Hugo Carvalhais

Hugo Carvalhais was born in Porto, in 1978. He has a degree in Painting from the Fine Arts School of Porto. He is a self-taught double-bass player, but has studied and participated in various seminars with:Ron Carter, Eddie Gomez, Hein Van de Geyn, Carlos Barretto, Carlos Bica, Miroslav Vitous, Omer Avital, Mário Rossy, Mário Pavone, Remi Vignolo, Alexis Cuadrado, Rufus Reid, etc.

Considered as one of the most talented and "sui generis" Portuguese double-bass players of his generation, Hugo has been a part of groups and accompanied musicians such as Julian Arguelles, Emile Parisien, Sheila Jordan ( a living jazz legend), Nuno Ferreira, Jefferey Davis, Marcos Cavaleiro, Jorge Reis, Paulo Gomes, Art Themen, Trupe Vocal, Fátima Serro, Kiko, Maria Viana, among others.

2010 sees the launch of his first record as a leader, entitled "nebulosa", released on Cleanfeed Records, one of the most prestigious labels of today, featuring saxophone player Tim Berne.

Nuno Silva

After his studies at the National Conservatory of Theatre in Lisbon (ESTC) and at the London Studio Centre, Nuno Silva embraced a free-lance career that continues to bring together Dance, Singing and Theatre. He was part of prestigious companies: Henri Oguike Dance Company, KNDC, Protein Dance and Grange Park Opera. With HODC he was the Assistant Director as well as being a dancer. With Grange Park Opera he sang in the chorus of "Eliogabalo", directed by David Fielding and he danced in "The Cunning Little Vixen" directed by David Alden. Presently Nuno is touring in Arthur Pitas "Gods Garden" where he sings Fado and dances. Touring includes the Royal Opera House in London. Fado is one of Nuno's main passions in life. He is currently putting together "Fado Can Dance", a series of dance duets and solos inspired by Fado music. In 2008 he participated in the Theatre Festival "Curtas" in Lisbon, remounted Henri Oguikes "Frontline" for the National Ballet of Portugal (CNB), gave Musical Theatre Recitals (songs from West Side Story, Miss Saigon, Cabaret, Lion King and Jesus Christ Superstar) and was a Guest Artist at the Belgrade Dance Festival. Before this he directed his own show "M'Àgua" (with 30 local participants selected from percussion and dance workshops) a dance/theatre show about the legends of the Enchanted Moorish Princesses in Algarve; choreographed the closing ceremony of the "II Percussion Festival of the Algarve": "In C" (music by Terry Riley) played live by the group Drumming. He also directed "O Ritmo das Estações", a large-scale Music and Dance Event in V. R. Sto António with live music played by the Algarve Orchestra (Vivaldis "4 Seasons") with over 130 performers. Throughout his career he has taught dance to professionals, students and beginners (in the UK, Israel, Germany, Portugal, China, Syria, Italy, France, amongst other countries).

(from text by Nuno Silva)

Website

Maria Anadon

Photo taken from here

Singer Maria Anadon released her debut CD, “Why Jazz?” (Movieplay/Grove 1995) sided by the American female quartet Unpredictable Nature. The album was contemplated with a Cultural Interest Manifesto by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture. Her second album, “Cem Anos” (Movieplay/Grove 1998) is totally sung in Portuguese and recreates – giving them contemporary angles - some of the most notable songs that have been soundtrack to the Portuguese cinema scene. Maria Anadon’s voice paves the way to a journey crossing one century of Portuguese movies’ History, and all the while mixes it with several influences: the Lisbon Fado, the aromas of African coffee, the native sounds from South-America and the mood of New Orleans jazz clubs. The Portuguese Ministry of Culture also graced this work with a Cultural Interest Manifesto. Her third album, “A Jazzy Way”, graced with yet another Cultural Interest Manifesto by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, sees the light of day in 2006 and finds her deepening her work with the American all-female jazz band Five Play (Arbors Records 2006). The album marks the definite international establishment of her voice as a jazz reference. «One thing that Ms. Anadon does do very consistently is bring a fresh and original approach to every song she sings.» In The New York Sun - Will Friedwald; «Maria Anadon is a new voice but one that should be heard often.. She is deep in the jazz tradition.» In The Review Corner - Herb Young. «Jazz is a universal language. For instance, a genuinely gifted pianist from Denmark can craft as fine a treatment of “Days of Wine and Roses” as an American like Fred Hersch. But it’s different for vocalists. Maria Anadon is a delightfully rare exception.» In Vox - Christopher Loudon“Smile” (IPlay 2010), Maria Anadon’s fourth solo CD, loaded with new standards, rarities and a tribute song to Charles Chaplin, again recorded with the all-female American band Five Play, is scheduled to be released in March, once more benefiting from a Cultural Interest Manifesto by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture.

(from text by Maria Anadon)

blog

My Space

José Carlos Xavier

As a student of the Lisbon National Conservatory of Music, tenor José Carlos Xavier studied singing, particularly with Cristina de Castro. At a very young age, he joined the Choir of São Carlos National Theatre. He made his debut as a soloist at that theatre, interpreting roles in the operas "Miguel Mañara", “Der Rosenkavalier”, "Rigoletto", "Fedora", "Louise" and "Dona Mécia". At the invitation of conductor Michel Corboz, he joined the Chamber Music Group of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and sang as a solo performer in Spain and Italy. He was a scholar of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for five years, which he spent in Italy at the Liceo G. B. Viotti, in Vercelli and where, supervised by Zita Fumagalli, he successfully graduated in Singing, obtaining the highest classification and a summa cum laude mention by the panel. José Carlos Xavier chose to live in Italy. He sang at a wide range of music festivals, such as Aix-en-Provence, Toulon (where he was considered best vocal participant in the concert by Le Figaro’s critic Clarendon), Tuscany, the 1st Music Festival of Lagos, Vilar de Mouros and Kriens Music Festival (Lucerne). In the field of opera, he played, among others, Ernesto in "Don Pasquale”, Peppe in "I Pagliacci", Des Grieux in "Manon Lescaut”, Werther in “Werther”, and, more recently, Tamino in "Die Zauberflöte", with the Kammeroper in Zollikofen. Together with the Association "Amici della Lirica", he performed several recitals in various Italian cities and also abroad. Upon his return to Portugal, José Carlos Xavier started to collaborate regularly with the Secretary of State for Culture and gave recitals on a national scale. He gave performances in Macao, as well as in India, Japan and Thailand. He commercially recorded a cycle of “Troubadour Songs” by Frederico de Freitas and a cycle of originals by F. Lopes Graça. He also recorded for RTP (Portuguese Broadcasting Corporation) and for RTE – Spanish Television, as well as for the Portuguese and French National Broadcast Radio Companies. He teaches singing courses at the Lisbon National Conservatory of Music, where he has supervised some of the most prominent Portuguese young lyrical singers. He is the founder and the president of the “Luísa Todi National Singing Competition” (seven editions) and a frequent member of panels at national and international competitions, namely the Rio de Janeiro Theatro Municipal Singing Competion, in September 2010.
(from text by José Carlos Xavier)

José Corvelo

Baritone José Corvelo completed his advanced singing studies at Escola Superior de Música e das Artes do Espectáculo, in Porto, Portugal, with José de Oliveira Lopes. He attended master-classes under the guidance of Fernanda Correia, Oliveira Lopes, Rudolf Knoll, Lamara Tchekónia, Liliana Bizineche, Francisco Lázaro, Enza Ferrari, Jorge Vaz de Carvalho, Ambra Vespesiani, Ettore Nova and Daniel Muñoz. José Corvelo is now one of the most sought-after Portuguese baritones. In 2000 he began a regular collaboration as a soloist with Circulo Portuense de Ópera, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Orquestra do Norte and The Portuguese Opera Company. There he made important debuts such as Uberto, Bartolo, Figaro, Leporello, Germont, Monterone, Escamillo, Sharpless, Alfio, Tonio/Taddeo and many others. He took part in the world première of Eurico Carrapatoso’s A Floresta (The Forest, 2004, Teatro São Luis, Lisboa – co-production with Teatro Nacional de São Carlos) and recorded in DVD Carrapatoso’s O Lobo Diogo e o mosquito Valentim (Diogo the Wolf and Valentim the Mosquito, Casa da Música, Porto). His vast concert repertoire includes oratorio, masses and lieder. He has worked with distinguished scene directors and with conductors such as M. Tardue, J. Reynolds, Ferreira Lobo, Félix Carrasco, Osvaldo Ferreira, R. Giovaninetti, Martin André, Zsolt Hamar, NikŠa Bareza, R. Manfredini, N. Giusti, Enrico Dovico, César Viana, J. Paulo Santos, C.Bochmann, Ivo Cruz, R. Massena, G. Andreoli, Cesário Costa, G. Arglebe, António V. Lourenço, Emílio de César, R. Perez, J. Willig, M. Letonja, G. Bülh and many others.
(text by José Corvelo)

Tiago Derriça

Composer Tiago de Sousa Derriça was born in Lisbon in 1986. He started his musical studies at age seven, then he attended the CMML (Metropolitan Conservatory) where he studied Cello with Eugen Prochác, Peter Flanagan and João Pires. During this period of time he had Composition lessons with the composer Pedro Faria Gomes. In 2004, 2007 and 2008 Tiago Derriça attended Leiria Summer Conducting Workshop with Jean-Sébastien Béreau. He also took part of the Second National Workshop of the OSAM (Metropolitan Academic Orchestra) with the conductor Michael Zilm. He graduated in Composition at the ESML (Lisbon College of Music), where he studied with João Madureira, Luís Tinoco, Sérgio Azevedo, Vasco Azevedo, Roberto Perez, Benoît Gibson, António Pinho Vargas and others. Tiago was admitted at the UE (Évora University) where he is studying Composition with Christopher Bochmann. His works has been performed by various chamber groups, as well as the OSL (Lisbon Sinfonieta Orchestra), OML (Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra), EUCO (European Union Chamber Orchestra), Ricercare Choir and NOL (Lisbon New Orchestra) where he is composer-in-residence.(text by Tiago Derriça)

My Space

Tiago Derriça's "Diaphonia" by Lisbon Sinfonietta, cond. Vasco Pearce de Azevedo (2nd Renaissance of Portuguese Composition project on You Tube):

Susana Santos Silva

Susana Santos Silva was born in Porto in the year of 1979. She holds a Graduate Diploma in Jazz/Trumpet ‘2008 from the College of Music and Performing Arts in Porto. She also holds a Graduate Diploma in Trumpet´2004 from the same school, finishing the course at the Stlaatliche Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe in Reinhold Friedrich´s Class, where she also had lessons with Prof. Edward Tarr, Klaus Schuwerk and Klaus Braker. She is a member of the European Movement Jazz Orchestra, with whom she toured in Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium and Portugal, Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos, LAMA Trio, leads her own Quintet, freelances and records with other projects in different musical styles.She participated on Master Classes and Seminars with names such as John Aigi Hurn, Charles Buttler, Eric Aubier, Pierre Thibeau, Pasi Pirinen, Philip Smith, Pierre Dutot, Adolph Herseth, Robert Astre. She played with several orchestras such as Orquestra Académica do Porto, Sinfonieta do Porto, Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Filarmonia das Beiras, Remix e Orquestra de Jovens da Casa da Musica. She participated in some Workshops with Jon Faddis, Cecil Bridgewater, Alex Sipiagin, Orrin Evans, Richie Beirach, Greg Osby, Jason Lindner, Mark Turner, Chris Cheek, Ohad Talmor, Dan Weiss, and others. As part of Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos, she records Portology featuring Lee Konitz and OJM Invites Chris Cheek, and plays with Mark Turner, Rich Perry, John Riley, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Bob Berg, Rick Margitza, Perico Sambeat, Conrad Herwig, Ingrid Jensen, Joshua Redman, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Dan Weiss, Gerald Clever, John Hollenbeck, Theo Bleckman, Jordi Rossi, Eric Vloeimans among others. The orchestra has been playing on the jazz festivals all over Portugal and in Milano, Brussels and New York. With Carlos Azevedo Ensemble records Lenda. She is now attending a Master in Jazz Performance in Codarts, Rotterdam, where she works with Eric Vloeimans, Jarmo Hoogendijk and Wim Both.

(text by Susana Santos Silva)

My Space

Facebook

Luís Tinoco

Luís Tinoco (b. 1969, Lisbon) made his First Degree in composition at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa. He was then awarded with scholarships by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Centro Nacional de Cultura to complete a Masters degree in Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, in London. At the RAM he was awarded with the Edward Echt, Mosco Carner, Battison Haynes, Charles Lucas and the Howard Carr Memorial Prize. Currently he is doing a PhD research at the University of York. Since 1999, Tinoco has lectured Composition at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa. For the Portuguese Classical radio – RTP Antena 2, he wrote and presented A Century’s Score - from 2000 to 2003 -, and he is the author of The Geography of Sound, for the same radio, on air since 2004. Also for the RTP he is the artistic director of the Young Musicians Prize. Tinoco’s work has been recorded on CD by the Arditti Quartet (UK); Galliard Ensemble (UK); Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Canada); John Wallace / Royal Scottish Academy Brass, (UK); Apollo Saxophone Quartet, (UK); QuadQuartet (PT) and by Pedro Carneiro (UK). A CD devoted to his chamber works performed by the Ensemble Lontano, conducted by Odaline de La Martinez (Lorelt Records), was launched in November 2005 at the Purcell Room / South Bank Centre, in London. Future CD releases include a new recording with the Arditti String Quartet and the percussionist Pedro Carneiro, on the Dutch label Etcetera, in Feb. 2010. Tinoco’s orchestral music has been regularly commissioned, performed and / or programmed by various orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, El Paso Symphony Orchestra, Turin Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, Oporto National Orchestra and the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra. Amongst other, Tinoco’s music has been conducted by (in alphabetical order) Martin Andre, Stefan Asbury, René Bosc, Joana Carneiro, Cesário Costa, Cliff Colnot, Sarah Ioannides, Susanna Malkki, Odaline de La Martinez, David Alan Miller, Ludovic Morlot, Donato Renzetti, Peter Rundel, Jonathan Stockhammer, Yaron Traub, Tapio Tuomela and Ilan Volkov. Recent projects have included Search Songs and …from the Depth of Distance - two song cycles for soprano and symphony orchestra; and Evil Machines - a music theatre project with libretto and stage direction by the former Monty Python Terry Jones. Future projects include the premiere of Paint Me, a chamber opera with libretto by Stephen Plaice. Luís Tinoco’s music is published in the UK since 2005, by the University of York Music Press.

(text by Luís Tinoco)

Website

Pedro Rego

Pedro Rego was born in Canelas, Estarreja. He studied Saxophone in the class of Professor Fernando Valente in the Calouste Gulbenkian Conservatory of Music of Aveiro, where he integrated the Aveiro Saxophone Quartet and Big Band. He also attented the Saxophone Courses in Aveiro with the Amsterdam Saxophone Quartet. At the same time he also participated in Jazz Workshops with the Quarteto Carlos Martins, Carlos Barreto and Zé Eduardo. In 1995 he attented the I Course of Chamber Music in Aveiro with Teacher Jaime Mota and in 1996 won a national public TV Prize of the Saxophone Class of the Aveiro Conservatory of Music. In Lisbon he attented the Hot Club Portugal School of Jazz and the VI Workshop of Jazz of Loures. He also participated in the Seminars “Musical Development for children” and “Psychology of Music” and “Musical Education” with Edwin Gordon in FCSH of the New University of Lisbon, and in the Seminar “Music and Movement” according to Orff-Schulwerk guided by Teacher Verena Maschat in the Superior School of Education of Lisbon. He attended saxophone Masterclasses with Teachers Henk Van Twillert, Mário Marzi and Claude Delangle. He collaborated with several Wind Bands of the north area of the country. He was member of Glup Swing Orchestra in Aveiro, he took part in Big Villas Band of Hot Club of Portugal, Big Band Almada Cool and he also collaborated with the Didactic Orchestra of the Foco Musical. Since 1998, he’s been teaching Saxophone in the Regional Conservatory of Setúbal, where he created the SetSax Quartet. He also teaches Musical Education in the Portuguese Musical Youth, of which he’s Pedagogic Coordinator and General Secretary. In 2006 he was invited to teach the Saxophone class in Ourearte School of Music and Arts of Ourém, where he guided the First Seminary of Wind Band of Ourém. He has also founded the Ourearte Saxophone Quartet. He took the Inatel Course of Musical Conducting with Conductors José Brito, Alberto Roque and René Castelain, attended Masterclasses of Conducting with Conductors José Ignácio Petit, Robert Houlihan, Rodolfo Aglimbeni, Félix Hauswirth, José Pascual Vilaplana, Jacob of Haan and Douglas Bostock. Since October 2006 he’s been ahead of Philarmonic Society Palmelense "Loureiros"’ Wind Band and takes part of Loureiros’ Big Band and of Barreiro School of Jazz Big Band and he collaborates with DJ JH in Chillout Music. (adapted from text by Pedro Rego)
My Space

Francisco Monteiro

Pianist Francisco Monteiro started his musical studies as a pupil Helena Costa’s in Porto – Portugal, entering later the local music conservatory where he achieved the Superior Piano Course with honour. He is graduated by the Musik Universität Wien – Austria (piano concert class by Noel Flores), the University of Coimbra – Portugal (Master Degree in Musicology) and the University of Sheffield (Ph.D. – Contemporary Music). He also studied analysis and composition with Cândido Lima, Álvaro Salazar (Porto) and Gottfried Scholtz (Vienna – Austria), conducting with Jean-Claude Hartemann and piano interpretation with Marie-Françoise Bucquet (Paris). He took part in several master classes with Vlado Perlemutter, Natalie Pepin, Anne Koscielny, Joseph Palenicek, Moura Castro and Jorg Demus among others. Awarded in national piano competitions, his activity as a pianist includes both solo and chamber presentations. Although is repertoire embraces works from the XVIII century until our days, he is mainly devoted to the 20th century and Portuguese music: he presented premières of works of C. Lima, J. Peixinho, A. Salazar, António Sousa Dias, Fernando Lapa, Christopher Bochmann, Terry W. Owens, Carlos Azevedo, Armando Santiago, Clotilde Rosa, Eurico Carrapatoso and Pedro Rocha. He took part in the Festivals of Udine, Transimeno Lake and Cagliary SpazioMusica (Italy), Essen Contemporary Music Festival (Germany), Bogotá Music Festival (Colombia), Valencia’s and Logroño’s Contemporary Music Festivals (Spain), Baku Music Festival (Romenia), Costa Verde Music Festival, Gulbenkian Contemporary Music Encounters, and the Music Festivals of Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra and Lisbon (Portugal). He also played solo in France, Austria, Italy, Belgium, U.S.A., Germany and in the U.K.. Francisco Monteiro recorded for the Portuguese national radio and television and the CDs "Exposed on the cliffs of the heart" - piano music of Terry Winter Owens and “Lov” – flute, cello and piano trio, playing music of Crumb, Piazolla, Azevedo and Peixinho. He also took part in many CDs concerning Portuguese contemporary music, with works of J. Peixinho, Clotilde Rosa, Christopher Bochmann, António Pinho Vargas, Álvaro Salazar and others. Together with is career as a performer he maintains a regular activity as a composer. His music is much influenced by the Western classical tradition and avant-garde composers of the sixties, and also by traditional Portuguese rural music and rock music. He is Professor in the Polytechnic Institute of Porto - Portugal (School of Education).

(text by Francisco Monteiro)

Webpage

Ana Ester Neves (soprano) and Francisco Monteiro (piano) perform Francisco Monteiro's "O Amor" (one of the "Three Alexandre O'Neill Songs").

Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos

Created in 1999, the Orquestra de Jazz de Matosinhos is one of the most dynamic orchestras in the Portuguese jazz panorama. Directed by Carlos Azevedo and Pedro Guedes, the orchestra has sought to create its own repertoire as well as organize specific projects with guest performances by soloists, maestros and composers of international renown Through the diversity and imagination involved in the programs presented, the regular release of international recordings and its continuous growth, OJM has managed to reach a level where it is truly a national jazz orchestra. After almost ten years in action a number of events stand out, namely the Porto 2001 closing ceremony, the recreation of Sketches of Spain with the Remix Ensemble, the presentation of Carla Bley’s music, recording the CD Portology with Lee Konitz for the North American label Omnitone, the concerts with Lee Konitz, the CD OJM invites Chris Cheek for Fresh Sound New Talent, the concert with John Hollenbeck, the concert with Dee Dee Bridgewater, the concert in which OJM performed with the Porto National Orchestra, the concert with Kurt Rosenwinkel and also the recent concert with Joshua Redman and Chris Cheek at the inauguration of the Cine-Teatro Constantino Nery in Matosinhos. And OJM has crossed borders, performing in Brussels, Milan and in New York, at the Carnegie Hall, during the JVC Jazz Festival. (text by OJM)

Website
My Space
Facebook

Emanuel Salvador

Described by the Strad Magazine as “one of the finest Portuguese violinists of his generation”, Emanuel Salvador has already performed as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader in the U.K., Kazakhstan, Portugal, Holland, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Malta and South Korea. He has been awarded top prizes at Isolde Menges and Beckenham Festival competitions; Barbirolli Memorial and Wolfson; Jovens Músicos; Gulbenkian Foundation Scholarship, Instituto Camões Grants. After graduating from Artave (a specialist music school) as the best student of the year he then moved to London, where he got a BMus from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (Professor John Glickman) and a MMus at the Royal College of Music (Dr. Felix Andrievsky). Other professors include Ilya Grubert, David Takeno, Ulf Hoelscher as well as members from Borodin and Takacs Quartets and Peabody and Florestan Piano Trios. As a concerto soloist Emanuel has played with several orchestras including Sinfonica UANL, Rotterdam Ensemble, Newbury Symphony, Norte, Vitalis, Skolia, Nova Amadeus. His festival appearances include Gaia International, Proms in St. Judes and Ampthill and the International String Orchestra Festival in Malta. Since September 2005 Emanuel is the leader of Orquestra do Norte in Portugal. As a guest leader he worked with Seoul Classical Players and Gulbenkian Ensemble.

(text by Emanuel Salvador)