Aveiro Portuguese Capital of Culture 2024 begins with the New Year’s Eve party, which will premiere a work by composer Pedro Lima, at New Year’s Concert, by the Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras.

This will be the first stage of Aveiro 2024, with the motto “The year as a stage. Infinite scenery”, which totals around a hundred initiatives for the first quarter, including concerts, film premieres and previews, theatre and dance shows, exhibitions, meetings with authors, resident artists, programs for schools and families, while there will be a “decentralisation of events, the collaboration of networks and participation processes”, reveals José Pina, next year’s coordinator of the Portuguese Capital of Culture.

Musicians such as Jorge Palma, Mary Ocher, Rodrigo Amado and Ricard Toscano, choreographers such as Rui Horta, Monica Calle, Tânia Carvalho and Marlene Monteiro Freitas will come to Aveiro throughout the year, as well as shows from the Teatro Nacional São João in Porto, from Nacional D. Maria II from Lisbon, and the Campanha Nacional Bailado, among other foreign groups, Portuguese and from Portuguese-speaking countries, such as the Guinean Circus Baobab, which will make the national debut of “Yé”, in March.

A sculpture by Rui Chafes, is to be inaugurated on June 10, Portugal Day of Camões and Portuguese Communities, which will remain in the city center, at the Pontes roundabout, a little beyond the Capital of Culture.