About Us
Opera in the 21st Century: Reinventing Itself
Opera do Castelo is one of the most significant and pioneering structures for the creation of independent opera in Portugal. Formalized in 2012, and active since the previous decade, it is dedicated to creating innovative opera projects for diverse audiences, in innovative formats, including audiovisual.
It proposes new approaches to the traditional repertoire, prioritizes sustainable site-specific projects, commissions works from composers and librettists, supports the emergence of new performers and directors, and strengthens contemporary opera in Portuguese. It designs and promotes festivals as centers of international cultural dynamism, and fosters new formats in the audiovisual market for opera, bringing it closer to today’s world and to the center of contemporary performative production.
Led by soprano, artistic director and producer Catarina Molder, one of the most tireless promoters of opera in Portugal, it included singers such as Luís Rodrigues, Xavier Moreno, Rodrigo Porras Garulo, Kristina Stanek, Mads Wighus, Cátia Moreso, Christian Luján, Andeka Gorrotxategi, Darija Auguštan, conductors such as Felix Krieger, Miguel Sepúlveda, Osvaldo Ferreira, Diogo Costa, Pedro Carneiro or Jan Wierzba, and stage directors such as José Caldas, Michel Dieuaide, Carolina Bergeron, Lígia Roque, Miguel Loureiro, Olga Roriz, Tânia Carvalho, Sandra Faleiro, Mónica Garnel, Rui Horta, Tonán Quito, David Pereira Bastos and Daniela Kerck. Having commissioned works from A. Delgado, E. Carrapatoso, L. Soldado, N. Côrte-Real, A. Chagas Rosa, Sara Ross, Ana Seara, Nuno da Rocha, Daniel Moreira, among others. Performing in theaters as diverse as São Luiz, CCB, TNDII, Culturgest, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Trindade, Viriato, Theatro Circo, TNSJ, Rivoli.
To renew and bring opera to all audiences, in addition to numerous opera performances with varied repertoire, intersections, and contexts, the television series Super Diva, Opera for Everyone, was launched on the audiovisual market. Created, written, and presented by Catarina Molder for RTP2, the first season of which won the SPA Award for best television program in 2013. The following two seasons (2015 and 2018) were co-produced by Unitel, and the third, also in an English version with international distribution, featured award-winning directors João Vladimiro, Frederico Lobo, and Luís Palito, as well as opera stars such as Antonio Pappano, Rolando Villazon, Sonia Yoncheva, Kristine Opolais, Magdalena Kozena, Gaelle Arquez, and Renné Pappe, and the unprecedented creation of Twitter Opera, short operas in short film format.
In 2020, amidst the pandemic, a new Opera Festival began in Lisbon, the Operafest Lisboa e Oeiras, which finally placed Portugal on the map of international opera festivals. With repeated success in subsequent years, it is now in its seventh edition, bringing unprecedented vitality to the national opera scene. Developing pioneering work, widely recognized nationally and internationally, it has become the largest national opera event and the main gateway for new audiences to opera in Portugal, as well as the main stage for emerging talent in all aspects of opera: production, technical aspects, musical direction, composition, and performance. Crossing tradition and avant-garde, it has presented more than 11 world premieres (notably Rigor mortis by Francisco Lima da Silva, Até que a morte nos separe and Prazer by Ana Seara, Minotauro by João Ricardo, among others), national premieres (Labirinto by Gian-Carlos Menotti, Julie Philipe Boesmans Vanessa by Samuel Barber) and repertoire opera (La Traviata by Verdi, Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni and Pagliacci by Leoncavallo, Carmen by Bizet, Suor Angelica by Puccini, Un Ballo in Maschera by Verdi, Madama Butterfly and Tosca by Puccini, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute by Mozart and also Dido and Aeneas by Purcell), in addition to new formats (such as the operatic rave or performance), and is already considered one of the most “out of the box” European festivals.
Within the framework of Operafest, it also launched the only national contemporary opera competition – Maratona Ópera XXI, responsible for the emergence of numerous talents from all areas: composers, librettists, conductors, directors and singers, focusing on and enhancing distinct aspects of operatic production, with the awarding of the Carlos e Pontes Leça prize.
In January 2025, a new art song festival was launched to revitalize the genre – Liedfest, bringing new scenic and dramaturgical proposals to the traditional format of the song and piano recital. Currently, a new television project is being launched, Cortina Vermelha, an anthology operatic fiction series created by Catarina Molder for RTP2, marking the absolute premiere of opera in this genre, directed by Carlos Conceição, the film version of The Magic Flute produced in Operafest 2023 and preparing the absolute premiere of António Chagas Rosa’s new opera “O Físico Prodigioso” based on the homonymous novel by Jorge de Sena.