The FIMUV – PAÇOS DE BRANDÃO INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL is a cultural project of CiRAC – Círculo de Recreio, Arte e Cultura de Paços de Brandão, a cultural association for young people that has been organising this Music Festival since 1977 without interruption. The original FIMUV matrix consists of a programming block of ten concerts or other activities related to the area of Music, which takes place in the town of Paços de Brandão and in the territory of Santa Maria da Feira. The cultural offer of FIMUV includes large symphonic concerts of classical music, from baroque to contemporary, as well as performances of lyrical singing or small instrumental ensembles, or even concerts with jazz groups, modern music or fado. The disciplinary crossovers of Music with other artistic areas are also part of the list of projects presented at the festival. The FIMUV matrix responds to the cultural policy of the municipality of Santa Maria da Feira and has as its essential objective to decentralize and promote cultural activity, in a geographical territory that extends from the Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto to the Intermunicipal Community of the Aveiro Region.
The entire programming of this festival is strategically defined to reach the scope of this territory and its audiences. When planning this festival, the organization follows strict criteria, both artistic and social and economic, which allow the maintenance and sustainability of this project. When defining the programming, the Artistic Director takes into account the cultural needs felt in terms of offer and audiences, in order to promote the democratization of free access and enjoyment of cultural activities. The musician, instrumentalist and university professor Augusto Trindade (violin) has been the Artistic Director of FIMUV since 2012, and is already the current Artistic Director, which in 2017 celebrated the 40th edition and obtained the European certification – EFFE Label 2017/2018 – awarded by the EFA, European Festival Associations.
FIMUV has hosted great names in National and International Music, which have greatly contributed to the notoriety and continuity of this cultural project.
FIMUV has taken advantage of the synergies it creates with local cultural and creative agents to contribute to the emergence of new national and/or regional orchestral projects, such as the Santa Maria da Feira Youth Orchestra and more recently the Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of maestro Osvaldo Ferreira.