Costa Vicentina Early Music Fest 2026

From 22 to 29 August 2026, the Costa Vicentina will host the 4th edition of the Costa Vicentina Early Music Fest, organised by O Corvo e a Raposa – Associação Cultural, supported by the Municipality of Vila do Bispo. 

The COSTA VICENTINA Early Music Fest is a project dedicated to promoting historically informed music in the western Algarve (Barlavento Algarvio), exploring early music as a bridge for intercultural and intertemporal dialogue, between Iberia and the world, and between the past and the present. 

The 2026 edition opens on 22 August at 19:00 at the Church of Santo António in Lagos / Lagos Museum, with the 1st Edition of the "Lagos 1460" Artist Grant. Inspired by the permanent exhibition "After 1460 & Special Collections," the grant is aimed at emerging artists from Portugal and around the world, working in historically informed music composed after 1460, and marks a new partnership with the Lagos Museum and the Municipality of Lagos. A total of 7 proposals were received, involving 15 musicians from various countries, including Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Greece, and Colombia, representing leading institutions such as the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Conservatorio di Musica di Santa Cecilia (Rome), ESMUC (Barcelona), ESMAE (Porto), the Hochschule für Künste Bremen, the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castilla y León (COSCYL), and the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Vigo. Among them, the selected project was Ensemble Àpala, featuring Portuguese musicians based in Lisbon who have won the Young Musicians Award. 

On Sunday, 23 August, the festival moves to the Fortress of Sagres – Museus e Monumentos de Portugal E.P.E, marking the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. The afternoon begins at 15:00 with a talk by Hugo Sanches, "Voices in the Shadows: Echoes of Slavery in Early Modern Iberian Music," followed at 16:00  by a concert from Bando de Surunyo, an ensemble specialising in the performance and research of 16th and 17th century music.

On 28 August at 21:00, Na Rota do Peregrino performs at the Church of the Misericórdia de Aljezur, extending the partnership with the Municipality of Aljezur and Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Aljezur, and integrated into Aljezur's Multicultural Night, with the support of CCDR I.P. The festival closes on 29 August at the Parish Church (Igreja Matriz) of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, Vila do Bispo. The day opens at 11:00 with an open class, "Cantigas de Santa Maria by Alfonso X," led by Joana Godinho of Na Rota do Peregrino, and closes at 18:00 with the ensemble's full performance of "Pilgrimage Routes: A Journey to Rome, Montserrat and Compostela." Na Rota do Peregrino, specialists in medieval Iberian music, were recognised in 2024 as a "European Festival Emerging Artist," with support from the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA), an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA), co-funded by the European Union. A

Free admission subject to the venue’s availability.

More information: ocorvoearaposacultural@gmail.com