Last Updated on February 20, 2026
Promoting greater mutual understanding
Mention Brazilian culture in the UK, and most people should be able to come up with, at the very least, samba, ‘The Girl from Ipanema” and extravagant Carnival parades. Oh, and Pelé, of course. I’m not sure what a counterpart inquiry in Brazil would yield. I hazard a guess at David Beckham, perhaps, and Manchester United. The Royal family, possibly… Ed Sheeran?
And yet, both countries would certainly benefit from learning much more about each other; and that is exactly the point of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture, a year-long cultural exchange programme aimed at strengthening the relationship between the UK and Brazil. It’s a collaboration between the British Council and Instituto Guimarães Rosa, the Brazilian government’s organisation for cultural diplomacy.
The Season is already in full swing, and I’d like to look at some of its highlights in the UK, which will surely give us all a greater understanding of Brazil, the largest country in South America, home to over 213 million people, whose culture is a veritable melting pot of European, African and Asian influences.
Covent Garden habitués are surely familiar with Brazilian talent in the ranks of The Royal Ballet, and one of the most promising events of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture is Brazilian principal dancer Mayara Magri’s debut as Giselle, the ill-fated heroine of the eponymous Romantic ballet (28 February). Here is Magri in rehearsal for her landmark debut.
Brazilian film has been steadily carving a place in the international cinematic universe. You’ll remember, perhaps, that the outstanding I’m Still Here last year became the first Brazilian film to win the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, with its lead actress Fernanda Torres nominated in the Best Actress category.
But there’s a lot more where that came from, as we’ll be able to see in the British Film Institute’s Brazilian film season, which runs from 1 May to 31 June at BFI Southbank. It’ll include 40 titles from leading Brazilian filmmakers from the 1930s onwards, including feature films, documentaries and shorts.
Brazil’s popular music has long conquered the world, but the country has also produced remarkable composers and interpreters of classical music. The UK/Brazil Season of Culture will include the London Symphony Orchestra’s celebration of Brazil’s best-known classical composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, at St Luke’s (16 May). Another highlight is the UK première of Auto da Catingueira, a Baroque opera by Elomar Figueira Mello, which premièred in 1969. It’ll be performed at the Round Chapel (6/7 May) by four Brazilian singers and the Amsterdam-based Apollo Ensemble.
The Wigmore Hall will host a performance by Ilumina (25 July), a group of young musicians who have come through a talent-development project based on a coffee farm in São Paulo.
Visual arts will, of course, figure. We must hurry if we want to catch the first London solo exhibition of the Brazilian multi-disciplinary artist, Laura Lima, entitled ‘The Drawing Drawing’, on show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) until 29 March.
Also intriguing is the work of painter Paulo Nimer Pjota. In his first UK solo exhibition, Nimer Pjota presents a new series of paintings against an expansive mural painted directly onto the wall of the South London Gallery (1 May to 23 August).
The annual Hay Festival is a magnet for national and international lovers of the written word, who converge on the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye for a veritable who’s who of writers and books. This year, the Hay Festival partners with the International Literary Festival of Paraty, the main literary jamboree in South America, to present and celebrate leading voices from Brazil.
Brazil is featuring corresponding events showcasing UK culture in the arts, film, literature and music; so by the end of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture, both countries should have got to know (and love) each other a lot better
UK/Brazil Season of Culture runs until June 2026
Mayara Magri dances Giselle at the RBO on 28 February at 1.30 pm and again on 10 March at 7.30 pm
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