Passarola is a research and cultural creation project in the fields of music, design, sound design, and new technologies. It is part of the programme Via Scarlatti | Culture and Innovation as the Soul of Europe, co-created by Terra and the Centre Européen de Musique.
It is based on a selection of Scarlatti’s sonatas and the invention of the Passarola, the world’s first flying machine, designed by Father Bartolomeu Lourenço—a story so vividly told in Baltasar and Blimunda (Memorial do Convento), the novel by Portuguese Nobel Prize winner José Saramago.
The flying machine Passarola, patented on April 19, 1709, lends its name to this research and cultural creation project, symbolizing the intersection of culture and science, the power of entrepreneurship and innovation, and the dynamic relationship between the past and the shaping of the future. The program is structured around a series of artistic residencies that utilize the cultural vectors of creativity and technological tools to innovate, analyzing the structures of the selected sonatas.
Through contemporary composition based on geometric music, derivative music, real-time recomposition, and new technologies, new reverberations of Scarlatti’s musical legacy are created, bringing it to 21st-century audiences. These reverberations arise from Scarlatti’s scores, the words of José Saramago on the connection between Scarlatti and Father Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão, the study of the latter’s inventions, and the genius and interaction between contemporary musicians, sound designers and product designers. Part of the musical compositions will also materialize through dialogues between the piano and other classical instruments with contemporary software and hardware - interacting with the past, innovating, and transforming into the future.
Passarola K.87 V01
The first Passarola was created in 2022 during an artistic residency based on Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonata K.87, composed in Portugal, by musicians and sound designers Pedro Emanuel Pereira, Rui Gato and Vítor Joaquim. It was presented in Braga, Portugal, at the Cotec Europa 2022 event, after an artistic residence at Quinta da Boa Esperança. The theme of the event was Culture and Innovation, and it took place in the presence of the Heads of State of Portugal, Italy, and Spain, the three countries where Domenico Scarlatti lived.
Passarola K.87 V02
The second phase of Passarola K.87, version 02, is being developed throughout 2025, based at the Palácio Nacional de Mafra. In addition to the original three musicians, the creative team has been joined by designer Fernando Brízio. The project features a creative residency in April, followed by another in September, with the final outcome to be presented on December 18, 2025 - the birthdate of Bartolomeu Lourenço - at the Palácio Nacional de Mafra.
