Madeira International Organ Festival 2026

The 15th edition of the Madeira International Organ Festival marks yet another occasion to celebrate the cultural richness of our archipelago, establishing Madeira as a meeting place for artistic creation and dialogue between peoples and cultures.

The festival themed ‘Madeira and the World’, prompts us to reflect on our region’s universal calling. Since the earliest days of Atlantic expansion, Madeira has been a port for arrival and departure, a crossing point and a privileged space for the movement of people, ideas and cultural expressions. This connection to the world remains very much alive today through our diaspora and the contribution of countless Madeirans, scattered across the various continents, who have played a vital role in the preservation, promotion and dissemination of our tangible and intangible cultural heritage, thereby strengthening the ties that bind their communities of origin to the societies that welcome them.

Music, and organ music in particular, also represents a universal language, capable of transcending geographical, linguistic and cultural boundaries. The historic organs of Madeira, evidence of exceptional heritage value, become true bridges between eras, traditions and artistic sensibilities, during this Festival, welcoming performers from different backgrounds and fostering an encounter between Madeira’s cultural heritage and the creative currents of the contemporary world.

At a time marked by profound global transformations, it is important to recognise the vital role of culture in building societies that are more open, inclusive and aware of their identity. As Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça said, culture is a ‘remedy that heals and restores dignity’, creating paths for encounter, participation and inclusion. It is precisely this ability to bring people together, to value diversity and to strengthen a sense of belonging that the Madeira International Organ Festival represents so well.

Through the artistic excellence of its concerts, the promotion of the region’s organ heritage and the ongoing link between Madeira and the world, this initiative reaffirms the commitment of the Regional Secretariat for Tourism, Environment and Culture to promoting culture as a means of human development, social cohesion and the affirmation Madeiran identity beyond our borders.

To all the musicians, partners, parish communities, the audience and the organising team, I extend my appreciation and thanks for your contribution to the success of this Festival. I hope that this edition will continue to inspire dialogue between cultures and to showcase Madeira beyond our borders, honouring its past and helping to build its future.

Eduardo Jesus
Regional Secretary for Tourism, Environment and Culture

Madeira and the World

The 15th edition of the Madeira International Organ Festival celebrates fifty years of Madeira's autonomy and the Region's relationship with the various countries where the Madeiran diaspora has spread. The organ culture of countries such as Brazil, the United States of America, and Australia will be evoked, either through their music or through the presence of performers from those nations. At the same time, the fourth centenary of the edition of one of the most important works in the history of organ music – the Facultad orgánica by Francisco Correa de Arauxo, printed in Alcalá de Henares in 1626 – will be celebrated. And, because organ music – like the instrument itself – belongs to both the past and the present, the fiftieth anniversary of Autonomy will be marked by the premiere of the work Insulana, for voice, organ, and strings, commissioned by the DRC from four composers (including the Madeirans Daniel Davis and João Caldeira) and based on excerpts from the homonymous epic poem by Manuel Tomás.

But despite the reference to Madeira's history, both distant and present, and the presence of organists from various regions of the globe, the central element of the Festival is – as it has been since its first edition – the organ heritage of the Region. It was after autonomy – or perhaps because of it – that the process of restoration, documentation, and promotion of Madeira's historic organs started. It was the Regional Government of Madeira, through its competent delegations, that promoted the construction of new instruments and gave rise to the Madeira International Organ Festival. Decades of this consistent and continuous process of valuing organ culture – a process unparalleled in Portugal – have allowed the Festival to present itself as it does today.

This year, solo recitals by internationally renowned organists such as Nathan Laube (United States of America), Alexander Paine (Australia), or Elisa Freixo (Brazil) are joined by concerts where the organ is integrated into different vocal or instrumental ensembles, including the Favola d'Argo ensemble and the Madeira Classical Orchestra, a partner of the Festival since its inception.

With the presence of a pleiad of national and international artists, a varied programme, and the commission of contemporary works for organ, the Madeira International Organ Festival reaffirms itself, once again, as one of the bastions of organ heritage, both tangible and intangible, in Portugal.

João Vaz
Artistic Director