Paulo Ferreira Lopes

Composer Paulo Ferreira Lopes studied composition with Constança Capdeville in Lisbon between 1988 and 1991. In 1994 he moved to Paris. Between 1995 and 1997 studied Composition in Paris with Emmanuel Nunes, Antoine Bonnet and Computer Music with Curtis Roads. In 1996 he received a Master in Composition at the University of Paris VIII under the advice of Horacio Vaggione. In 1996 further studies in composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen at the "Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik", Darmstadt. Also in 1996, distinguished as Researcher with a scholarship of the French Government by the "Ministere de la Recherche" at the "Departement d’Esthétique et Technologies des Arts" of University of Paris VIII. In 1997, composition-prize at the exhibition "Documenta X" in Kassel, Germany. Founder and Director (between 1992/95) of the Electronic Music Studio C.C.I.M. Founder and Director (2000) of the Summer Workshops - olhAres de Outono at Univesity Catholic Porto. Since 1998, artist in residence and researcher at ZKM - Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie - Karlsruhe Germany. Since 2002, member from the European Parlament of Culture. In 2004 he received the Doctor degree from the University of Paris VIII. Since June 2004, Director from the Research Centre for Science and Technology in Art CITAR and Professor at Portuguese Catholic University. Since 2007 invited Professor at Karlsruhe Music University - Music Informatic Departement. In 2004 his work was selected by the International Society for Contemporary Music to represent Portugal in the World Music Days 2004. Paulo Ferreira-Lopes works has been produced in international festivals - Musica Strasbourg, Música Viva, Estoril Summer Festival, documenta X - Essen, Biennal S. Paulo, ZKM-Karlsruhe, World Music Day’s, Gulbenkian Foundation, Expo 98 Portugal , through important ensembles of the contemporary artistic scnene as AccrocheNote, OrchestrUtopica , Ensemble Modern Frankfurt, etc..

(text by Paulo Ferreira Lopes)

Works:

http://ima.zkm.de/~pfl/ceT_5_8.mp4
http://ima.zkm.de/~pfl/tal.mp4

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Cesário Costa

Cesário Costa (b. 1970) is one of the most active conductors of his generation in Portugal. He studied in Paris, where he finished his Piano Graduation, and in Germany, where he completed his Degree with the highest grade and Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting at Würzburg Music Academy. In 1997, he won the first prize of 3rd International Competition for Young Conductors organised by Fundação do Oriente. That same year, he received a scholarship from Bayreuth Music Festival. He has been invited to conduct many orchestras in Portugal and others such as the Royal Philharmony Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble für Neue Musik (Germany), Arhus Sinfonietta (Denmark), Macedonia Philharmony Orchestra, Rome Philharmony Orchestra, Sudecka Philharmony and Rzeszów Philharmony (Poland), Orquesta de Extremadura (Spain). He has performed in many countries such as Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, England, Italy, Denmark, Macedonia, Malaysia and Brazil, and appeared in several Music Festivals. His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary, including the world première of more than seventy pieces. He collaborates on a regular bases with some of the most important concerts halls in Portugal. He was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Espinho Classical Orchestra and Algarve Orchestra. He was awarded the medal of cultural merit by Vila Nova de Gaia’s City Hall. He is the Vice-President of the jury of the Young Musicians Prize organised by the RDP-Antena 2. Currently, he’s the President of the Board of Metropolitana/ Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra. He’s also Principal Guest-Conductor of the Algarve Orchestra, Artistic Director of the Promenade Concerts organised by Coliseu do Porto and Principal Conductor of OrchestrUtopica. (adapted from text by Cesário Costa).

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Carlos Marecos

Composer Carlos Marecos (b. 1963, Lisbon) graduated in Composition, in 1999, at the Lisbon Superior School of Music, where he studied with Eurico Carrapatoso, António Pinho Vargas and Christopher Bochmann. He won the composition prize Prémio Lopes-Graça in 1999 and 2000. He has received commissions from numerous important cultural entities including Culturgest, the Gulbenkian Foundation Centre for Modern Art (ACART), the World Exhibition - Lisbon 1998, OrchestrUtópica, the Estoril International Music Festival and Cistermúsica - Alcobaça Music Festival. He directs the chamber ensemble “Ensemble Portátil”, which is dedicated to contemporary repertoire and modern settings of Portuguese folk music. In the areas of theatre and dance, he has worked with the stage directors João Brites, Raul Atalaia, Luís Miguel Cintra, as well as the choreographers Madalena Victorino and Vera Mantero. Since 2002, Marecos has been developing staged works regularly with a team of artists including soprano Margarida Marecos, stage director Paulo Lages, actor Guilherme Filipe, set designer Acácio de Carvalho and costume designer Manuela Bronze. Together, they staged productions such as “La Serva Padrona/A Criada Patroa” (a modern version of Pergolesi’s intermezzo musicalle, with orchestration by Marecos – 2002), “Caminho ao Céu” (musical theatre, staged by Paulo Lages - 2003) and “O Fim – Ópera Íntima” (a chamber opera with libretto by Paulo Lages, based on the play by António Patrício - 2004). Outside Portugal, his music has been performed in Spain, France, England, Denmark, Colombia and the USA. He is currently earning a doctorate in musical research at the University of Aveiro, with the composers João Pedro Oliveira and Christopher Bochmann. He teaches composition and analysis at the Lisbon Superior School of Music and at the Dom Dinis Conservatory in Odivelas.

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List of works

Discography

Press reviews

Carlos Marecos' opera "Outro Fim", by Margarida Marecos (soprano), Guilherme Filipe (actor), cond. Humberto Castanheira (2nd Renaissance of Portuguese Composition project on You Tube):

Diogo Alvim

Portuguese composer Diogo Alvim (b. in Lisbon in 1979) finished his Diploma in Architecture in Lisbon in 2004. He had also been studying Harpsichord at the Lisbon National Conservatoire wih teacher Cândida Matos, and Analysis and Composition Techniques with teachers Carlos Gomes and Eurico Carrapatoso. He attended several harpsichord workshops and sang in several choirs. From 2004 to 2006 he lived and worked in London as an architect. During that period, he attended a course on Computer Music at the London School of Contemporary Music and the course “Compose and Perform” at the Goldsmiths University with composer Fumiko Miyachi. In the meantime, he collaborated with dancer/choreographer Tânia Carvalho on the soundtrack of her show “Explodir em Silêncio Nunca Chega a Ser Perturbador”. He returned to Lisbon to study Composition at the Lisbon Superior School of Music, and to continue his Harpsichord studies. Currently in his last year of the Composition Course, he has studied with composers Sérgio Azevedo, João Madureira, Carlos Caires and Luis Tinoco. He has also been attending the Gulbenkian Composition Seminars with Emmanuel Nunes. Diogo Alvim has had several pieces premiered at the event Peças Frescas since 2007. He participated in the 6th and 7th editions of the Gulbenkian Orchestra's Workshop, with the pieces “Pequeno Concerto para Clarinete e Paisagem” (Esther Georgie, cl.), and “Concatenação”, both conducted by Joana Carneiro. In July 2008, his piece “Topografia” was played at a “first reading” concert by Orchestrutopica with conductor Cesário Costa, held at the Portuguese Music Festival, in CCB, Lisbon. In October 2008 he premiered “Distância (Ocupação_3)”, for electronics, at a concert held at the Instituto Franco-Português, programmed by Miso Music Portugal.

Diogo Alvim's "Pequeno Concerto para Clarinete e Paisagem", by Esther Georgie (cl), Gubenkian Orchestra, cond. Joana Carneiro (2nd Renaissance of Portuguese Composition project on You Tube):

João Godinho

Composer João Godinho was born in Lisbon, 1976, and took music and piano lessons from the age of six to seventeen. The option of studying music composition was preceded by a degree in Business Administration. He graduated in composition in 2006 at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, having studied with Sérgio Azevedo, João Madureira, Christopher Bochmann, Luís Tinoco, Carlos Fernandes and José Luís Ferreira. His music interests are not restrained to classical and contemporary music. Jazz, ethnic, world, brazilian and latin music; pop, electronic and recent trends; music for film, theatre and dance; they all have a strong influence in his activity as a musician. As a self-taught student, he dedicates a special attention to improvisation, having also studied with Nicholas McNair, and to jazz, having studied at the Hot Clube de Portugal jazz school. Together with Alexandra Ávila, he founded the Lisbon Jazz Summer School, whose first edition took place in July 2005 at the Centro Cultural de Belém. His professional debut was in 2006 with the premiere of Kaminari – Ballet Music for choreographer César Moniz’s new ballet company, followed by a premiere of De Queda em Queda, a piece for piano and string quartet, commissioned by OrchestrUtópica. In 2007 he was commissioned a piece for marimba solo, by Antena2/ Young Musicians Competition. In 2008 he premiered “O Marionetista”, for alto saxophone and string quartet, comissioned by OrchestrUtópica and Festival de Música do Estoril. In the same year, he wrote fado arrangements for orchestra (and a version for small ensemble), for fado singer Joana Amendoeira. Apart from his music studies, he maintains several professional activities connected to the music field. Since September 2008 he has been working as a musical adviser for the programming of Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon. (adapted from text by João Godinho)

João Godinho's "De Queda em Queda", by Elsa Silva (piano), José Pereira and Jorge Maggiorani (violins), Jano Lisboa (viola) (2nd Renaissance of Portuguese Composition project on You Tube):

Ana Seara

Born in 1985, composer Ana Seara started studying music at the Conservatório de Música Calouste Gulbenkian de Braga, where she attended with distinction the unique Complementar Composition Course taught in Portugal. She was rewarded, for 4 consecutive years, at the Regional Piano Competition held annually in Braga. In 2007 she graduated in Composition at Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa. As a student of that school, she organized projects like "Peças Frescas" - coordinated by Luís Tinoco, in partnership with the S. Luiz Teatro Municipal (Lisbon), new composer's concerts and co-organized and produced the III, IV and V ESML Music Festival. In 2005, her work, Resson [ÂNSIAS] ... was presented in the Música Viva Festival. She competed for the first edition of the International Composition Competition of Póvoa de Varzim, getting an Honorable Mention in the category of chamber music, while, on the following 2 years, at the same competition, she won a 1st and a 2nd prize in the "Music for Orchestra" category and a 2nd prize for chamber music. In 2007, she was commissioned a piece for the Young Musicians Prize, promoted by the Antena 2 radio station, and another by OrchestrUtópica, premiered at Culturgest, in Lisbon. She has also participated in the II Reading Panel of the Algarve Orchestra. Subsequently this piece was selected for the season 08/09. She’s currently working on her masters thesis in composition at the University of Évora under the guidance of Professors Christopher Bochmann and Carlos Caires, and preparing two works commissioned by the Cascais and Oeiras Chamber Orchestra and the Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa. (adapted from text by Ana Seara)

Excerpt of Ana Seara's "Percance", by pianist Joana Gama (Peças Frescas event):