Tibães Monastery is tomorrow the stage for the first extension of the Passeio das Virtudes, under the theme ‘The Art of Sound and Silence: a visit to the work of Sofia Saldanha’.

'The Art of Sound and Silence: a visit to the work of Sofia Saldanha' is the theme of the first extension of the second edition of the Passeio das Virtures: Pessoa, Património e Virtude, which takes place tomorrow, at 5.30 pm, at the Monastery of São Martinho de Tibães.

The initiative, presented yesterday at a press conference, is free to access, upon registration via email from the Group of Friends of the Tibães Monastery (GAMT): amigosdetibaes@mail.com.

This project is an initiative of GAMT, which was born from the protocol of the Monastery and the Regional Directorate of Culture of the North with the coordination of Advanced Training in Positive Psychology and Logotherapy at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa. It also has a partnership with the Poetry Union, Ensemble Il Filo d’Oro and NuguelMusic.

Ana Cláudia Fernandes, coordinator of Advanced Training in Positive Psychology and Logotherapy at the Catholic University, recalled that the Passeio das Virtudes has as its main objective “to contribute to the appreciation of the heritage of the Monastery of Tibães alluding to the theme of virtues, as well as heritage immaterial materialized in the testimony of people, who in their way of being illustrate virtue”.

Each year, based on the work of collecting testimonies carried out by the Advanced Training coordination in collaboration with students, literary versions of inspiring stories about the practice of character strengths are created, with a view to being read by the Poetry Union at the route defined for the Passeio das Virtudes through the spaces of the Monastery, namely the Escadório das Virtudes.

The main event of Passeio das Virtudes takes place in July. This second edition has two extensions, namely, ‘Da Arte do Som e do Silêncio’, which takes place tomorrow and is dedicated to the viewing of a sound documentary by radio host and director Sofia Saldanha; and ‘Da Arte da Palavra’ dedicated to the presentation of an emblematic work in its praise, taking place on November 25th. This year the work ‘Triunfo do Amor Português’ by the writer and poet Mário Cláudio will be presented, in a conversation with him led by the professor, specialist in Literature Theory and also director of the Mário Cláudio Center, José Cândido Oliveira Martins.

Ana Cláudia Fernandes explained that tomorrow's event will begin with a virtual journey to the first decades of the century. XVIII “to get involved in the unique ambiance of the Escadório das Virtudes da Cerca de Tibães and talk a little about its history and symbols”.

Participants then go on a brief visit to the latest edition of Passeio das Virtudes to, through the voice of the Poetry Union, evoke spaces and stories that inspire. Time to listen to a piece of music from the 19th century. XVII by the ensemble Il Filo d’Oro. Next comes the main moment of the extension ‘Da Arte do Som e Silêncio’, the encounter with the work of Sofia Saldanha.

António Durães, from the Poetry Union, highlighted that “despite her short life, Sofia left behind a work of some length”, a work that “has been recognized not only here, but also with awards at various European and world festivals who are dedicated to this issue of sound documentary filmmaking”.

“It is a work that is important to visit, to frequent, because it has an extraordinary quality. Sofia was enormously sensitive to the issue of sound, the inclusion of sound in that void, in that magical rectangle that is silence”, said António Durães.

The representative of the Poetry Union said that tomorrow two of Sofia's works will be visited, “one about thunderstorms and I hope that goes as planned, because we will be here, in a special space, to hear these stories about Sofia, who herself had a very close relationship with this place”. The other story will be about piano. “There will be 41 minutes to enjoy these two stories. It’s a good opportunity for us to visit Sofia Saldanha’s universe”, he stressed.