The acclaimed pianist José Ramón Méndez returns to Porto Pianofest, where he has already captivated audiences with his poetic sensitivity and remarkable virtuosity. In this program, a Bach chorale prelude sets the tone — not as preamble, but as invocation reaching into silence. The program that then unfolds takes loss and memory as its quiet subject, moving through Medtner's Sonata Tragica at its dark, searching heart. Poulenc brings a mercurial change of spirit, and the evening closes with Sibelius's Finlandia, its great hymn carrying the weight of everything before it. Throughout, the piano becomes a space for something close to prayer — not liturgical, but deeply personal.