Ópera do Castelo has launched the Portuguese Opera Portal (POP), a new digital platform dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of Portuguese opera.

The portal brings together information on more than 60 composers and 160 operas spanning from the 18th century to the present day, offering synopses, character lists, instrumentation details, and historical context. It will make available 60 full scores and excerpts, including 26 complete scores and 16 voice and piano reductions, free for download. An English-language version is also planned to support international reach.

“Whenever I wanted to put together a program with Portuguese opera, it was no simple task. Only by contacting conductors or other singers who had already performed the works could we access the scores. Even now, this is how we have access to some of the past repertoire that we will make available,” Catarina Molder, the soprano and producer who created POP, said in a press release,

The platform was developed with scientific coordination by João Figueiredo Costa and an editorial team of four musicologists, drawing on resources from institutions including the National Library, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and the TNSC.

Alongside the portal launch, Ópera do Castelo has debuted its new editorial imprint, Ópera do Castelo Edições, with the release of a double CD of António Chagas Rosa’s opera O Homem dos Sonhos, premiered in 2022 at São Luiz Teatro Municipal.