo de Vide) and the concert venue (Marvão), and back again.
REHEARSALS
Rehearsals will take place at the following times:
Mon | 27 Jul | 16:00 – 19:00
Tue | 28 Jul | 10:00 – 13:00
Wed | 29 Jul | 10:00 – 13:00
Thu | 30 Jul | 14:00 – 17:00
Fri | 31 Jul | 14:00 – 17:00
Sat | 01 Aug | 14:00 – 15:30 balance rehearsal | 16:00 final concert
TICKETS
All MFC members are entitled to one complimentary ticket for family or friends for their own concert (1 August), as well as a 50% discount on the purchase of single tickets for themselves to attend other Festival concerts (subject to availability).
All discounted tickets must be requested and purchased exclusively via the email address info@marvaomusic.com by 20 July. After this date, Choir participants will be required to purchase tickets exclusively at the Festival Ticket Office, located at Rua do Espírito Santo, 3A, 7330-117 Marvão. The organisation cannot guarantee either ticket availability or the application of this special discount after the stated deadline.
Regular tickets (without discount) may always be purchased via the Ticketline.pt website.
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to this year’s Marvão Festival and to the unique musical adventure that is the Marvão Festival Chorus. Bringing together singers from several countries and musical backgrounds, this ensemble embodies the spirit of collaboration, curiosity and artistic excellence that run throughout the Marvão International Music Festival.
This year’s programme, Under Endless Stars, invites us to explore music inspired by the night — its stillness, its mystery, and the quiet sense of wonder that comes when we look up at the sky. Through works by composers from different traditions and generations, we will create a sound world shaped by reflection, calm and luminous beauty.
Some of the music we will perform evokes the quiet radiance of the night sky in remarkable ways — even through the delicate resonance of tuned glasses, whose shimmering sound seems to mirror the distant light of the stars.
When we gather in Marvão this July, we will have the exciting task of shaping this programme together, building a shared sound and musical vision in a remarkably short time. This process is always inspiring: strangers quickly become colleagues, and colleagues become friends through the joy of making music together.
I very much look forward to meeting you all in Marvão and to sharing this musical journey beneath its endless summer stars.
Pedro Teixeira
