The Lisbon cultural
scene today is a vibrant collage of old and new, as the ghosts of
Lisbon’s grand past echo evocatively around many of the city’s
contemporary venues. Lisbon offers a formidable number of venues
and companies can often be found performing in outdoor parks and
national palaces.
The fortnightly Follow me Lisboa publishes cultural
and event listings. Event tickets are available for purchase from
the Agência de Billetes para Espectáculos Públicos
(ABEP), located in a kiosk in the southeast corner of Praça
dos Restauradores. Ticket Line (telephone number: (21) 003 6300)
also offers tickets for purchase to many popular shows.
Music
The Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa (Portuguese
Symphony Orchestra) is based at the Teatro Camões, situated
at the former Expo98 site, in the Parque
das Nações (telephone number: (21) 347 4049).
The Gulbenkian Orchestra and Gulbenkian
Choir perform at one of the concert halls and the open-air
amphitheatre of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian,
Avenida de Berna 45A (telephone number: (21) 782 3000; website:
www.gulbenkian.pt
), next to the museum.
The Teatro Nacional de
São Carlos, Rua Serpa Pinto 9 (telephone number:
(21) 325 3000), is where opera productions are staged from September
to June and Classical concerts are also held here. Other classical
music ensembles include the Sinfonietta de Lisboa,
based at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, and the Orquestra
Metropolitana de Lisboa. A major venue for music is also
the Coliseu dos Recreios, Rua das Portas Santo
Antão 92 (telephone number: (21) 343 1677).
Theatre
Lisbon’s attractive theatres include, the Teatro Nacional
de Dona Maria II, Praça de Dom Pedro IV, Rossio
(telephone number: (21) 325 0800; website: www.teatro-dmaria.pt).
Theatre and opera productions are hosted in the Pequeno
and Grande Auditório (Small and Large Auditoria)
of the Centro Cultural de Belém, Praça do Império
(telephone number: (21) 361 2400, fax number: (21) 361 2500, e-mail:
ccb@ccb.pt, website: www.ccb.pt
). The theatre performances in Lisbon are naturally, in Portuguese,
although there are also some English-language productions.
The Artistas Unidos, Rua Fernando Palha (telephone number:
(21) 868 8676, fax number: (21) 868 8679, e-mail: info@aristasunidos.pt
website: www.artistasunidos.pt)
is an alternative company that specialises in political theatre
and popular in Portugal.
Dance
The Portuguese National Ballet, Companhia
Nacional de Bailado (website: www.cnb.pt
), is based at the Teatro Camões and situated on the former
Expo98 site, in the Parque das Nações (telephone number:
(21) 347 4049).
Venues that host dance performances include the Centro Cultural
de Belém, Praça do Império (telephone
number: (21) 361 2400, fax number: (21) 361 2500, e-mail: ccb@ccb.pt,
website: www.ccb.pt
) and the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian,
Avenida de Berna 45A (telephone number: (21) 782 3000, website:
www.gulbenkian.pt
).
Film
Films are mostly shown in the original language, with subtitles
in Portuguese. For English-language films, the best bets are the
multiplexes found in the larger shopping centres. The Diário
de Notícias newspaper has film listings. Mainstream
theatres include Amoreiras, Avenida Engengeiro
Duarte Pacheco (telephone number: (21) 387 8752), and Colombo,
Centro Colombo, Avenida Luisada (telephone number:(21) 711 3222).
Arthouse film fans are also catered for at the Londres,
Avenida de Roma 7A (telephone number: (21) 840 1313).
The world’s oldest taxi driver and his 1928 Oldsmobile are
stars of the film, Lisboa Taxi (1996), which premiered
in January 1997.
Cultural Events
From the 16th century, the Procissão do Senhor dos
Passos, a procession of violet-covered litters has passed
through the Graça district on the second Sunday of Lent,
in honour of Senhor dos Passos (Lord of the Steps).
The month of June sees some of Lisbon’s most popular festivals,
the Festas dos Santos Populares, honouring a number
of local saints, with parades and parties and similar smaller processions
take place on the saints’ days in many of the surrounding
villages.
Literary Notes
Portugal’s most famous writer was Luís de Camões,
whose 16th-century poem, Os Lusíadas (1572),
captured the spirit of the Portuguese Empire.
The other famous name is poet Fernando Pessoa,
born in Lisbon during 1888. In addition to his poems, Pessoa was
involved with Orpheu magazine (founded in 1914),
which made a significant contribution to the cultural discourse
at that time.
José Saramago, the
Portuguese native who won the Nobel Prize for Literature
in 1998, is the author of the 1989 tome, História
de cerco de Lisboa (The History of the Siege of Lisbon),
a fanciful retelling of the 1147 siege of the city.
Lisbon also appears in other nation’s works of literature,
the 1755 earthquake, for example, serves as an important symbol
in Voltaire’s Candide (1759).
Henry
Fielding moved to Lisbon for health reasons and died here,
after completing the Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon (1755).
More recent works include Mario de Sa-Carneiro’s The
Great Shadow (circa 1915), a collection of short stories
set in Lisbon, and Cees Nooteboom’s The Following
Story (1991), a surreal tale of a teacher who falls asleep
in Amsterdam and awakes in Lisbon.
Robert Wilson’s A Small Death in Lisbon (2000)
is a colourful novel delving into intrigues of corruption and double-dealing,
as it switches between World War II and the late 1990s. |
