A reading of Le Feu Qui Dort by Mário Dionísio, performed by Miguel Azguime
Miguel Azguime: Against Silence / Triple Concerto for clarinet, cello, piano and orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto for violin, cello, piano and orchestra
The closing concert of the Música Viva 2026 Festival, dedicated to the theme of ‘Insurgency’, brings together two works which, though separated by more than two centuries, converge in a shared affirmation of music as a space for freedom, dialogue and resistance.
Under the baton of Pedro Neves, the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra presents Against Silence – Triple Concerto for clarinet, cello, piano and string orchestra by Miguel Azguime. In this work, the confrontation between three soloists and the orchestra creates a dramatic space where sound asserts itself as a gesture of resistance against imposed silence, against indifference and against the erosion of listening in the contemporary world. Azguime’s composition explores the tension between individuality and the collective, giving rise to a musical discourse that transforms the instrumental dialogue into a metaphor for the very need for insurgency.
In dialogue with this contemporary work, the programme features Ludwig van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, a unique piece from the classical repertoire that brings together violin, cello and piano in a collaborative and balanced relationship with the orchestra. Composed in the early 19th century, this score already reflects the humanist and emancipatory spirit that runs through Beethoven’s work, affirming music as a space where individual voices and the community meet.
Placed side by side, these two works reveal how, in different eras, music can become a gesture of affirmation and freedom. In the context of the Música Viva 2026 Festival, which calls for insurrection as a response to violence, the normalisation of tyranny and the erosion of humanity, this final concert transforms the orchestral stage into a space for active listening and critical thinking – where music rises up against silence and reaffirms its capacity to imagine possible futures.
The Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra is the cornerstone of a project that extends beyond the usual format of a classical orchestra. When it made its public debut on 10 June 1992, it announced its aim of bringing together artistic, educational and civic missions. It has premiered works by most of Portugal’s active composers and, in addition to music rooted in the European classical tradition, also performs other styles and traditions, having shared the stage with Xutos & Pontapés, Carlos do Carmo, Rui Veloso, Mário Laginha, Tito Paris, Sérgio Godinho and many others.
Among many others, it has been conducted by maestros Enrique Dimecke, Arild Remmereit, Christopher Hogwood, Theodor Guschlbauer, Emilio Pomàrico and, more regularly, Nicholas Kraemer, Brian Schembri (Principal Conductor in 2003/2004), Olivier Cuendet, Enrico Onofri and Michael Zilm.
Since January 2021, Pedro Neves has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra. He was Principal Conductor of the Algarve Orchestra between 2011 and 2013, and subsequently Associate Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra between 2013 and 2018. He is regularly invited to conduct the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Porto Casa da Música Symphony Orchestra, the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, the Beiras Philharmonic Orchestra, the Southern Classical Orchestra, the Madeira Classical Orchestra, the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia.
In the field of contemporary music, he has collaborated with the Remix Ensemble Casa da Música, the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group, the Síntese Contemporary Music Group and the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, with whom he has premiered works by various Portuguese and international composers, touring South Korea and Japan. He is the founder of Camerata Alma Mater, an ensemble dedicated to performing repertoire for string orchestra, with which he has received widespread acclaim from audiences and specialist critics alike.
Pedro Neves began his musical studies in Águeda, his hometown. He studied the cello with Isabel Boiça, Paulo Gaio Lima and Marçal Cervera at the Aveiro Conservatory of Music, the National Higher Academy of Orchestra (Lisbon) and the Juan Pedro Carrero School of Music (Barcelona) respectively, with the support of the Gulbenkian Foundation. As regards orchestral conducting, he studied with Jean-Marc Burfin, obtaining a Bachelor’s degree at the National Superior Academy of Orchestra, with Emilio Pomàrico in Milan, and with Michael Zilm, to whom he was an assistant. The result of this journey means that his artistic personality is characterised by the depth, coherence and seriousness of his musical interpretation.
