Miguel Henriques

Miguel Henriques has devoted his attention to major works of the pianistic repertoire. His recital programmes include pieces from different styles and periods from Bach to Beethoven, Chopin, Janácek, Schubert, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Scriabine, Shostakovitch, Messiaen, Schnittke, Lopes-Graça and António Pinho Vargas. From these two well celebrated Portuguese composers are also his last recordings on CD. Born in the city of Porto (Portugal), graduated at the Lisbon and Porto Conservatories and at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, Miguel Henriques took his master's degree at the University of Kansas in the United States. Complementary fields of professional activity in Musicology, Aesthetics, Composition, Conducting, Dramatic Expression, and Piano Methodology. Professor of piano at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, Miguel Henriques is regularly invited to teach in masterclasses in Portugal and abroad. (text by Miguel Henriques)

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Discography

Miguel Henriques plays António Fragoso's Prelude (from "Petite Suite"):

António Fragoso

Born at the village of Pocariça, in central Portugal, on June the 17th, 1897, António Fragoso died of the pneumonic flu, on October the 13th, 1918. In spite of his premature death, he wrote a number of pieces for solo piano, songs and chamber music of such quality that, nowadays like in his time, it is believed by many he could have been the greatest Portuguese composer of the 20th century. He started taking piano lessons from his uncle but it was not until he was 17 years old that he moved to Lisbon to study at the National Conservatoire, namely with Marcos Garin, Tomás Borba and Luís de Freitas Branco. He graduated in only 4 years, with the highest classification on his piano exam. By that time, several of his works had already been premiered in concerts in Lisbon and other towns and were highly praised by the critics, as well as teachers and fellow composers. Notwithstanding his youth and notable influences by composers such as Chopin, Fauré and Debussy, his beautiful, melancholy music has an identity of its own, a good example of that being the "Petite Suite", the 7 preludes and the 2 Nocturnes, all for piano, and the song cycles "Poèmes Saturniens" (after Paul Verlaine's poems) and "Canções do Sol Poente". At the time of his passing, António Fragoso was working on his first sonata for violin and piano, of which only one movement was finished.

António Fragoso Association's blog

Available discography

Available DVD

Available scores (free): Nocturno, arr. Glenn Michael Egner; Petite Suite; 7 Preludes.

Miguel Henriques (piano) plays António Fragoso's Prelude (from "Petite Suite"):



António Fragoso's "Nocturne for orchestra", by the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, cond. Jesús Ignacio Pérez Perazzo: