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):

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)

José Luís Ferreira

Composer José Luís Ferreira (b. 1973, Lisbon) made his First Degree in composition at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, in 2001, where he studied with Christopher Bochmann, António de Sousa Dias and António Pinho Vargas. He attended several composition courses, workshops and seminars in Portugal with Emmanuel Nunes, Salvatore Sciarrino, Jean-Claude Risset, John Chowning, Per Anders Nilsson, Trevor Wishart e André Bartetski. Presently, he's doing a PhD Music research on Computer Music at Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) in Oporto/ CITAR (Research Center For Science and Technology in Art). His music, for different kinds of instrumentation with or without electronics, has been performed by several portuguese musical ensembles (Remix Ensemble / Orchestrutópica / Sinfonietta de Lisboa / Ricercare / Saxofínia/ Machina Mundi). In 2001, he won the Festival Musica Viva's acusmatic composition contest with the piece “Le bruit d`une tête qui frappe contre les murs d`une très petite cellule”. He also works as a musical assistant (computer music) with several composers performers/ ensembles, namely: Francisco Monteiro, João Madureira, Luís Tinoco, José Júlio Lopes, Orchestrutópica, Orquestra Metropolitana and Machina Mundi. Since 2002, José Luís Ferreira has lectured several courses at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, Faculdade de Belas Artes and Escola Técnica de Imagem e Comunicação (ETIC).

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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.

Website

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):

Martin André

British conductor Martin André went to the Yehudi Menuhin School where he studied the piano. At Cambridge University he combined playing the piano with conducting. Now as a conductor he divides his time equally between the opera house and the concert platform. Concert appearances in the UK have included the Philharmonia, BBC Concert Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia and Royal Scottish National Orchestra, among others. Abroad he works regularly with orchestras in countries such as Holland, Norway, Israel, Australia and, in Portugal, Oporto National Orchestra and Remix Contemporary Ensemble. He made his opera debut conducting for Welsh National Opera, with whom he spent many seasons as a resident conductor. During this time he worked on a wide variety of operas, particularly 19th century Italian repertoire. He continues to work across a broad range of composers, although is particularly recognised for his interpretations of Verdi, Mozart and Janáček. He has the rare distinction of being the only conductor to have performed for all the major British opera companies. Internationally he has made numerous appearances in the opera houses of Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa and the USA. In Portugal he performed the opening concert of Casa da Música in 2005 and in 2006 he created the Youth Orchestra of Portugal, which proved to be such a success and was renamed Momentum Perpetuum. Every year since then it has played the new year’s concert in Casa da Música and in July 2008 it has toured in Italy. He also conducted the Portuguese National Symphony Orchestra, playing works by Luís Tinoco, António Pinho Vargas and Joly Braga Santos on the opening concert of the “Música Portuguesa Hoje” festival in Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon. (adapted from text in Martin André’s website)

Discography

Nicholas McNair

Pianist Nicholas McNair, resident in Portugal since 1980, likes to see all his musical activity, composing, performing, preparation, editing, improvising or teaching, as part of a single whole. Head chorister of Canterbury Cathedral at the age of 12, he later studied at Cambridge University and the Royal College of Music. In London he wrote a series of commissioned chamber and choral works supported by the Arts Council of Great Britain, the RVW Trust and other private foundations. The British Council sponsored a concert of his works in Queluz Palace, Portugal in May 1991, and commissioned a cantata “Magnificat” in 1992. He worked with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, researching and preparing for performance the principal operas of Mozart and Beethoven, all recorded by Deutsche Grammophon-Archiv. His editions also include the operas Antigono by Antonio Mazzoni (Lisbon October 1755) and La Notte Critica by Niccolò Piccinni (Lisbon 1767). A teacher at the Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon, he works frequently with the Gulbenkian Choir and Orchestra as organist and pianist. He has collaborated as editor, repetiteur or composer, with stage directors and composers such as Robert Wilson and Philip Glass (Lisbon, Madrid, New York), Carina Reich and Bogdan Szyber (Lisbon, Stockholm), Terry Jones and Luís Tinoco (Lisbon), António Pinho Vargas, Luís Bragança Gil, Tim Carroll, Paulo Matos, André Gago etc. He has created live music for 150 silent films, appearing also in the Cannes Festival of 1995 and at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., in 1997. He gave a recital of improvisation at the 1st Mafra Festival (1997), and the first of his 8 CDs, “Classical Improvisations”, was released by Eroica in 1998. His improvisations (live and in transcription) have been used in performances with poets and actors such as André Gago, and in concerts of his works (e.g. Mãe d’Água, Lisboa March 2003). (text by Nicholas McNair)

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"):

Hugo Ribeiro

Composer Hugo Ribeiro was born in Lisbon in 1983 and began his musical studies with Vera Belozorovitch (piano) and Carlos Marecos (Composition Techniques and Analysis), concluding his Piano Secondary Course in 2005. He finished his composition degree in 2005 at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa where he studied with Luís Tinoco, António Pinho Vargas and Christopher Bochmann, amongst others. In 2007 he obtained his Mmus degree in composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied with Simon Bainbridge and Paul Patterson. In 2004 he has frequented the summer composition courses in Darmstadt where he worked with Bryan Ferneyhough, Georg Friedrich Haas, Toshio Hosokawa and Tadeusz Wielecki. Also in 2004 he attended an Orchestral Conducting Course directed by the conductor Jean Sébastien Béreau. In 2004, 2006 and 2007 he was selected for the Gulbenkian Workshop for Portuguese Young Composers, where his pieces Message-Homage, Impromptu and In memoriam were premiered by the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne. From other public presentations of his music one can highlight the premiere of Echoes for 15 instruments at the Foyer of the Queen Elisabeth Hall (London) performed by soloist from the London Sinfonietta and Royal Academy of Music, conducted by Christopher Austin; and the premiere of Letter for Kundera for 14 players at the Spitalfields Festival (London) performed by the Manson Ensemble conducted by Baldur Brönnimann. He was distinguished with the 1st Prize in the 2nd International Composition Competition Póvoa de Varzim “Orchestra Category” (2007) and won the national competition Opera in Creation 2008 at the S. Luiz Theatre in Lisbon (Portugal). He’s currently preparing his PhD at the Canterbury Christ Church University (where he works with Prof. Paul Max Edlin and Prof. Paul Patterson, as supervisor) and working in the score of Os Mortos Viajam de Metro, an opera in Portuguese with libretto by Armando Nascimento Rosa. (text by Hugo Ribeiro)

Hugo Ribeiro's "rust coloured landscape", by Tadashi Imai (piano) and the Royal Academy of Music Composers Orchestra, cond. Christopher Austin (2nd Renaissance of Portuguese Composition project on You Tube):

ka'mi

Composer [ka’mi] was born in Lisbon, in 1973. He studied guitar and graduated in Musicology in 2001 by the UNL-FCSH (under Mário Vieira de Carvalho, Rui Vieira Nery, Salwa Castelo-Branco, Manuel Carlos de Brito, Luísa Cymbron and Tomás Henriques, among others), then studied Composition at the ESML (Christopher Bochmann, António Pinho Vargas, Luís Tinoco, João Madureira, Roberto Perez and Sérgio Azevedo, among others). He attended the Summer Courses in Darmstadt in 2004 (Brian Ferneyhough, Georg Friedrich Haas, Toshio Hosokawa, Chaya Czernowin, Enno Poppe and Wolfgang Mitterer). In 2005 he attended the Composition Seminars with Emmanuel Nunes at the Gulbenkian Foundation. In 2006, the work for ensemble O Berio is presented in the “Música Viva” Festival in Lisbon. Selected for the 3rd, 5th and 6th Gulbenkian Orchestra Workshop for Young Composers with the works Fragment for Ensemble, Glosa (in memoriam) for Orchestra and Peça para Eça for Orchestra, conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne and Joana Carneiro. After graduating in Composition, he pursued his studies in Composition with a post-graduate course with Gerd Kühr and Pierluigi Billone at KUG in Graz, Austria. He was selected for the 1st Atelier for young Composers with Algarve Orchestra in 2007 with the work Oito Minutos para Orquestra, conducted by Cesário Costa. He attended the IMPULS 2007 seminars in Graz, supervised by Beat Furrer, Enno Poppe and the ensemble KlangforumWien, and was invited to be part of the official Portuguese section for the Festival ISCM - World Music Days 2008, in Lithuania. He was selected for the Festival “Steirischer Herbst” in co-production with “Musikprotokoll”- ORF. In 2008, the work Rastos de uma Resposta for trumpet was commissioned by Antena 2/RTP for the Young Musicians Award 2008. He’s currently producing his Doctorate thesis with Prof. Reinhard Kapp at MDW in Vienna, Austria, on the subject of Microtonality. (adapted from text by ka'mi).

MIC page

ka'mi's "Jenseits des klanges", by the Ensemble für Neue Musik KUG, cond. Edo Micic (2nd Renaissance of Portuguese Composition project on You Tube:

Madalena Soveral

Madalena Soveral was born in Porto, where she studied music, first under mother guidance, Hélia Soveral, later under Reine Gianoli, Marian Rybicki and Claude Helffer. In 1966 she was awarded the “900 Musicale Europeo” prize, in Naples (Italy). Madalena Soveral has given regular concerts since 1990, both solo and with orchestra, as well as various forms of chamber music festivals of Naples, Santiago de Compostela, Sceaux, Festival de Montpellier-Radio France, Mantova (Italy), The UNESCO Twentieth Century Music Festival (Paris), Música Nova (Brasil), The 1st Lisbon Festival of Contemporary Musics (Lisbon, T.N.S.C.), to name but a few. During her career, she has focused on a 20th century repertoire working with a variety of composers and performers. She has performed the world premiere of numerous pieces, including those written especially for her: Estudos de Sonoridades (Filipe Pires), Interrogations (Miguel Graça Moura), Dominos (Sharon Kanach), In Tempore, for piano and electronic (João Pedro Oliveira), and Episode, for two pianos and two percussions (Francis Bayer). Coordenator Professor at the Escola Superior de Música e das Artes do Espectáculo do Porto, she’s been working in the last hears on a research project on 20th Century Portuguese Piano Music, at the University of Paris 8. Étude Analytique des Litanies du feu et de la mer d’Emmanuel Nunes, carried out between 1997-99, is the first part of that work. In 2005 she completed the Doctorat in Music with the teses Quatre compositeurs, Quatre oeuvres: la musique portugaise pour piano des années 90, about the piano’s compositions by António Pinho Vargas, Filipe Pires, João Pedro Oliveira and João Rafael. Since 2006 she joined the research Center CESEM of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. (adapted from text by Madalena Soveral)

Discography

MIC page

Luís Cardoso

Luís Cardoso began his musical studies in 1993 at the Amateur Academy for Music (Academia de Amadores de Música). In 1996, he continued his education at the School of Music of the National Conservatory, where, in 2001, he completed the course in Voice with Professor Filomena Amaro. He studied Analysis and Compositional Techniques with Eurico Carrapatoso. He received his first degree in composition from the Superior School of Music in Lisbon where he studied with Luís Tinoco, Christopher Bochmann and António Pinho Vargas. He won the composition contest of ESMAE/Casa da Música (2003) with the piece Serenata, which was premiered by the Remix Ensemble in March 2005 at the Casa da Música, Porto. In 2005 Luís Cardoso composed Trio de cordas, a commission from the Orchestrutópica premiered in September 2005 at the Festival Expresso Oriente at Culturgest, Lisbon. He won the competition “Opera in Creation” with Antígona (2006), a short chamber opera. Also in 2006, he received honorable mention in the 1st Composition Competition of the International Music Festival of Póvoa de Varzim, in the Chamber Music category, with the piece Pater Noster, for baritone and string quartet. In 2006 he participated in the Composition Seminars of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, under the orientation of Emmanuel Nunes. In January 2007, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Guillaume Bourgogne, premiered Heptâmetro, as part of the 5th Workshop for Young Composers. He has also lectured at commented concerts with the Duo Contracello and the Capela Quartet. More recently he presented conferences on Portuguese contemporary music in Finland and Sweden, by invitation from Instituto Camões. Luís Cardoso was Young Resident Composer in Casa da Música during 2008. (text taken from Ava Musical Editions)

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mp3: Luís Cardoso's "Quatro Estrofes", for solo cello, played by Nuno Abreu

António Pinho Vargas

António Pinho Vargas was born in 1951, in Vila Nova de Gaia near Oporto. He graduated in History and has the final degree in Piano by the Oporto Conservatory. With a scholarship from the Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian, he studied three years with the composer Klaas de Vries at the Rotterdam Conservatory, having majored in Composition in 1990. He was decorated by the President of the Portuguese Republic with the commend Order of the Infante D.Henrique, in 1995. He attended composition courses, workshops and seminars in Portugal with Emmanuel Nunes; in the Netherlands with John Cage and Louis Andriessen; in Hungary with Gyorgy Ligeti and in Italy with Franco Donatoni. He begun to play jazz in 1974 with musicians such as Kenny Wheeler, Steve Potts, Paolo Fresu, Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen and Adam Rudolph.. In 2008 he returned to his performance activity and edited a solo piano double CD Solo. Since his years in Holland, António Pinho Vargas composes mainly contemporary music, having reached a proeminent place in the Portuguese music scenario. He had his works performed in France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Spain, Brasil, United Kingdom and USA. His body or works includes compositions for ensemble and solo instruments, for orchestra, for choir and orchestra and operas. (text taken from António Pinho Vargas' website)

Available discography

António Pinho Vargas' "Nocturno Diurno", by the Chamber Orchestra Kremlinmisha Rachlevsky, cond. Misha Rachlevsky: