Ópera do Castelo - 21st Century Opera

Vanessa - Samuel Barber

Opera for everyone in the XXI Century Operafest Lisboa e Oeiras Liedfest Art Song Festival POP Portuguese Opera Portal Maratona Ópera XXI Contemporary opera Contest and Award Audio-visual Lab Opera XXI Independent Opera Creations New repertoire Emerging artists New audiences Great Classics Inedited Opera Satellite

Highlights

Operafest Lisboa & Oeiras 2026 is back for its 7th edition under the theme of “enigma”!

Kicking off in Oeiras, in the unique setting of the Cartuxa Convent, in the outskirts of Lisbon, with Turandot, Giacomo Puccini’s last opera and one of the grandest operas ever, celebrating its centenary, and also Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Back in the capital, it’s time for the world premiere of the performances Anathema, celebrating Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco, and Enigma, Mist and Nothing, Cine-opera at the ´Cinemateca Portuguesa, Conferences at Âmbito Cultural El Corte Inglés, and two world premieres, The Secret Life of Thing and Last Movement, marking the 5th edition of the contemporary opera competition – Maratona Ópera XXI.

Welcome to Operafest, the “out-of-the-box” festival where you can enjoy opera with the passion of a pop festival!

Welcome to POP

Portuguese Opera Portal

POP as a paradigm shift in accessibility, which unites research, stage and education!

Portuguese Opera is just a click away, accessible to everyone for national and international dissemination.

Portuguese Opera gained a new divulgation and accessibility tool, as well as a new publisher dedicated to opera:

+ 60 composers & 170 operas
+ 60 scores, full texts, and excerpts for free download
+ Memory & repertoire
+ Portuguese Opera

Learn more

Ópera do Castelo is a leading independent opera production structure in Portugal, developing innovative projects, including audiovisual works, and focusing on a new body of repertoire and new paths for opera within the contemporary performing arts ecosystem.

It produces the Operafest Lisboa e Oeiras festival, which was born during the pandemic in 2020 and is now in its 7th edition. It has established itself as the largest national opera event and one of the most unconventional European opera festivals, the main gateway for new audiences to opera in Portugal, as well as the main stage for emerging opera talent. We have been strengthening and boosting the national opera market, in a public service approach, combining tradition and avant-garde.

In audiovisual, the award-winning series, Super Diva Opera for everyone, stands out, and soon the premiere on RTP2 of Cortina Vermelha (Red Curtain), the first operatic fiction series ever!