Past Editions

16th Edition of FIMPV
April 01 to 21, 2023
“The support for music can be the relationship between a man and a woman, the score of their gestures touching, or their gazes meeting” Vasco Graça Moura
In recent years, the month of April in Viseu has been synonymous with a music festival. It is necessary for our gazes to meet through music, and this proposal to meet, to be able to experience enriching and unforgettable emotions together, are strong motivating factors for another edition of the Viseu International Spring Music Festival.
The program includes 19 concerts and an impressive number of more than 200 musicians taking to the stage. Although there are many foreign musicians, the festival will start with home-grown talent, with our students and teachers taking the honors on the first and second day of the festival. Also with artists from the region, we’ll be able to watch an ACERT creation that brings together music, cinema and theater in a show with lots of humor.
As an international festival, we have guest musicians from other countries such as Spain, Ukraine, South Korea, Germany, France, Morocco, Venezuela and Argentina. Also of great note is the 5th Viseu International Piano Competition, which will bring to the city young and brilliant pianists from 13 nationalities: Spain, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, Bulgaria, France, Japan, Germany, China, Russia, Brazil, USA and Australia. In this edition, chamber music has a prominent place, with the presence of various duos, trios, quartets and larger formations. Moving on to French music from the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century with a viola d’arco and piano recital, continuing with Argentine tango and music that unites Muslim and Jewish culture, the festival is also enriched by the guitar music of composer Fernando Lapa. In the middle of the program we can hear the Gaon Trio, with French music, and Ars ad Hoc, with two premieres, a work by Carlos Lopes and an arrangement of Stravinsky’s Petrouchka Suite No. 2. There will be two concerts with soloists, two guitarists who have won prizes in international competitions, Luis Alejandro García and Manuel Toucinho, and piano music by Ukrainian virtuoso Illia Ovcharenko, who has also won many prizes. Orchestral music will once again be present with the Orquestra XXI, the Portuguese Symphonic Band, with clarinettist Carlos Ferreira, and the Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras in an Opera Gala with 4 soloists, choir and orchestra.
Opera will also be present with the originality of composer Miguel Azguime. Directed by conductor Pedro Neves, it features 3 singers, 2 narrators, 7 instrumentalists, video and real-time electronic music.
The creation of new works has been one of our main focuses. This year, in partnership with Miso Music Portugal, FIMPViseu commissioned 2 new works from composers Carlos Marecos and Sofia Sousa Rocha, with the world premiere scheduled for April 6 by the Sond’Ar-te Trio. On Good Friday we’ll be able to hear “The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross” for string quartet and recitatives; among the most beautiful, profound and unusual works by Haydn. Congratulations to our audience, musicians, patrons and all the organizations that make FIMPViseu possible.
A special thank you to the Municipality of Viseu, in the person of the Mayor, Dr. Fernando Ruas and the Councillor for Culture, Leonor Barata, for all the support given to Proviseu/Conservatório de Música for the realization of this music festival in the city and region.
May we all meet at the spring festival that’s just around the corner!
Programação detalhada de 2023
– See the agenda (portuguese only)
– Download the .pdf (portuguese only)

15th Edition of FIMPV
April 02 to 29, 2022
“April is the month of freedom, in Viseu it is also the month of music…
“If we had no winter, spring would not be so pleasing: if we did not sometimes experience the taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” Anne Bradstreet
After two atypical editions, conditioned by the pandemic, the festival ditches livestreaming concerts, and calls audiences to the halls of our musical spring once again.
This edition offers 19 concerts involving around 300 musicians. As you would expect, the line-up is filled with musicians from the four corners of the world representing countries such as Brazil, Argentina, China, Slovakia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal.
Although there are many foreign musicians, the festival will start with our students and teachers. AftheSix orchestras will take the stage: Orquestra XXI, Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras with the Quarteto do Rio, Orquestra de Saxofones do Dão, Orquestra POEMa with Abraham Cupeiro, Orquestra Filarmónica Portuguesa and the Orquestra Juvenil de Viseu.
The creation of new works has always been a focus of this festival; therefore, in partnership with Miso Music Portugal, FIMPViseu commissioned 3 works for orchestra which will have their world premiere in Viseu, on April 22nd, 2022 by the Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra.
Several international soloists will perform on our stages, among which we highlight the guitarists Carlo Curatolo and Elia Portarena from Italy, Karol Samuelčík from Slovakia and the Chinese pianist Qing Li.
In Chamber Music we would like to highlight the Trio Cavalcade from France, with Jérémy Jouve, Mathias Duplessy and Stéphane Edouard; the Duo Melis formed by the guitarists Susana Prieto and Alexis Muzurakis from Spain and Greece; the Duo of Carles Pons and Dario Polonara, from Spain and Argentina with the programme of “El Tango”; Re:Flexus Trio that among others brings us the music of Sérgio Azevedo; to the Ibertrio that on the eve of the 25th April, will present us with the programme “Music Weapon of Freedom”.
We will also have the presence of several duos of “house musicians” with very diverse programs, from which we highlight “CAR12 – A Grande Viagem” a music-theatre show with André and Miguel Cardoso.
The International Guitar and Piano Competition of Viseu attracts young performers, and excellent musicians from all over the globe, confirming the international scope of the festival.
This year, we have the Guitar in the main role; after a first eliminatory round online, we will be able to attend in person the 2nd eliminatory round and the final on the 8th and 9th. This contest stands out not only in the national but also internationally and has been a launchpad for a current generation of great guitarists.
Thank you to the audience, the musicians, the patrons, and all the entities that support the FIMPViseu.
A special thanks to the Municipality of Viseu, in the person of the Mayor of Viseu Dr. Fernando Ruas, and the Councillor for Culture Leonor Barata for all the support given to PROVISEU/Conservatório de Música for the realization of this music festival of the city and region.
In a time of pain and human suffering, I hope this music festival can bring us moments of great beauty, focusing on the best that man can do.
Come April don’t stay at home, spring is coming!”
2022’s program detail
– See the agenda (portuguese only)
– Download the .pdf (portuguese only)

14th Edition of FIMPV
April 01 to 25, 2021
This edition was deeply marked by the departure of António Almeida Henriques, then Mayor of Viseu. As a citizen and mayor we acknowledge his passion for the city and dedication to culture. As a friend he had a special place in our hearts and the affection he showed for this festival over the years was evident for all those who worked and work in it.
His mark will be indelible and continuing in his absence was an arduous task, but one we did with pride, a sense of duty and respect for his memory and for everything he fought for in life.
“April in Viseu is synonymous with music.
“There is a spring in every life: we must sing it in flower, because if God gave us a voice, it was to sing! And if one day I shall be dust, ashes and nothingness may my night be a dawn, may I know how to lose myself in order to find myself”. – Florbela Espanca
The pandemic hasn’t gone away yet! It continues to alter our lives, demanding change in our habits, adaptation and reinvention. That’s what happened to FIMPViseu! It adapted to adversity in order to meet the public, as well as creating the opportunity for many musicians to go on stage, a rare event in these last few months.
In this edition, we will be able to attend 20 concerts involving around 250 musicians. The difficulty of crossing borders forced a restructuring of the programme, betting mainly on national performers. Similarly to the last edition, the audience will not be present, but will be able to watch all concerts safely from home, through livestream.
We start on the 1st April with Mozart’s Requiem, in celebration of Easter week, and the 25th closes with Lopes Graça music, in commemoration of the conquest of freedom. The big ensembles will be represented by Orquestra Clássica do Centro, Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras, Orquestra XXI and our Orquestra Juvenil de Viseu. Chamber music will be represented, among other groups, by Bando Surunyo (Early Music); Ars Ad Hoc, and Lisbon Contemporary Music Group; João Roiz Ensemble with the Bayan Quartet; Cláudia Pinto and João Vale; António Saiote, Artur Caldeira and Daniel Paredes (Fado and other music); Bruno Monteiro, Miguel Rocha and João Paulo Santos. This wide range of musicians will bring to Viseu the music of Jorge Peixinho, Wagner, Francisco de Lacerda, Duplessy, Eugène Ysaye and Ernest Chausson. The diversity of styles is completed with the presence of several soloists, such as the pianists Manuel Araújo, Diana Botelho Vieira and Luísa Tender. In a partnership with Teatro Viriato and Galeria Zé dos Bois, we will have the saxophonist Ricardo Toscano accompanied by Demian Cabaud, Carlos Barretto, Marcos Cavaleiro and João Pereira. Almost ending the festival, the “Spring Concert” by the teachers of the Viseu Music Conservatory, marks its usual presence since the beginning of the history of this festival.
The FIMPViseu is one of the events of great cultural relevance of the city of Viseu and is affirmed as one of the main classical music festivals of the country. This year, the Piano will again bring us great emotions, with a young generation of virtuous musicians competing for the prize of the International Piano Competition of Viseu, which this year holds its 4th edition with the final scheduled for April 10.
Thank you to the audience, the musicians, the patrons and all the entities that support the FIMPViseu.
A special thanks to the Municipality of Viseu, in the person of the Mayor, Dr. Almeida Henriques, to whom we wish a speedy recovery.
A special thanks to the Councillor Dr. Jorge Sobrado for his work, brilliant and passionate, as Councillor for Culture.
I wish you all good health and that you enjoy, at home, the Viseu Music Festival”.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
2021’s program detail
– See the agenda (portuguese only)
– Download the .pdf (portuguese only)

13th Edition of FIMPV
November 28th to December 19th, 2020
April in Viseu is synonymous with music! This year, Covid19 forced us to postpone the Spring Music Festival until the rainy season. However, the pandemic did not say goodbye and the festival had to be reformulated so that, still this year, spring music could come to the city of Viseu, even in winter.
Our commitment to the public that has accompanied us for 12 consecutive editions, as well as the support of our sponsors and various institutions in the city, convinced us that giving up is not an option.
This edition will certainly be in the history of our festival. This winter, the public is invited to attend all concerts safely, without leaving home, because the shows will not have an audience present, but will be broadcast via Live Streaming.
In this edition we will be able to watch 18 concerts that involve about 400 musicians. The restructuring of the festival led to a focus on Portuguese artists or residents in Portugal, although countries such as Spain, Greece, Croatia, Argentina, Cuba, Poland and Romania are still represented.
We will be presenting 4 concerts of orchestral music with emphasis on two Christmas concerts by the Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras and the soloists Isabel Alcobia and Cláudia Franco, and with the Orchestra XXI that will bring us music from Bach. Our Youth Orchestra will take us to the universe of cinema with comments by Mário Augusto, and the Atlantic Orchestra, with 7 national and international soloists will bring the music of Joaquim Rodrigo for guitar and orchestra.
We will have the world premiere of 4 works for marimba and electronics, commissioned by FIMPViseu to 4 Portuguese composers, and the premiere of a work for 1 dancer and 1 musician.
The Spring Music Festival will take place in the main halls of Viseu, including the Teatro Viriato, the Museu Nacional de Grão Vasco, the Aula Magna of the Instituto Politécnico, the Multiusos de Viseu, the Igreja da Misericórdia and the Conservatório.
This festival is one of the events of great cultural relevance of the city of Viseu and affirms itself as one of the main festivals of classical music in the country. The International Guitar and Piano Contest of Viseu has made the festival truly international, as musicians from all over the world come to us. This year, the guitar is the queen and promises to bring us the young generation of virtuoso guitarists to compete for the biggest prize ever awarded in a guitar contest in Portugal. Follow the Viseu International Guitar Contest, in its fourth edition.
Welcome to the public, musicians, patrons and all entities that support our Festival.
A special thanks to the Municipality of Viseu, in the persons of the Mayor of Viseu Dr. Almeida Henriques and the Councilman of Culture Dr. Jorge Sobrado, for once again supporting and accompanying this important event for our city.
2020’s program details
– See the agenda (portuguese only)
– Download the .pdf (portuguese only)

12th Edition of FIMPV
April 05 to 27, 2019
Music welcomes spring, enriching its warmth and colors with the magic of sound! And it is not just any sound. It is the sound of great concerts, full of quality, diversity, creation and internationalization.
The International Spring Music Festival once again brought unforgettable moments in such diverse places in the city as the Teatro Viriato, the National Museum Grão Vasco, the Aula Magna of the Polytechnic Institute, the Multiusos Pavilion, the Club of Viseu, the Cathedral and other churches and stages of Viseu.
FIMPViseu is one of the events of great cultural relevance in this city and already asserts itself as one of the main classical music festivals in the country.
In the 12th edition, the program focused on the music of current Portuguese authors. Over 3 concerts, 4 world premieres of works commissioned by the Festival were witnessed, which in this way stimulated and made known the national musical creation.
Since diversity is also a hallmark, the public had the opportunity to enjoy concerts of ancient music, instrumental music, music with soloists, chamber music, orchestral music, symphonic choral music, and music elaborated and/or performed with a computer.
Music has also spread to Viseu schools, homes for the elderly, prisons, and countless institutions, through concerts and educational activities prepared to suit these audiences.
The Viseu International Piano and Guitar Competition is a great chapter of the festival, responsible for the integration of Viseu in the seasons of the great musical events of international projection. In 2019, it was up to the piano to show its national and international virtuosos with the International Piano Competition of Viseu, in its third edition. The results ended in a surprising first-place ex aequo between Qianyi Xu (China) and Xiaoyu Liu (Canada).
The festival was also completed with the 12th edition of a school-level contest, aimed at students at the Dr. José de Azeredo Perdigão Conservatory; and also with several masterclasses performed by great masters of the national and international music scene, which were aimed at music students.
2019’s program details
– See the agenda (portuguese only)
– Download the .pdf (portuguese only)

11th Edition of FIMPV
April 06 to 28, 2018
After ten years of growing successfully, in this eleventh edition the main objective was to maintain the high bar set. In an edition sponsored by pianists Mário Laginha, we believe we have done just that. We continue to focus on pedagogical concerts, organizing 20 concerts in so many other places, namely: Escola Massorim, Escola da Avenida, Escola da Ribeira, Escola S. Miguel, Escola Marzovelos, Escola Bairro Municipal, Escola Vildemoinhos, Escola S. Salvador, Escola S. Martinho de Orgens, S. Tiago School, Aquilino Ribeiro School, Cavernães School and Mundão School, Mestre Arnaldo Malho School, Rolando Oliveira School, APPACDM, Viscondessa S. Caetano Home, As Sementinhas Nursery, Viseu Prison, Pediatrics Hospital Viseu .
The focus on training was reflected in the realization of 8 masterclasses with workshops, namely: Organ with João Paulo Janeiro; Percussion with Mário Teixeira; Guitar with Odair Assad, Sérgio Assad and Françoise-Emmanuelle Denis, Violin with João Mendes; Violoncello with Ricardo Mota; Flute with Monika Streitová; Guitar with Pedro Rodrigues and Guitar with Dejan Ivanovic.
Regarding concerts, we believe that a strong bet on orchestras is also a bet on quality music. These groups, given their size and the inherent variety of instruments, allow bringing back to life the repertoire of great masters such as Robert Shumann, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, as they idealized it. These and other composers’ works included the Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra with Pavel Milyukov, the Beiras Philharmonic Orchestra with the Viseu Guitar Quartet, the Viseu Youth Orchestra with the Conservatory’s Mixed Choir and special participation by Elisabete Matos and the XXI Orchestra with the Gulbenkian choir brought us. In addition to this orchestra bet, there were many other strong concerts. The presence of guitarist brothers Sérgio and Odair Assad is a reference in any festival in the world. Mário Laginha with Pedro Burmester, João Roiz Ensemble with António Rosado and Carisa Marcelino, 5G5C – Portugal Guitar Quintet and Martin Krajco with Radka Krajcova were other highlights.
The festival ended, as has already been the case, with the 3rd International Guitar Competition in Viseu. Marko Topchii (Ukraine) received the first prize of the night that he would accumulate with the first place awarded by the Jury. Gian Marco Ciampa (Italy) ranked second and Nicola Montella (Italy) ranked third. Taiki Matsumoto (Japan) was distinguished with an honorable mention. João Robim Rocha, semi-finalist, stood out in his interpretations and was awarded with the prize for Best Portuguese, in total € 13,500 were awarded in monetary prizes and the first ranked player also guaranteed 4 shows for 2019, namely at the JK Guitar Festival Mertz in Slovakia; at the Sevilla Guitar Festival in Spain; at the Guitar´essonne Festival in France (2019) and in the next edition of this same festival.
2018’s program details
– See the agenda (portuguese only)
– Download the .pdf (portuguese only)

10th Edition of FIMPV
April 07 to 29, 2017
To celebrate the ten years of this festival, we did it by betting even more on educational concerts, masterclasses and workshops. We have always assumed training as one of the main pillars of this music festival, for which it made sense to hold master classes, namely with João Paulo Santos (Canto), Bruno Monteiro (Violin) Rute Fernandes (Flute / Piccolo), David Dias da Silva (Clarinet) ), Elisabete Matos (Canto), Teresa Correia (Cello), Maria Gabriela Quel (Piano), Tae-Hyunh Kim (Piano), Choi Sown Le (Piano), Miguel Henriques (Piano), Jean Fassina (Piano), Andrej Jasińki (Piano) and also workshops with Pulsat Percussion Group (Percussion), José Eduardo Magalhães (Circular Breathing). Artur Caldeira (Portuguese Guitar), Harpsichord and Organ – João Paulo Janeiro (Harpsichord and Organ), Richard Galliano (Accordion) and Yamandú Costa (Guitar)
With the pedagogical concerts we visited 21 schools and institutions, namely: Escola de Marzovelos; Municipal Neighborhood School; Vildemoinhos School; S. Salvador School; S. Martinho de Orgens School; S. Tiago School; Ribeira School; Avenida School; S. Miguel School; Massorim School; Mundão School; Cavernães School; Mestre Arnaldo Malho School; Rolando Oliveira School; Aquilino Ribeiro School; Alves Martins Secondary School; Emídio Navarro High School; Viriato Secondary School; Cerebral Palsy Association of Viseu; S. Teotónio Hospital; Infantário da Misericórdia; Infantário das Sementinhas; Lar da Misericórdia D. Leonor and Viseu Regional Prison Establishment where we reached a total of approximately 2,000 people.
At the heart of any festival are concerts, and in 2017 FIMPV had several international appearances of enormous value. The highlight was in names like Richard Galliano, Yamandú Costa, Tae-Hyung Kim, Jie Yuan, Kika Materula, but also in national talent with Elisabete Matos, Bruno Monteiro, João Paulo Santos, the North Orchestra and Orchestra XXI. We promote concerts that mix arts like “O Amor e o Projetor” that involved theater and classical music or “Tocando Portugal” where the Rumos Ensemble brings a documentary that gives sound with its classical music. An invitation to António Chagas Rosa, António Victorino de Almeida, Eduardo Patriarca, and José Carlos Sousa, four new compositions were created that were premiered live at Teatro Viriato by the hand of pianist André Roque Cardoso. Anyway, the schedule is listed below because the good times are too many to list in a summary text.
The 2nd International Piano Competition in Viseu took place after the success in the 2015 edition and brought back to Viseu enormous talents on the piano. This time it was DongJun Miao (China) who won the first prize worth € 8,000. In second place and the Audience Choice was Adi Neuhaus (Israel) and Yutong Gao (China) closed the podium event in third place.
2017’s program details
– See the agenda (portuguese only)
– Download the .pdf (portuguese only)

9th Edition of FIMPV
April 08 to 30, 2016
In April 2016, Viseu, a small city in Portugal, became an important landmark for classical music by bringing to it some critically acclaimed musicians in the field around the world.
Diversity was the pilar stone of this edition where our audience, who sold out almost every space we where in, could experience classical concerts dedicated to a single instrument, but also chamber music, orchestras and even music executed by computers.
We went to schools, nursing homes, the hospital and local prison in order to share our music and explain the routine of a musician’s life and ways to create. They were pedagogic concerts that revealed a lot about the city we live in. Furthermore we also promoted masterclasses for music students: Percussion with Luiz Ferreira and Ricardo Monteiro; Singing with Susan Waters; Saxofone with Samuel Maingaud, Michel Oberli, Guy Rebreyend and Frédéric Saumgne; Guitar with Roberto Aussel, Jérémy Jouve, André Madeira, Peter Katona and Zoltán Katona. Finally two workshops, one on Piazzolla Interpretation with Juan José Mosalini and Portuguese Guitar with Custódio Castelo ended our efforts in education.
The 2nd International Guitar Competition of Viseu united in Viseu 20 highly talented guitarist from all around the world competing to get the main prize of 14.000€. Utimately, after three hard earned rounds it was Davide Giovanni Tomasi (Italy) who took the podium followed by Marko Topchii (Ukraine) and Raphael Feuillatre (France). Ruben Bettencourt (Portugal) won the award for Best Portuguese Guitarist.
This ninth edition was only possible thanks to all our partners. A special thanks Viseu’s city all and their program “Viseu Terceiro” which gave us the conditions to made everything happened the best way possible.