Jean de La Bruyère, a French author of the 17th century, wrote: “One must laugh before being happy, lest one die without ever having laughed.” At a time when hatred feeds on our weariness with the state of the world, it is refreshing to see that the Capuchos Festival proposes, this year, to explore the duality—or complementarity—between love and humor; between affection and states of mind; between lyricism and irony, devotion and laughter, passion and invention.
We must not forget these virtues of ours, which set us apart from all others. And so, we will naturally be reminded of humor—how essential it is to be together, in good spirits, light-hearted, and ready to welcome the summer after a challenging and difficult period. In this edition, the Capuchos Festival also brings an extraordinary encounter between music and the spoken word—the word as the ground of all our emotions and feelings. Can we truly feel what we are unable to name?
But speaking of humor and love inevitably brings us to that unique figure who is Charlie Chaplin.
That is why, rather than revisiting here the full programme you will discover in these pages, I prefer to conclude with Chaplin’s final words in The Great Dictator, that masterpiece capable of bringing together love, humor, and pain.
A speech we have grown so accustomed to hearing in short excerpts that we may no longer fully grasp its beauty or the depth of its call.
To overcome pain, Chaplin offers us love—a committed love, a love that never ceases to smile—and to laugh.
Laugh, so as not to die without ever having laughed. Laugh, in order to keep loving.
Enjoy the festival.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I would like to help everyone if possible—Jews, Gentiles, Black people, white people.”
We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness—not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate or despise anyone.
In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for all. The path of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost our way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.
We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machines that give abundance have left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our intelligence, hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than intelligence, we need kindness and gentleness.
Without these qualities, life will be violent, and all will be lost.
The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men—cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of all of us.
Even now, my voice reaches millions throughout the world—millions of desperate men, women, and children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me, I say: do not despair. The misery that is upon us is but the passing of greed—the bitterness of men who fear the progress of humanity.
The hatred of men will pass, and dictators will die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people.”
Welcome to the Capuchos Festival 2026!
After five editions which, since its revival in 2021, have established the Capuchos Music Festival as an event of excellence and a space for dialogue between cultures, eras, and artistic languages, we now propose a reflection on what is most intimate and universal to us: loves and humours, affections and states of mind.
Under the theme “Amores & Humores”, the 2026 Capuchos Music Festival draws inspiration from the duality and complementarity between love – in its many human and divine forms – and the “humours” of the soul, those subtle movements that oscillate between lyricism and irony, passion and invention, devotion and laughter.
Between May 23 and June 24, Almada once again affirms itself as the stage for one of the country’s most significant cultural events. The concerts will take place at the Convento dos Capuchos, the Festival’s spiritual heart, as well as in other venues across the city, including the Teatro Municipal Joaquim Benite, the Auditório Fernando Lopes-Graça and the Parque da Paz, which will host, for the first time, an open-air opera gala.
This edition features several international highlights: the return of the outstanding Orquestra de Paris “Consuelo”, opening the Festival; the 30th anniversary show of the acclaimed Austrian septet Mnozil Brass, often dubbed the “Monty Python of classical music”; concerts by the Leipzig String Quartet, regarded as one of the world’s finest string quartets, and by the award-winning vocal group SLIXS, performing in Portugal for the first time. The Festival will also welcome internationally renowned soloists, including the singers Anna Samuil, Peter Sonn and Mandy Fredrich; the violinists Viviane Hagner and Diana Tishchenko; the cellists Christian Poltéra, Victor Julien-Laferrière and Kyril Zlotnikov; the clarinetist Pascal Moraguès; and the pianist Eldar Nebolsin.
The national presence is strongly represented by leading names such as the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, conducted by Pedro Neves; the DSCH Schostakovich Ensemble, in collaboration with actress Maria Rueff; the Officium Ensemble, directed by Pedro Teixeira; the pianist Nuno Vieira de Almeida; and the actress Rita Blanco, among others. Also noteworthy are two concerts that bring together jazz and fado, featuring the award-winning singer Maria Mendes, who has been based in the Netherlands for several years, as well as the return to the Festival of pianist Júlio Resende and guitarist Bruno Chaveiro. True to its vocation, the Festival remains a platform for emerging talents, such as flautist Sónia Pais, percussionist Sofia Costa, singer Raquel Mendes and harpsichordist Rafaela Salgado.
In this edition, the now emblematic Capuchos Talks, curated by Carlos Vaz Marques, are dedicated to the centenary of the death of Camilo Pessanha, the 300th anniversary of the publication of “Gulliver’s Travels” and to a literary reflection on the theme of the Festival.
Other parallel activities enrich the programme, such as the pre-concert talks entitled Prelúdios dos Capuchos; the Caminhada dos Capuchos, in the Protected Landscape of the Fossil Cliff of Costa da Caparica; the Guided Tour of the historical heritage of the Convento dos Capuchos; and the Masterclasses dos Capuchos, aimed at music students.
Com especial entusiasmo, apresentamos, pela segunda vez, a iniciativa Opera for Children, desta feita com a The Magic Flute, de Mozart, numa produção dirigida por António Wagner Diniz.
A realização do Festival dos Capuchos 2026 é possível graças ao apoio, em primeiro lugar, da Almada City Council, the patronage of BPI/Fundação “la Caixa” and the Portuguese Directorate-General for the Arts.. O nosso agradecimento também aos parceiros Companhia de Teatro de Almada, Âmbito Cultural do El Corte Inglés and RTP / Antena 2.
The Capuchos Festival 2026 spans eras and borders, between the sacred and the profane, the classical and the popular, the Baroque and jazz, Romanticism and contemporary music. “Amores & Humores” is, ultimately, a portrait of the human condition: we love, suffer, dream, ironize, celebrate. Music – perhaps the subtlest of the arts – can convey all these states with a truth that transcends words and returns us to the essence of feeling.
We invite you to journey with us through this itinerary of emotions of the Festival dos Capuchos 2026 – where love sings, humor smiles, and art reminds us of the depth and beauty of life.
