Francisco Monteiro

Pianist Francisco Monteiro started his musical studies as a pupil Helena Costa’s in Porto – Portugal, entering later the local music conservatory where he achieved the Superior Piano Course with honour. He is graduated by the Musik Universität Wien – Austria (piano concert class by Noel Flores), the University of Coimbra – Portugal (Master Degree in Musicology) and the University of Sheffield (Ph.D. – Contemporary Music). He also studied analysis and composition with Cândido Lima, Álvaro Salazar (Porto) and Gottfried Scholtz (Vienna – Austria), conducting with Jean-Claude Hartemann and piano interpretation with Marie-Françoise Bucquet (Paris). He took part in several master classes with Vlado Perlemutter, Natalie Pepin, Anne Koscielny, Joseph Palenicek, Moura Castro and Jorg Demus among others. Awarded in national piano competitions, his activity as a pianist includes both solo and chamber presentations. Although is repertoire embraces works from the XVIII century until our days, he is mainly devoted to the 20th century and Portuguese music: he presented premières of works of C. Lima, J. Peixinho, A. Salazar, António Sousa Dias, Fernando Lapa, Christopher Bochmann, Terry W. Owens, Carlos Azevedo, Armando Santiago, Clotilde Rosa, Eurico Carrapatoso and Pedro Rocha. He took part in the Festivals of Udine, Transimeno Lake and Cagliary SpazioMusica (Italy), Essen Contemporary Music Festival (Germany), Bogotá Music Festival (Colombia), Valencia’s and Logroño’s Contemporary Music Festivals (Spain), Baku Music Festival (Romenia), Costa Verde Music Festival, Gulbenkian Contemporary Music Encounters, and the Music Festivals of Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra and Lisbon (Portugal). He also played solo in France, Austria, Italy, Belgium, U.S.A., Germany and in the U.K.. Francisco Monteiro recorded for the Portuguese national radio and television and the CDs "Exposed on the cliffs of the heart" - piano music of Terry Winter Owens and “Lov” – flute, cello and piano trio, playing music of Crumb, Piazolla, Azevedo and Peixinho. He also took part in many CDs concerning Portuguese contemporary music, with works of J. Peixinho, Clotilde Rosa, Christopher Bochmann, António Pinho Vargas, Álvaro Salazar and others. Together with is career as a performer he maintains a regular activity as a composer. His music is much influenced by the Western classical tradition and avant-garde composers of the sixties, and also by traditional Portuguese rural music and rock music. He is Professor in the Polytechnic Institute of Porto - Portugal (School of Education).

(text by Francisco Monteiro)

Webpage

Ana Ester Neves (soprano) and Francisco Monteiro (piano) perform Francisco Monteiro's "O Amor" (one of the "Three Alexandre O'Neill Songs").

Fausto Neves

Pianist Fausto Neves initiated his studies with his parents and from a very early age with Helena Costa, in Oporto. Through her, Robert Weisz (Canada - Quebec) and Harry Datyner (Switzerland - Geneve) he contacted the great pianistic tradition of Vianna da Motta, Edwin Fischer, Alfred Cortot, Marguerite Long and Dinu Lipatti. Graduated by the Oporto Conservatory (1977), he was awarded with the Virtuosity Prize of the Geneva Conservatory (1982) and invited to teach in this school. Fausto Neves began performing to a widespread audience very early, being frequently invited to play at most important musical events in Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Brazil, Canada and France. He was soloist with several orchestras under conductors like Arpad Gerezs, Gunther Arglebe, Graça Moura, Álvaro Salazar, Kamen Goleminov, Fernando Eldoro, Marc Tardue, Ferreira Lobo, Philippo Zigante, Cesário Costa, António Lourenço or Pearce de Azevedo. He has often recorded for RDP or RTP (Portugal) and TV Cultura (Brazil). His large repertoire, embracing from baroque to contemporary periods, gives a special attention to Portuguese Music. He has performed first auditions by Lopes-Graça, Eduardo Patriarca, Amílcar Vasques Dias and Cândido Lima and has divulged in Portugal composers like Ramon Barce, Charles Griffes, Frank Martin or Karol Szymanowsky. He has collaborated with other soloists on various occasions namely violoncellist Gisela Neves (CD ”Alla Danza”) and pianist Pedro Burmester together with percussionists Miquel Bernat and Manuel Campos integrating a piano and percussion quartet. His pedagogic activity included teaching at the Geneva and Sion Music Conservatories (Switzerland), Oporto Conservatory and Superior School of Music. At present he is invited Professor in Aveiro University. Fausto Neves holds the first prize in the “Cidade da Covilhã” contest among others. He is regularly invited to integrate juries in national and international contests as well as masterclasses. (from text by Fausto Neves)

Cândido Lima

Photo: Perseu Mandillo

Composer Cândido Lima was born in Viana do Castelo in 1939. He began his musical studies in Piano and Composition in Braga, where he played for many years as an organist at the Cathedral. He graduated in Piano and Composition in the Lisbon and Oporto Conservatories. After his military service in Bolama Island in Guinea, he studied Philosophy in the University of Braga. Later, Cândido Lima obtained a PhD in Aesthetics in the University of Paris with his dissertation "Identity and Alterity in Musical Composition". Having obtained scholarships from different organizations such as the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Culture Secretary of State and the Acantes Centre, he attended international courses with Nadia Boulanger, Stockhausen, Kagel, Ligeti, Pousseur, Boulez and Xenakis, among others. He also studied Analysis and Conducting with Gilbert Amy and Michel Tabachnik and attended several electronic and computer music courses at the University of Paris 8 - Vincennes, the University of Paris I-II - Panthéon-Sorbonne, CEMAMu and IRCAM. His articles are regularly published in the press and he has created television and radio series to promote the work of contemporary composers in Portugal. He was responsible for the visit of Xenakis, Giuseppe Englert, Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Wilfred Jentsch and Stefano Scodanibbio to Portugal. In 1973, Lima founded the "Música Nova Group", which promoted classic and Portuguese composers in festivals, series, radio, television, presenting them in concerts both in Portugal and abroad. As a researcher, he has participated in the Musical Education Reform in Portugal since 1968, especially in the area of Composition. He was the president of the Braga Musical Youth (1968/74). Until 1986 he taught and directed the Oporto and Braga Music Conservatories. In 1988 he joined the Direction and Consultation Council of the Music Department at the Aveiro University. He has written pieces for a diversity of instrumental ensembles, voice and piano, orchestra, some of which with electroacoustics and audiovisual mediums. He was the first Portuguese composer to use the computer. (adapted from text in PMIC)

Discography

Excerpt of Cândido Lima's "Memorabilis", by António Esteireiro (2nd Renaissance of Portuguese Composition project on You Tube):

António de Sousa Dias

Composer António de Sousa Dias, born in Lisbon in 1959, completed his Superior Course in Composition at the Lisbon National Conservatoire and a PhD in musicology in Paris VIII. He is a member of CITAR and post doctoral researcher at CICM (MSH Paris Nord / Université Paris VIII) with a fellowship from FCT / MCTES (Portugal). His research project in progress : InstallaSon - KITTy : Vers le développement d’outils d’assistance à la conception et construction d’espaces musicaux navigables. Most of his compositional work is for cinema and television. Outside Portugal, his compositions have been played in several countries, mainly in Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Russia, etc.). Deputy director of Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (from 1995 to 2001) he taught there Composition and Electroacoustics (since 1987). Member of ColecViva, directed by Constança Capdeville, as direction assistant, sound synthesis and percussion since 1985. Since 1992 he collaborates with the Grupo Música Nova, directed by Cândido Lima. (adapted from text by António de Sousa Dias)

website

Eurico Carrapatoso

Photo by João Tuna

Portuguese composer Eurico Carrapatoso (b. 1962) graduated from Universidade in Porto with a degree in history in 1985. He taught social and economic history as an assistant professor at the Universidade Portucalense. In 1985 he began his musical studies with Borges Coelho, Fernando Lapa and Cândido Lima. In 1988, he began his composition studies with Constança Capdeville. His final studies were with Jorge Peixinho from 1991-93 at the Conservatório Nacional, where he graduated with highest honors. Carrapatoso has taught composition at the Escola Superior de Música and the Academia de Orquestra in Lisbon. Since 1989, he has taught Analysis and Techniques of Composition at the Conservatório Nacional in Lisbon. His works have been performed by most major ensembles and orchestras in Europe, Asia, Australia and Americas (Brazil, USA). He has won several awards, including the Lopes-Graça Prize (1998) and the Francisco de Lacerda Prize (1999); in addition, his works have represented Portugal three times at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers (Paris: 1998, 1999 and 2006). In May 2001 he won the Identidade Nacional Prize. In June 2004 he was decorated by the President of the Portuguese Republic with the Commendation of the Order of the Infante Dom Henrique. (text by Eurico Carrapatoso)

More detailed biographies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurico_Carrapatoso and
http://composers21.com/compdocs/carrapat.htm

Available discography

Eurico Carrapatoso's "Deploração sobre a morte de Jorge Peixinho" (5th mov. - "Paisagem Onírica com Anjos"), played by the Oporto National Orchestra, cond. Mark Foster:

also on You Tube:

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=BxiaBwLLJE8
http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=YB3za18lfXk&feature=channel
http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=h4f3dkh0qdA&feature=channel
http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=vItALhNKwdA&feature=channel