Teresa Valente Pereira

Cellist Teresa Valente Pereira (b. 1982, in Lisbon) started studying cello at 6 with Maria José Falcão and completed with honours undergraduate studies with Paulo Gaio Lima. She got her post graduate diploma at the Reina Sofia School (Madrid) in the class of Natalia Shakovskaya and finished her studies doing a Konzertexam Diploma with Christoph Richter. Participated in various cello masterclasses with Xavier Gagnepain, Steve Doane, Miklós Peréyni, Natalia Gutman and others, and chamber music masterclasses with Walter Levin, Veronica Hagen and Erich Höbarth, among others. She was awarded several prizes and distinctions, among which the 1st prize of the Young Musicians Radio Award and the Estoril's International Competition. She played as a soloist and chamber musician in some of the most important music halls in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Venezuela. Her performances with Hansjorg Schellenberger, Antoni Ros-Marbá, Ronald Zollman conducting the Gulbenkian, Portuguese Symphony, Oporto National and “Freixenet” Reina Sofia orchestras, were highly acclaimed. She participated in various national and international festivals. She was a member of Grupo Albéniz, performing regularly in Portugal and Spain. First solo recording was released in 2002 with pianist Bruno Belthoise, including the first recording ever of Armando José Fernandes’ Sonata for cello and piano. She also recorded for the Portuguese and the Spanish Classical Radios. She was a member of the EUYO Orchestra, working with Sir Colin Davis and playing at the Royal Albert Hall and the Philharmonie Berlin. She was Principal cello of the Lisbon Metropolitan and the Asturias Symphony and collaborates regularly with the Gulbenkian Orchestra. Currently she’s involved in a new chamber music project, Trio Pangea, with Bruno Belthoise and violinist Adolfo Carbajal. (adapted from text by Teresa Valente Pereira)

Bruno Borralhinho

Cellist Bruno Borralhinho was born in 1982 and began his music studies at twelve years old with prof. Luis Sá Pessoa. He later studied with prof. Markus Nyikos at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, graduating and postgraduating with the highest distinctions. After that, he studied with Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk and attended several Master Classes with Natalia Gutman, Antonio Meneses, Anner Bylsma, Jian Wang and Martin Löhr, among others. He won 1st Prize in the "Julio Cardona" and "Prémio Jovens Músicos" contests, the last organized by the Portuguese National Radio. In the year of 2000 he organised the first National Cello Meeting in Portugal. As a soloist, he performed with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Coimbra Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra Clássica do Centro (soloist and conductor) and Orquestra do Norte. He has been a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and Solo-Cellist of the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra. He was also a member of the Academy of the Staatskapelle Berlin, resident orchestra of the Berlin State Opera, and “Praktikant“ in DSO - Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin. He performed in leading concert halls throughout all Europe, Russia, USA, Canada and South America and worked with important conductors, such as Daniel Barenboim, Claudio Abbado, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano and Christoph Eschenbach, and famous soloists: Anne Sophie Mutter, Martha Argerich, Maxim Vengerov, Mischa Maisky, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Rolando Villanzón, Thomas Quasthoff, among others. He’s a member of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Ensemble Mediterrain. His active professional activity includes regular soloist performances in solo recitals, with orchestra or with piano accompaniment in Portugal, Spain, Germany or Brazil, and he also gave Masterclasses in Spain and Brazil. (adapted from text by Bruno Borralhinho)

Website

Guilhermina Suggia

A unique name in music history. Guilhermina Suggia (b. 27th June 1885 - d. 30th July 1950) took the world by storm when, still a youngster, was invited to play, as a soloist, in many ot the most important concert halls throughout Europe, where she thrilled everyone with her perfect technique and overwhelming, enticing style. She was one of the first women cellists to work as a soloist and had works dedicated to her by several composers. For a few years, until 1913, she lived in Paris, with companion and former teacher Pablo Casals, and they were considered the best cello players of the day. After they split up, she moved to London, where she was cherished as a performer and settled while developping her highly praised international career. Moving back to Portugal, in the late 1920s, she kept on touring and tutoring and formed a new generation of young cellists who later passed on her teachings to their own pupils. She worked with some of the greatest Portuguese musicians of her time, namely pianist and composer José Viana da Mota, conductor Pedro de Freitas Branco and violinist Bernardo Moreira de Sá. On her will, Guilhermina Suggia left her Stardivarius to the Royal Academy of Music, in London, and her Montagnana to the Conservatoire in Oporto, with the purpose of creating a fund, both in the UK and Portugal, to help young cello students. Check out Suggia's blog (mostly in Portuguese) for a lot of information and photos, as well as for a complete bibliography (including several books and articles in English).

http://suggia.weblog.com.pt/

Available CD

Suggia plays Max Bruch's "Kol Nidrei"