Composer Pedro M. Rocha was born in Torres Novas in 1961. From 1981 to 1986 he studied music at the Lisbon National Conservatoire, with Gilberta Paiva and Olga Prats (piano), as well as composition with Jorge Peixinho, Álvaro Salazar and mainly Christopher Bochmann, under whom he graduated in 1990 at Lisbon Superior School of Music. From 1982 to 1990, he attended the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Composition Seminaries with Emmanuel Nunes and then went to study microtonalism with Alain Bancquart, in Paris (Gulbenkian F. scholarship), where from 1992 to 1993 he attended a Composition and Computer course at the IRCAM. He also attended several workshops and seminaries about various subjects: Piano; Electroacoustic Music, Choir and Orchestra Conducting, Singing and Vocal Technique. His music includes orchestral pieces – with and without choir; a capella choir; chamber music often using pre-recorded sounds; pure acousmatic works, some with video. He is interested in the expansion of form and of musical parameters. Different works have different kinds of openness/ improvisation - “Dual”, “To a free world”, “To a world free from beliefs” – that contrast with totally closed ones like the acousmatic: “To a world free from religions”, “To a word free from countries”, “Composição I” and “Simbioses”. (text by Pedro M. Rocha)Website
Born in 1938, pianist Olga Prats built a distinguished career for herself, in which Portuguese composers, traditional music and chamber music have always played major roles. She graduated at the National Conservatoire in Lisbon, under Abreu Motta, and followed further studies in Köln and Freiburg (namely with Gaspar Cassadó and Sándor Vegh), where she won the prize for Best Foreign Student, in 1959. On her return to Portugal, she studied with Helena Sá e Costa and in 1965 won the Luís Costa Prize for Best Spanish Music Performer. She attended the Estoril Summer Courses with Jean Françaix, Karl Engel, Paul Tortelier and Ludwig Streicher and has played with a great number of orchestras, such as the Pommersfelden Festival Chamber Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Buenos Aires Symphony Orchestra and Oporto Orchestra. Her wide repertoire ranges from Bach to Xenakis, including Schumann, Brahms e Stravinsky, and comprises Portuguese contemporary composers. She premiered and recorded several works by Fernando Lopes-Graça, Constança Capdeville, António Victorino d’Almeida, some of which were dedicated to her, and, among the new generations, Sérgio Azevedo and Sara Claro. She was the first Portuguese performer to play and record Astor Piazzolla’s music. She’s a founding member of Opus Ensemble, the prestigious and internationally acclaimed Portuguese ensemble. As a teacher, she tutored at the National Conservatoire and Lisbon Superior School of Music.Discography
Composer Pedro M. Rocha was born in Torres Novas in 1961. From 1981 to 1986 he studied music at the Lisbon National Conservatoire, with Gilberta Paiva and Olga Prats (piano), as well as composition with Jorge Peixinho, Álvaro Salazar and mainly Christopher Bochmann, under whom he graduated in 1990 at Lisbon Superior School of Music. From 1982 to 1990, he attended the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Composition Seminaries with Emmanuel Nunes and then went to study microtonalism with Alain Bancquart, in Paris (Gulbenkian F. scholarship), where from 1992 to 1993 he attended a Composition and Computer course at the IRCAM. He also attended several workshops and seminaries about various subjects: Piano; Electroacoustic Music, Choir and Orchestra Conducting, Singing and Vocal Technique. His music includes orchestral pieces – with and without choir; a capella choir; chamber music often using pre-recorded sounds; pure acousmatic works, some with video. He is interested in the expansion of form and of musical parameters. Different works have different kinds of openness/ improvisation - “Dual”, “To a free world”, “To a world free from beliefs” – that contrast with totally closed ones like the acousmatic: “To a world free from religions”, “To a word free from countries”, “Composição I” and “Simbioses”. (text by Pedro M. Rocha)
