"Anima” is a suite for string orchestra and soloists, written in 2022-2023. It’s a journey through human condition in its multiple states of mind and emotions, a sort of “treatise on the passions of heart”, borrowing from author António Lobo Antunes. It is structured in seven movements. Two of those movements were composed for string orchestra alone, whereas the remaining five also feature soloists playing a combination of written and improvised material. At first I tried to dedicate each movement to a specific state of mind or emotion or human experience, but then I felt trapped by this idea as the music would have to be rather literal, narrative, programmatic. And so I decided to try and look at the work as a whole, and evoke several experiences in each movement. That is why the movements are simply called Parts. Some of them have a sort of song-like feel, others are less motivic and therefore promote a less narrative experience - closer to a film soundtrack, I would say. Nevertheless, I’m sure the attentive listener will find recurring ideas that support the whole piece as the Parts and the various moods unfold. The entire work is traversed by a latent yet very much present idea, which is what I would call a praise of humanity: its potential, its struggles, its excesses, its shortcomings. All is expressed by the myriad of humankind’s emotional spectrum. Music is a messenger of that spectrum, a herald of the humanity that lives within all of us and is so often restrained by contemporary life and by social and personal constraint. There is also, therefore, a message of freedom in this music: the freedom to be, to feel, to create and to be dazzled by Art and Beauty. This work took most of my time for about two years, but I remained passionate about it throughout the whole time, because I could foresee its intensity, the sonic dimension it would assume, and the important role it would play within my own path as a musician. All I can hope now is that somehow it will resonate in the listeners’ hearts in a way that is meaningful for them as well. Luís Figueiredo