Manuel Durão

Born in 1987, Lisbon, composer Manuel Durão studied trumpet and percussion and graduated in Composition by Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (2008). He attended Conducting Workshops by Jean-Sébastien Béreau. In 2005, he won the competition Jovens Criadores promoted by Clube Português de Artes e Ideias and represented Portugal in the III Bienal Jovens Criadores da CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries). He was selected for the first round of the Opera Competition in the Municipal Theatre in Lisbon. He is studying since 2007 at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig (Germany) with Reihard Pfundt (composition), Helgeheide Schmidt (piano) and Michael Schorcht (Improvisation). He received a Scholarship from ERASMUS-Program (2007) and from the DAAD (2009-2010). He is founder of the Nova Orquestra de Lisboa. He became comissions from the RTP - Portuguese Radio and Television, Mikroduo, Lisbon Guitar Quartet, Sinfonietta Lisbon, Ricercare Choir Lisbon, Tatjana Masurenko and Brigitte Fassbaender. In 2010 will be presented the german version of his Diary of a Mad Man at the Opera Leipzig with musicians of the Gewandhaus Orchestra.

(text by Manuel Durão)

Paulo Jorge Ferreira

Accordionist Paulo Jorge Ferreira (b. Lisbon, 1966) began his musical studies at the age of five with professor José António Sousa. He participated in national and international contests, achieving distinguished classifications. Along his musical learning he attended seminaries directed by some of the most prestigious contemporary accordionists. He studied at Matono Musical Institute and finished his superior studies in the Castelo Branco Superior School of Applied Arts. He has performed concerts both national and internationally, namely in France, Mexico, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Macau, Spain and Hungary, and chamber music concerts, playing with highly honoured musicians such as the pianist Maria João Pires and António Victorino d’Almeida, among others. He has been invited as a guest musician by symphony and chamber orchestras, for example, Beijin Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, Oporto National Orchestra, Lisbon Sinfonietta, Remix Ensemble, and as a solist with Esart Ensemble and Remix Ensemble working along with famous international conductors, such as Stefan Asbury, Lawrence Foster, Peter Rundel, Martin André, Emilio Pomarico. He also composes with Pedro Santos an accordion duo (Duo Damian), with Pedro Vasconcelos one of accordion and piano (Ars Duo), with Carlos Alves one of accordion and clarinet (Artclac), and a quintet with a string quartet. Along his musical carrier he has been participating in several discographic recordings, radio and tv programs. He’s also developed the activity of composer, writing works for solo instruments, chamber music and orchestra. Recently one of his compositions for solo accordion was chosen as a compulsory piece in an accordion contest in the Basque Country. He lectures in the Applied Arts Superior School in Castelo Branco and in several conservatoires. He often participates as a jury member in international accordion competitions. In 2004, it was published a solo cd, "Percursos". (adapted from text by Paulo Jorge Ferreira).

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