Sara Braga Simões

Photo: Alfredo Rocha

Soprano Sara Braga Simoes is a winner of several national and international prizes. Operatic Roles include Pamina (Die Zauberflöte - Mozart) Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro – Mozart), Zerlina (Don Giovanni – Mozart), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel - E. Humperdinck), Despina (Così fan Tutte - W.A. Mozart), The Governess (The Turn of the Screw – B. Britten), Spinalba (La Spinalba - F. António de Almeida), Sleeping Beauty (Sleeping Beauty – O. Respighi), Jenny (Three sisters who are not sisters – N. Rorem), Rowan (The Little Sweep - B. Britten). She sang Ein Deutsches Requiem – Brahms, Des Knabem Wunderhorn – Mahler, E vo - Berio, Trois poèmes de Stephan Mallarmé - M.Ravel, Nuits d’étè - H.Berlioz, Te Deum - Dvorack, Madrigals (Book I) - George Crumb, Shîr - João Pedro Oliveira*, D’une saison… l’autre - A. Lemeland*, Lacrymosa - Yanov-Yanovsky, Magnificat, Dixit Dominus and Gloria - A.Vivaldi, The Devil’s Suite - Peter Maxwell Davies, Christmas Oratorio - Saint-Saëns, Stabat Mater - G.B.Pergolesi and Haddock’s Eyes - David Del Tredici. Sara was directed by Martin André, Cesário Costa, Laurence Cummings, Marc Tardue, Osvaldo Ferreira, Stefan Asbury, Peter Rundell, Ferreira Lobo, Manuel Ivo Cruz, Brad Cohen, Peter Birgamin, Armando Vidal, Jaroslav Mikus, Gunther Arglebe, Yoichi Sugyiana, among others. Engagements for this season include her London debut with the world premier of Pedro Amaral’s opera in London: The Dream, Nino Rota’s Aladin (as The Princess) and George Benjamin’s A Mind of winter in Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon). (text by Sara Braga Simões)

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Ana Queirós

Award winner in national and international competitions, portuguese pianist Ana Queirós performs regularly in Portugal, Brazil (Portuguese Music tour in São Paulo, Belém and Vitória), Germany (Neckargemund Klavierwoche, Heidelberg and Weissber Festivals), Spain, Italy (Festival Internazionale de Pianoforte Firenze), USA (New York) and Mozambique (Maputo International Music Festival). A graduate from the Manhattan School of Music, she studied with Luis Pipa, J. Alexandre Reis and Pedro Burmester in Portugal and obtained her Master of Music in Piano Performance degree as a scholarhip student of Dr. Solomon Mikovsky. She also studied in Madrid with Galina Egyazarova and attended masterclasses by Paul Badura-Skoda, Vitaly Margulis, Pierre Reach, Vladimir Viardo, Dimitri Bashkirov, Tania Achot, Laszlo Simon and Charles Spencer, among others, in Germany and Spain. With an intense musical activity, Ana performs regularly in both solo, with orchestra and chamber music concerts. Besides Doppio Ensemble, she is also the founder of TriArt with French composer and percussionist Jean-François Lézé and premiered several works by Portuguese and French composers. She is in the faculty of Braga University and Oporto Music Conservatory and also collaborates with Oporto National Orchestra and ESMAE. Her musical studies have been supported by Manhattan School of Music, Centro Nacional de Cultura and Calouste Gulbenkian Foudation. Next engagements include concerts and masterclasses in Spain, Italy, Germany and USA.
(Text by Ana Queirós)

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Evandra de Brito Gonçalves

Evandra de Brito Gonçalves is one of the most talented portuguese violinists of her generation. She received awards in Portugal and USA, both as a soloist and a chamber musician, playing solo with Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Orquestra das Beiras, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Sinfonieta do Porto, Orquestra Clássica do Porto, USC Symphonie Orchestra and Northewstern Symphonie Orchestra. She was a student of Gaio Lima, Zofia Wóycicka, Gerardo Ribeiro ( Northwestern University ) and Robert Lipsett ( University of Southern California ). She has also attended masterclasses with Isaac Stern and Augustin Leon Ara, Zakhar Bron, Gerardo Ribeiro, Almita Vamos , among others. At the age of 13 years old, she was accepted has a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, where she had the opportunity to work with musicians such as Leonard Slatkin, M. Rostropovich, Sir Colin Davis, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Martha Argerich, Emanuel Ax, Bernard Haitink, Carlo Maria Giulini and perform in all the major orchestra halls in Europe and South America. While attending Northwestern University ( Chicago ) for her Master Degree, she was Mr. Ribeiro´s teaching assistent. Since she came back to Portugal, she became a member of the Orquestra Nacional do Porto and teacher at the Escola Profissional de Música de Viana do Castelo. She performs regularly with the pianist Ana Queirós, the Doppio Ensemble, formed in 2002. In 2010 Doppio Ensemble will release a CD, and has been invited to perform in Portugal, Spain, USA and Italy. Evandra is also the violinist and co-founder of the prestigious chamber music group Camerata Senza Misura. More recent projects include the trio TriArt ( with pianist Ana Queirós and french percussionist and composer Jean-François Lézé) and the violin trio VioNinas ( with Maria Kagan and Ianina Pacheco ). Both groups play different kinds of music, that goes from the Bossa Nova, Jazz, Tangos, Afro-Cubans,tradicional Russian influenced compositions and world music in general.
(text by Evandra de Brito Gonçalves)

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)

Carla Caramujo

Soprano Carla Caramujo completed her Bachelor and Masters in Music Performance, with distinction, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, having graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Opera Course. She studied with Laura Sarti and Patricia MacMahon. She was a scholar of the Samling Foundation in the UK. Carla Caramujo won first prizes in a number of competitions including the Luisa Todi National Singing Competition (Lisbon), Chevron Excellence award 2005 and Ye Cronies Award 2006 (UK) and at the Musikförderpreis der Hans-Sachs-Loge (Nürnberg). She made her début at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (TNSC), Lisbon, as Gilda Rigoletto and in a Concert Gala with Vesselina Kasarova. Carla Caramujo’s operatic roles include Adina L’elisir d’amore (Teatro da Trindade), Violetta La traviata (Sintra’s Festival), Queen of the Night Die Zauberflöte (Trinity theatre, Kent), Madame Herz Die Schauspieldirektor (Teatro das Figuras, Faro), Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte (Teatro Rivoli, Porto), Valetto L’incoronazione di Poppea (Traverse Theater, Edimbrough), Armida Rinaldo (Festival Theater, Edimbrough), Frasquita Carmen (Teatro Communale, Bologna), Flight Controller Flight (New atheneum theater, Glasgow), She in Douglas Templeton’s Night Square, Usignuolo and Fata Azzurra in Respighi’s La bella dormente nel bosco (Casa das Artes, Famalicão). Her concert performances include Brahms Requiem, Bach Magnificat, Handel Messiah, Mozart C minor Mass, Beethoven Mass in C, Mendelssohn Elijah, Poulenc Gloria, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart Concert Arias, in major UK venues and in Germany, the Czech Republic, Mexico and Portugal where she has also performed at entro Cultural de Belém, Gulbenkian and many of the major music festivals. In 2008, Carla has participated on a doccumentary series for RTP (Portuguese Radio and Television), Percursos da Música Portuguesa, with a recital performed at the Teatro Nacional de S. Carlos. Last summer she returned to Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon to sing sang Donna Anna Don Giovanni and recently she sang Nena in Pergolesi’s Lo frate 'nnamorato for CCB (Lisbon) and Vespina in Francisco António de Almeida’s La Spinalba for the festival Are-more of Vigo (Spain). In Spring 2010 she will sing Adele Die Fledermaus, also at Teatro Nacional de São Carlos.


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Costa Campos

A full, glowing night, of augurious stars, came down upon the blessed and mystical set erected at the ruins of Convento do Carmo, there to witness the premiere of Costa Campos as a lead singer, playing D. Basilio from Il Barbiere di Siviglia, under the direction of Jan Latham König. It was the first peak in the life of this young man graduated in Law, born in Luanda, who quested madly for the Apollonius gesture, the grave sculpture of singing, ever since he emerged from the Escola de Teatro e Cinema do Conservatório Nacional, with Maria Germana Tânger and Águeda Sena, since when he received the teaching of Maria Cristina de Castro, Hugo Casaes, Natália Viana, Elsa Saque and Liliane Bizineche; the conspicuous and detailed perfecting of the art and of the craft with Ivo Vinco, Jeff Lawton, Jonathan Morris and Günther Bauer; and finally the splendid principles of voice and interpretation from the divine Grace Bumbry and that illustrious maestro, Enza Ferrari. There followed the musical-theatrical, multi-disciplinal and various performances: Judas, from O Nazareno (Coliseu de Lisboa), La Diva from Zarzuelas Cabaré e Olé Olé (Municipal de S. Luís), the Marquis of Obigny in the historical production of La Traviata, signed by Pier Luigi Pizzi and directed by Giuliano Carella (Teatro de S. Carlos), the Senator Robert Lyons in Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing (Festival de Música de Macau), Carumba, from Leal Moreira’s A Vingança da Cigana. In splendid artistic fruits did the year 2009 smile upon Costa Campos when, in the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, exemplarily integrated in the principles and in the most original scenic conceptions of such great men of the Theatre as Peter Konwintschy and Michael Hampe, he achieved authentic creations in the roles of Bénoit, from La Bohème (directed by Julia Jones), and of the Praetorian in Handel’s Agripina. An artist of indefatigable capacity for work and constant perfecting, eternally avid for new challenges, it is in the creation of the role Montesinos in the opera D. Quixote et la Duchesse, by Boismortier, that he reaps abundant triumph by exhibiting the excellence of his bass register, for the first time facing the hardships of a basso profondo tessitura. He is presently the mentor of a cultural project entitled Primo Canto, where the artistic wisdom begotten in his contact with the Grand Masters is passed onto others. Hailed as an aesthete both on- and off-stage, Costa Campos bears a debt of infinite gratitude towards his beloved Mother and the unforgettable Grace Bumbry for his excellence throughout. (text by Costa Campos)

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Júlio Pereira

In 30 years of a career as multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, Júlio Pereira has guided his artistic concern by parameters that have the universality of cultural events as reference. This, in no way contradicts the importance of his work in the scope of the traditional Portuguese music and the ethnic consideration of sounds and their roots. His work has always aimed to the incorporation of Portuguese tradition in aesthetic currents that mark the successive "contemporarities". Thus, his ouevre, comprising 17 LPs, after reflecting the importance of the 70s musical innovation, starts to focus in recovering and renovating the sounds of "almost lost" traditional instruments – of that, the most paradigmatic examples are Cavaquinho (1981), Braguesa (1982), and O meu bandolim (1992) – as well, especially since the 90s, the combination of these sounds with (always) new acoustic solutions – as Rituais (2000) documents significantly. All this places him, beyond his key role in the Portuguese music scenario of the 20th century last decades, also as a musician of the new century. Although Júlio Pereira’s work, since the album Cavaquinho (1981), didn’t extend to the composition of music for lyrics, his poetic selectivity led him to produce an album – Faz de conta - which intersects with core Portuguese speaking authors, such as Eugénio de Andrade and Vinicius de Moraes. In Graffiti, his new album, to be heard from the beginning of the new year, the words’ sound is back associating the most significant voices of World Music to his work after Geografias (2007), which definitely marked the composer’s universality and the stage return of the instrumentalist. Julio Pereira’s experience and musical testimony are attested by almost an hundred discs where he performed as an instrumentalist, orchestrator or producer. Mention must be made to the importance of his close ties to the career of José Afonso, since the late 70s, as well as his participation in joint works with Pete Seeger and The Chieftains and also Kepa Junkera, Chico Buarque, Dulce Pontes, Sara Tavares, Carlos do Carmo, etc.

(text by Júlio Pereira)

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Ernesto Rodrigues

Performer and composer Ernesto Rodrigues was born in Lisbon 1959. He has been playing the violin for 30 years and in that time has played all genres of music ranging from contemporary music to free jazz and free improvisation, live and in the studio. As an avant-garde violinist/violist his main interest shifted towards contemporary improvised and new music as well as graphic scores by Gerhard Stäbler, Nikolaus Gerszewski and Phil Niblock. Studies with contemporary composers Eurico Carrapatoso, Emmanuel Nunes and Pedro M. Rocha. The relationship with his instruments is focused in sonic and textural elements as well as the use of extended techniques. Electronic music was an early influence on his approach to violin playing, which challenges traditional romantic concepts of the violin and viola through use of preparations and micro tuning. Silence plays an important and determinant role in his music. Has founded and directs Variable Geometry Orchestra since 2000. A large ensemble where the conduction is operated by balancing the sound masses that travel in the acoustic space, dictating the construction of the realtime composition, and thus revealing the organized juxtaposition of specific instruments as mobile sound groups. Has created music for films, dance, performance and video. (text by Ernesto Rodrigues)


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Ana Paula Russo

As a soloist, soprano Ana Paula Russo has sung in many Lied and Oratorium concerts, as well as in Opera. Some of her outstanding works were for the Gulbenkian Foundation, RTP (Portuguese Radio and Television), Europalia-91 (in Brussels) and Lisbon 94 – capital of culture.In 1989, she represented Portugal in the “Cardiff Singer of the World” Competition. She took part in some important music festivals, such as Capuchos, Leiria, Estoril, Algarve, P. de Varzim, F. da Foz and the International Festival of Macao. In concert, she sang works as, for instance, “Das Buch der hängenden Gärten” (Schönberg), “Les Noces” (Stravinsky),”Les Illuminations” (Britten), Cantata op, 29 (Webern), works by A. Chagas Rosa, “Carmina Burana” (C. Orff), “Stabat Mater” (Rossini and Dvorak) and many others. The Opera and Scenic music have had a major importance in APRusso’s career. Among many others, we can point out roles as: Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Marie (La fille du regiment), Ninette (The love of the three Oranges),Musetta (La Bohéme), Adele (Der Fledermaus), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), Ernesta (As Damas Trocadas), Hanna (The merry Widow), Najade (Ariadne auf Naxos), Cunegonde (Candide), Vespetta (Pimpinone), Eurydice (Orphé aux Enfers), Nightingale (The Nightingale by Stravinsky), Minette (The English Cat by H.W Henze), D.Anna (D. Giovanni). In April’98 she was one of the singers in the world premiere of the opera “Os Dias Levantados” by António Pinho Vargas – this work was recorded on cd by EMI. In 1998, Ana Paula was chosen to sing the female leading role in the opera “White Raven” (world premiere) by Philip Glass in the Expo’98 in Lisbon. This opera was also sung in Madrid (Teatro Real) and in New York (Lincoln Center/NY State Opera). In the 10th anniversary of Fernando Lopes Graça’s death (2004), she sang the soprano soloist part in the composer’s Requiem – this performance was released on cd in 2006. In 2008 she sang in the world premiere of “Evil Machines”, a musical fantasy by Terry Jones (Monthy Python), with music by Luis Tinoco. Together wih Carlos Gutkin (guitar player), she recorded a very successful cd with ibero-american music, “Melodia Sentimental”. In 2009, she sang the main soloist part in Marcos Portugal’s “Missa Grande”, recorded in cd.

(Text by Ana Paula Russo)

Miguel Graça Moura

Born at Oporto (Portugal), conductor Miguel Graça Moura graduated in Piano and Composition at the Oporto National Conservatory of Music (both diplomas with the highest grade), where he became later teacher of Composition. At the same time, he graduated in Architecture. As a composer, he received international acclaim (some of his works have been played in various countries), had some pieces commissioned by international festivals like Strasburg and won first prize at Naples Festival 1986. He also worked as assistant of Portuguese minister of Education, leading the national commission that reformed the artistic education in Portugal. With the help of scholarships from Portuguese Government, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and French Government, he studied, in Strasbourg (France), Conducting with Jean-Sébastien Béreau and Musical Analysis with René Schmidt (graduating with “Premier Prix” in both courses). After he taught Orchestra, Orchestral Conducting and Chamber Music at Reims National Conservatory (France) and became assistant of his ex-teacher J.-S. Béreau. He was Musical Director of “Música Viva” Ensemble (1975 to 1980), Strasbourg University Orchestra (1982 to 1984), Grenoble University Symphony Orchestra (1984 to 1986), Portuguese Youth Orchestra (1986 to 1994), Chamber Orchestra “La Folia” (1987 to 1992) and Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra (1992 to 2003). He also founded and directed in Lisbon the four music schools related to LMO. He conducted almost all Portuguese professional orchestras and many others in the 34 countries (in Europe, America and Asia). He conducted famous soloists like Maria João Pires, Augustin Dumay and Tatiana Nikolaeva, among many others. He is member, since 2003, of the jury of “Prokofiev” International Competition for Conductors (S. Petersburg, Russia). Miguel Graça Moura has recorded over twenty CDs, published by Philips Classics, RCA Classics and EMI Classics, as conductor of various orchestras from Portugal and abroad. (from text by Miguel Graça Moura)

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)

Nuno Dario

Nuno Dario is an explorative composer; his aesthetical concerns are focused on blurring the boundaries between musical genres. He began his musical studies privately with Dulce Nagy. He then studied classical guitar with Piñeiro Nagy at Academia de Amadores de Musica, composition with Christopher Bochmann, piano with Alexei Eremine and conducting with Roberto Perez. From 1999 to 2003 and 2005/06 he got his first degree in Composition with distinction from Lisbon College of Music, where he worked with composers Sérgio Azevedo, Christopher Bochmann and Luís Tinoco. His professional activity spreads over several musical genres, writing music for film and television as well as for the Web. Many of his works have been performed in Portugal and abroad by MikroDuo (in Switzerland), Trio GrandOpus or Epabi Symphony Orchestra to name just a few. A special highlight to his most appreciated theatre works such as ‘Dracula’ or ‘Hamlet’ (music and sound design) for the Lisbon Players. Nuno also kept furthering his conducting studies with Ernst Schelle and Neil Thomson leading to a freelance conducting career. He was principal conductor at Gymnasium Opera Classical Orchestra, co-musical director of Ensemble JER and he performed at prestigious venues with orchestras such as Epabi and Esproarte Symphony, Tejo National and other contemporary music chamber ensembles. He taught Analysis and Techniques of Composition, Choir and Orchestra at several music conservatories and professional school of music in Portugal from 2001 to 2007. In 2008 he enrolled on his composition PhD program at Royal Holloway College in London under the supervision of British film composer Brian Lock; his thesis being focused on film music. Nuno was granted the PhD scholarship by the Foundation for Science and Technology, a department of the Portuguese Ministry of Science and High Education. (text by Nuno Dario)

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