This programme is for singers seeking to add a professional-level choral experience – as part of the ZêzereArts Chamber Choir preparing specially selected repertoire for a mid-week performance – to participation with the full ZêzereArts Festival Chorus in two end of week concerts.

“It was a privilege, a joy and a thrill to be among such great singers. This chamber choir was possibly the best choir that I have sung with.”

Our performance venues feature UNESCO world heritage monuments and medieval buildings, such as the Convento de Cristo, Batalha Monastery, and the Church of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Tomar.

This semi-professional choral programme will require participants to pass an audition monitored by the Guest Conductor and the Artistic Director. The standard will be similar to that of an entry-level professional chorister. Successful candidates will join an ensemble of up to 24 singers, including members of ZAVE, our resident professional vocal ensemble, and a group of ZAVE probationers, to rehearse with our Guest Conductor, Vasco Negreiros, and perform a mid-week concert, before joining the other choral groups for the Festival Chorus programme conducted by Artistic Director, Brian MacKay.

Rehearsals begin on Saturday 19th July (see example schedule below) and the week ends with an evening concert performance in the Convento de Cristo on Saturday 26th July.

During the week there will also be various opportunities to listen to, explore and enjoy different aspects of singing and performance, including access to all ZêzereArts Festival events.

For those seeking extra coaching or wishing to develop their vocal technique during the festival, we also offer individual singing lessons with a specialist vocal teacher.

The Chamber Choir this year will focus on the music of Palestrina and his Portuguese disciple Manuel Cardoso. Dr Vasco Negreiros is a specialist in Portuguese renaissance polyphony. In this programme, Hic est discipulus ille, he proposes to highlight the influence of the great master on his younger student while also introducing a much less well-known strand in the works of Palestrina through his rich and passionate settings of the poetry of Petrarch.