The aim of the Bridging Musical Heritage project that received the support of 200,000 euros from Creative Europe 2021 is to recover rare music manuscripts from the 16th and 17th centuries stored in the General Library of the University of Coimbra and make them able to be heard.
"Bridging Musical Heritage: Shaping creativity today by reconnecting cultures from the past", led by the University of Coimbra (UC), emerged from the Mundos e Fundos project, which has been studying and exploring the Portuguese musical repertoire for the last 10 years.
"We really had a lot of material already quite mature to apply to a European programme that is mainly aimed at creative activity," reveals Paulo Estudante, the researcher responsible for the project.
The project will work in networks with national partners (O Bando de Surunyo, Capella Sanctae Crucis, Artway - Culture & Arts) and international partners (Universidad de Valladolid, Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique et Danse de Lyon, Festival de Musica Antigua de Úbeda y Baeza, La Danserye, Los Afectos Diversos).
"What we are going to do is mainly concerts and artistic residencies with the creation of new musical programmes outside Portugal" adds the researcher. A "unique opportunity" to promote the "emblem of the University of Coimbra" and all its musical heritage in Europe.
Bridging Musical Heritage will be concluded in the city of Coimbra, in 2024, with a concert that will gather all the partners involved, "in a great concert with all the material that we can build and mature during the two years of the project", concludes Paulo Estudante.