Coimbra is home to a burgeoning activity in the area of musicology, ethnomusicology and other music related academic research. Coimbra is also a city well known for its university. The Illustrated Conferences were designed to give the citizens of Coimbra an opportunity to find out more about their city's musical culture and all this important and dynamic academic activity that's taking place. All this in the relatively unusual but familiar setting of their monuments, buildings, streets, squares and other newly discovered venues.
The conferences were carefully selected to allow everyone to have a broad view of what is the erudit musical past and present of their city.
We started out with a presentation by Virgílio Caseiro titled "A Canção de Coimbra", on the so-called "Coimbra Song". The conference took place at the Old Cathedral Square. The series went on with a presentation called "Divina Musica, the Religious Music at the Coimbra Monasteries", on the "Contemporary Coimbra Composers in the transition of the XX to the XXI century", "The music and work of Tavares Lamecense", which included concerts, masterclasses and visits to Coimbra luthiers by the likes of François Dry and Hopkinson Smith and finally a conference on the music of two celebrated composers "Manuel Faria and Mário Sousa Santos, two Coimbra composers" at the Semide monastery.
Illustrated Conferencies: Bringing the knowledge to the streets and squares of Coimbra, the City of Knowledge.
(photos by Fábrica de Conteúdos, António Tavares, CAA)
