2017
Guitarras ao Alto held its third edition in 2017, with the same ambition of bringing the best Portuguese guitarists to Alentejo to play original music and create an original show.
With wine, gastronomy, landscape and Alentejo heritage in the background, Peixe and Frankie Chavez illuminated the cloister of the Convent of S. Bento de Avis, the cloister of the Convent of the Maltezas / Ciência Viva Centre in Estremoz, and the old train station of Beira-Marvão, where rises the guest house Train Spot. Three memorable nights of music designed exclusively for this event, witnessed by almost 500 people, to which was added a 4th in August, in Évora, within the framework of the Artes à Rua event.
Wine partner: Virgo
Poster: Maria João Lima e Pedro Lourenço
Photos: Miguel Oliveira
The artists
Peixe
Musician of the “mythical” Portuguese band Ornatos Violeta, and also Pluto, Zelig, and the jazz band DEP, Peixe has been asserting himself in these last years as a composer, a scholar and a guitarist, already with two solo albums: Apneia (2012) and Motor (2015).
Frankie Chavez
A folk, rock and blues man, solo and more and more with his band, in Portugal and abroad, Frankie Chavez gives his guitar an ever-widening world, already with three albums in the suitcase: Family Tree (2011), Heart & Spine (2014) and Double or Nothing (2017).
Dates and Locations
June 15th
Avis, cloister of the Convent of S. Bento de Avis
The convent is the patrimonial pride of the village, dating from the thirteenth century. It was the origin of the monarchy Avis dynasty, and was home to one of the most powerful military orders in the country. Today, due to the changes that have been denoted since the seventeenth century, but also to the abandonment, sale and dismemberment of various parts of the convent, only the church, the cloister, the cistern, the Sala do Capítulo and the canteen are visible. But it remains worthy of a visit, including the Interpretive Centre of the Order of Avis and the Campo Alentejano Museum.
June 16th
Estremoz, cloister of the Convent of the Maltezas / Ciência Viva Centre
Classified as a National Monument in 1924, in the heart of Estremoz, it was first known as São João da Penitência Convent; later it was the only place of retreat of the Knights of Rodes in Portugal, before it was integrated in the Order of Malta; from the sixteenth century on, it served as the enclosure for the nuns of this Order, until it became Estremoz’ Hospital. Currently, it houses Ciência Viva Centre, Estremoz Science Centre of the University of Évora, and is one of the most emblematic buildings in the city.
June 17th
Beirã-Marvão, Train Spot
All that is good about Train Spot has already been said in Guitarras ao Alto 2nd edition. Here we can only add that it was with great pleasure that we repeated for the first time a stage in the event, and we believe that the relationship between Guitarras ao Alto and Train Spot is going to last for many good years.
August 11th
Évora, Sertório Square
In 2017, Guitarras ao Alto also returned to Évora, at the invitation of the Municipality, to join the summer event Artes à Rua. A show open to all, to which the UNESCO World Heritage city has joined in large numbers.
