The show, which concludes the official bicentenary celebrations of the writer's birth – 16 March 1825 – is commissioned by the Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N), with a libretto by Eduarda Freitas and music by Fernando Lapa.

“The CCDR-N recognised the need to mark the bicentenary of Camilo Castelo Branco's birth in the North, filling the gap left by other bodies,” João Ribeiro da Silva, head of the commission's Programming and Cultural Promotion division, told the Lusa news agency today.

To this end, he explained, it brought together about 40 partners, including public and private institutions, to “build a diverse, heterogeneous, multifaceted and transdisciplinary program”.

“Dozens of events took place during 2025, culminating in the premiere of the opera ‘Amor de Perdição’, and continuing throughout the coming months. These included educational, training, and artistic creation initiatives, as well as numerous publications, among many others, all aimed at promoting Camilo, his life, and his work,” she emphasized.

The inspiration for the opera is “Amor de Perdição,” one of Camilo Castelo Branco's best-known novels. Eduarda Freitas told Lusa that the objective was not to simply transpose Camilo's book onto the stage.

According to the librettist, they are different works that tell the same love story of Teresa and Simão, without following the chronological order of the book in which the young couple experiences a forbidden romance that culminates in their deaths after persecutions, Simão's exile, and Teresa's entry into a convent.

“What I tried to do was to highlight the feelings more than the characters themselves,” she said, explaining that, on stage, the chorus takes centre stage, “which is sometimes the social voice, sometimes a reflection, sometimes a feeling, therefore it assumes various characters and characteristics throughout the work.”

Opera debut

Eduarda Freitas is a former journalist, founded the creative agency Inquieta, and dedicates herself to playwriting, making her opera debut in 2021 with the libretto “Mátria,” followed by “Aurora,” “As Sombras de uma Azinheira,” and the monologue “22 Beijos.”

“More than the spectacular and brutal side of this Camilian tragedy, I was interested from the beginning in the stylisation of the narrative proposed by the libretto,” stated composer Fernando Lapa.

Lapa explained that “from there the work develops simply, in an attempt to interpret the inner world of the characters, betting everything on the singularity and authenticity of each figure.”

“The voices are always at the centre of everything, without veils or disguises, defenceless, and the chorus, as the balance point, like a Greek tragedy,” he added.

The piece is directed by Ángel Fragua, with musical direction by Jan Wierzba, lighting design by Cárin Geada, and performed by Raquel Mendes (soprano), Paulo Lapa (tenor), and Inês Constantino (mezzo-soprano) with the Moços do Coro and Oniros Ensemble.

The creation and production are by Inquieta, with co-production by Teatro de Vila Real.

The premiere takes place on 13 March, with sessions scheduled for 14 and 15 March.