Rumos Ensemble

Playing Portugal is the name of the multimedia concert conceived and performed by the Rumos Ensemble trio, already presented in Portugal, Germany, France, Namibia, South Africa, United States, Cuba, Switzerland, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Spain, Denmark, Brazil, China, Bulgaria and Greece.

This innovative and ambitious project brings together: a selection of traditional music from ten Portuguese regions, arranged for a trio of violin, clarinet and piano; the screening of previously unseen films from each region, evoking the beauty and the natural and architectural wealth of our country; as well as statements from well-known personalities from each region, such as António Victorino d’Almeida, Graça Morais, Janita Salomé, Carlos Alberto Moniz, Rosa Mota and Lídia Jorge.

The pertinence and uniqueness of this recital not only derives from the interdisciplinarity and artistic and stylistic transversality which lay at its foundation, but also from the determination of three erudite musicians with established international careers in all four continents, to look at the Portuguese traditional musical heritage with a refreshing contemporary energy that is nonetheless accessible to all types of audiences, from the most erudite to the most popular. Besides the variety and eclectic nature of the arrangements, the pertinence of the music gathered together, and the rigour, technical and artistic precision of the performers, the multimedia dimension of Playing Portugal, conceived and directed by João Vasco, himself distinguished with various awards at both national and international film festivals, reveals to us an appealing synthesis of landscapes, cities, neighbourhoods, monuments, dances, customs and people, enhancing and reinforcing the memory and collective identity of our people, whose history is so closely bound up with the history of its streets, neighbourhoods, monuments and cities.

Playing Portugal is a profoundly Portuguese audiovisual show, bringing together Portuguese music and performers, together with images of our natural and architectural heritage, in a harmonious fusion between history and contemporaneity.

On 15 September 2020, in the CCB’s small auditorium, the concert Playing Portugal will be returning home, to Lisbon, where it will celebrate its 50th performance.

Fully prepared for another 50 concerts, we will continue to bring Portugal to the world.