The Festival offers a 10-day programme annually, with around 40 concerts and other events, including choir and orchestra concerts, chamber music recitals, musical dinners, rehearsals open to children and young people, concerts for families, guided tours, lectures, performances and art exhibitions. Nearly 25% of the programme is free attending, to encourage and attract new audiences. In 2022, it welcomed around 15.000 visitors to Marvão, this small medieval village with only 100 inhabitants, located at 2,5 hours driving distance from Lisbon.
The general programme is colourful, comprehends different styles and periods and combines classical musical with other artistic expressions, consistently attracting different audiences to enjoy these multiple experiences in a dreamlike scenario.
Every year FIMM celebrates a different composer. In 2022, the programme included a special series of 10 concerts: Johannes Brahms’ complete chamber music by chronological order of its composition, an incredible journey which no one will ever forget.
The 9th edition of FIMM, this summer, will celebrate Franz Schubert in a series of special concerts as well, including three “Schubertiades”, performed by many great artists.
The Marvão International Music Festival (FIMM) takes place in a unique and unforgettable landscape at the top of the highest village in Portugal, right next to the border with Spain, in the walled town of Marvão.
The German conductor Christoph Poppen and his wife, the soprano Juliane Banse, created the first edition in 2014, and these natural scenarios – surpassed only by the quality of the performers – would immediately call for an “encore”. Soon enough, the word would spread, and the Marvão Festival would become the largest classical musical festival in Portugal.
The village of Marvão in Alentejo is one of the most beautiful places in Portugal and one of the places one should visit before dying, according to the New York Times. Here you will find the perfect combination of the architecture of the village and its imposing castle with the surrounding landscape of the São Mamede Mountain, classified as a national park area. Its vast horizons and peaceful backdrop offer a truly idyllic setting for an open-air music festival, where century-old infrastructure gains a new purpose and attracts artists and visitors from all over the world. It was here, among the rare natural beauties of Marvão, that the founders and Artistic Directors combined their love for classical music with a land steeped in history, creating a classical music festival that is as unique as the venues where it takes place.
FIMM programme takes places in old churches, at open air venues, inside the cisterna of the Marvão castle (normally closed to the public and filled with water), at gardens, on a two-thousand-year archaeological roman site, contemporary music halls, amongst many other places, including in the small surrounding towns, both in Portugal and in Spain.
Each year, the programme of the festival seeks to explore new interesting and unusual venues, drawing the audience’s attention to its many historical highlights and natural beauties, contributing at the same time for its rehabilitation.
Visitors can come to the festival by plane both to Lisbon International Airport (LIS) or Madrid-Barajas (MAD). Marvão is located approximately 2,5 hours driving from Lisbon and 4 hours from Madrid. A rental car can be the best/most convenient option, although there are buses operating daily (from Lisbon to Marvão), which can be booked in advance online. For all concerts and other events taking place outside the Marvão village, the festival provides all guests with free shuttles.
The Marvão village and the surrounding regions feature many different types of hotels and accommodation, but they are in general small and the guests must book their stay as early as possible, as the festival takes place during the high summer season. It is also advisable to have a car, so that the guests can move freely around.
Marvão can be quite hot during the day but a bit chilled at night, so we encourage all guests to bring hats and sun screen for the sun and sweaters or shawls when attending the evening and late-night concerts. There is no specific dress code imposed – and comfortable shoes are more than advisable!
Marvão and the surrounding areas feature various restaurants, offering mainly Portuguese traditional style food, but also other styles. The festival guests can enjoy fresh drinks and snacks, calmly, at the many restaurant and bar terraces within the walls of Marvão, while seizing the breath-taking views. Smaller or selected restaurants might need to be booked in advance. There are also many wine cellars in the Marvão region and in the surrounding towns, which offer wine-tasting and picnics with accommodation or other activities.
