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.

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)

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

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)

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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)

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

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)

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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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)

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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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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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.

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List of works

Discography

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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):

Constança Capdeville

Composer, pianist and percussionist, Constança Capdeville's musical theatre is a combination of music with scenical elements, which she put into practice with the various music groups she founded. She started her musical studies in Barcelona before permanently establishing herself in Portugal after 1951 due to the social and political circumstances that emerged from the Spanish Civil War. She carried on her higher studies at Lisbon's National Music Conservatory, where she took piano classes with Varela Cid and composition classes with Jorge Croner de Vasconcellos. She graduated in ancient music interpretation (transcription, scoring, clavichord, piano accompaniment) by attending Macário Santiago Kastner's classes. She participated in some musicology projects with Gulbenkian, the National Library and the Ajuda Library. In the summer of 1962 she held a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and took composition classes in Galicia with Philip Jarnach. This led to the piece Variações sobre o nome de Stravinski (Variations on Stravinski's name), which earned her the National Conservatory's Composition Prize. Countless seminars and improvement courses led to the presentation of her works in national and international festivals. She followed closely the performance of Lisbon University Orchestra, in which she participated many times as a composer and interpreter. She was also a member of Lisbon's Minstrels, of the chamber group Convivium Musicum and of Lisbon Contemporary Music Group. In 1969, after a request from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, she participated for the first time in Gulbenkian's Music Festival, which allowed her to follow her own style, and became a regular eversince. She was a forerunner in the writing of musical theatre pieces in Portugal, a genre to which she dedicated herself more and more, especially after 1980 with the group ColecViva, founded and directed by her. She also distinguished herself in the teaching of composition, namely at Santa Cecília's Music Academy, Lisbon's Higher School of Music and the Musical Sciences Department of Lisbon's Universidade Nova. In 1992 she was awarded the posthumous honourable state title Grau de Comendador da Ordem de Santiago de Espada. (adapted from text in PMIC)

Jorge Peixinho

Jorge Peixinho was a composer, pianist, teacher, critic, lecturer, international jury member, direction member of several organizations, concert organizer and conductor. His influence was crucial for the promotion of contemporary music in Portugal and Portuguese music abroad. He studied composition and piano at the National Conservatory of Lisbon. He was awarded a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to study with Boris Porena and Goffredo Petrassi at the Accademia de Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he received the diploma of advanced studies in composition in 1961. After working with Luigi Nono in Venice he obtained another scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation and the Cultural Institute to study with Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen in Darmstadt on various occasions between 1960 and 1970. During this decade he developed a broad range of activities as a composer, pianist, teacher, concert organizer, lecturer and critic. A scholarship from the Belgian government for advanced studies in electro-acoustic music enabled him to work at the IPEM studio in Ghent in 1972-73. He later attended a workshop on music and computers at the Ircam, Paris. In 1970 he founded the Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa (Lisbon Contemporary Music Group) which has since done valuable service in promoting contemporary music (with a particular emphasis on Portuguese music) and no less in theoretical and practical exploration of the problematic of new music and of new instrumental techniques. In 1974 he received the composition prize of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and in 1976 that of the Portuguese performing rights society. In 1977 he was elected member of the Presidential Council of the ISCM (international Society for Contemporary Music). Throughout this period he collaborated regularity with the Gulbenkian Foundation's Contemporary Music Encounters. He taught at the National Conservatory of Lisbon. In recent years, before his untimely death at the age of 55, he was greatly in demand as a jury member and participant for both lectures and concerts. (adapted from text in PMIC)

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Jorge Croner de Vasconcellos

Son of the violinist Alexandre Bettencourt and pianist and teacher Laura Croner, and grandson of clarinettist Rafael José Croner, composer Jorge Croner de Vasconcellos initially attended the Lisbon Faculty of Arts. A student of the National Conservatory since 1927, he eventually decided to exclusively follow a musical career. Alexandre Rey Colaço, António Eduardo da Costa Ferreira and Luís de Freitas Branco were some of his teachers. He also worked with conductor and composer Francisco de Lacerda. With a scholarship granted by the National Education Junta, he attended, in Paris the École Normale de Musique, courses directed by Paul Dukas, Nadia Boulanger, Igor Stravinsky and Alfred Cortot. When he returned to Portugal in 1938, he became responsible for the subject of Music History at the Music Amateurs Academy. A year later he performed at a concert with singer Arminda Correia and achieved recognition for his recitals in Paris, London and Brussels. After 1939, he became a teacher of Composition, Singing and Music History at Lisbon's National Conservatory. Already in the 1960s he also participated as a teacher in the Estoril Summer Courses. Although his work is not all that vast, the composer left a considerable number of singing pieces, many of which composed from texts of classic Portuguese poets. As far as chamber music is concerned, one should particularly mention the piano repertoire and the arrangements for pieces by Carlos Seixas. Croner de Vasconcellos also explored symphonic music, namely by composing pieces for the National Information Secretariat during the 1940s and the 1950s. He died in Lisboa in 1974. (adapted from text in PMIC)

Armando José Fernandes

Armando José Fernandes was born in Lisbon, 1906. He took a degree in Engineering before having decided in 1924 to dedicate himself to music, an art form he had felt attracted to from an early age. He started his studies in 1927 at Lisbon's National Conservatory. Alexandre Rey Colaço and Lourenço Varela Cid (piano), Luís de Freitas Branco (Music Sciences) and António Eduardo da Costa Ferreira (Composition) were among his teachers. He finished the course in 1931 and was awarded the first prize in piano and also the Rodrigo da Fonseca Award. Between 1934 and 1937, with the sponsorship of the National Education Council, he developed his piano and composition studies in Paris with Alfred Cortot, Nadia Boulanger, Paul Dukas and Igor Stravinsky. Between 1940 and 1942, he taught Piano and Composition at the Music Amateurs Academy. From 1942 on he worked exclusively as a composer for the Musical Studies Department of the National Radio Broadcast Company. In 1953 he joined Lisbon's National Conservatory as a Composition teacher. He honourably retired from this position on his 70th birthday. Although his lineage, harmonically chromatic in the colours and formally neo-classic in spirit, denounces a cosmopolitan character, permeable both to the sensitivity of someone like Fauré as well as to the constructivism of someone like Hindemith, it also displays a certain kind of Portuguese inspiration, thanks to the likely search for motivation in Portuguese popular themes. He received the composition awards Moreira de Sá (Porto, Orpheon Portuense, 1944) and Círculo de Cultura Musical (Lisbon, 1946). He died in Lisbon in 1983. (photo and text from PMIC - Based on the biography included in the Catálogo Geral da Música Portuguesae, organized by Humberto d'Ávila).

Cláudio Carneyro

Son of the great painter António Carneiro and Rosa Queiroz Costa, Cláudio Carneyro was born in Oporto, 1895. He started studying the violin at 15 with Carlos Dubini. The composition studies began in Oporto with the French professor Lucien Lamber, who encouraged him to continue his work in Paris where, for two years, he joined the class of Charles Widor. In 1921 he became a solfeggio teacher at the Oporto Music Conservatoire. Two years later, the Paris opening of his "Prelúdio, Corale Fuga", by the Colonne Orchestra, led by conductor Gabriel Pierné, would persuade him to dedicate himself totally to composition. In 1926 he won a scholarship of the Portuguese government and left for the United States of America where he remained for two years. In Hartford, Connecticut, he married the American violinist Katherine Hickel, who gave him a daughter, Ana Maria, still living there. Meanwhile, the Orpheon Portuense granted him the Moreira de Sá Prize (1933) and the Portuguese government awards him the medal of "Oficial de Santiago de Espada" (1934). In 1935 he works in Paris with Paul Dukas as a scholarship owner of the Instituto de Alta Cultura. Three years later he starts teaching composition at the Oporto Music Conservatoire. After 1956 he is also the school's principal. In 1941 he is appointed musical counsellor of the radio station Emissor Regional do Norte. He died in 1963 after a cerebral haemorrhage. (text and photo from PMIC)

Joly Braga Santos

Composer Joly Braga Santos was born in Lisbon, 1924. He studied violin and composition at the National Conservatory, where he was a student of Luís and Pedro de Freitas Branco. The latter was the main responsible for promoting his work around the world. During his youth, he took inspiration from Portuguese traditional music, namely folklore and Renaissance polyphony. These influences are clear in the first four symphonies he composed between his 22nd and his 27th years of age, which were almost immediately performed by the national radio broadcast Symphonic Orchestra. In 1948 he was a Higher Culture Institute scholarship holder, having then studied musicology and composition in Venice with Virgílio Mortari, Gioacchino Pasquali and Alceo Galliera. At that time he also attended the International Conduction Course with Hermann Scherchen, where he was a colleague of Luigi Nono, Bruno Maderna and Fernando Corrêa de Oliveira. Again in Portugal, Joly dedicated himself for a long period to orchestra conduction. He only started again to compose more regularly after 1960, having then written his fifth and sixth symphonies. Besides his vast musical legacy, Joly Braga Santos also had an intense activity as a music critic. He was a founding member of the Portuguese Musical Youth, lectured in Composition at Lisbon's National Conservatory, worked at the National Radio Broadcast Company's Musical Studies Cabinet, and was a conductor of the S. Carlos National Theatre Orchestra, of the Oporto Symphonic Orchestra and assistant conductor of the Portuguese radio broadcast Symphony Orchestra. He died in Lisbon in 1988. (adapted from text in PMIC)

Frederico de Freitas

Composer Frederico de Freitas was born in Lisbon in 1902. He initially studied with his mother Cândida de Araújo Guedes de Freitas, having enrolled in the National Conservatory when he was 13 years old. The first compositions from his catalogue are from 1922. Worth of mention is the piece Poema sobre uma Écloga de Virgílio (Poem on a Eclogue by Virgil), for string orchestra. At the same time he was a composer, Frederico de Freitas also developed a career as secondary school teacher. However, it was his eclecticism that earned him the favour of the wider public. This eclecticism allowed him to compose not only pieces like Suite Africana (African Suite) or Quarteto Concertante (Harmonious Quartet), but also a vast gallery of light songs that since then inhabit national popular imagery. In 1935 Frederico de Freitas was admitted in the National Radio Broadcast Company as orchestra conductor, and since then played a leading role in the music events organized by the Estado Novo government. In 1940 he composed Missa Solene (Solemn Mass), for solo voices, choir and orchestra and Auto de D. Afonso Henriques (King Afonso Henriques Act), both pieces premiered on the Double Celebrations of the 800th Anniversary of Portugal's Foundation and the 300th Anniversary of the Independence Restoration. The conductor career, for which he worked very hard, was also internationally recognized, and as a result of that Frederico de Freitas was regularly invited to conduct foreign orchestras. Among his later pieces, one should mention D. João e as Sombras (D. João and the Shadows, 1960), the symphony Os Jerónimos (1962), Fantasia Concertante (Harmonious Phantasy, 1969) and Farsa de Inês Pereira (The Farse of Inês Pereira, 1979), the latter finished by Manuel Faria after Frederico de Freitas' death. (text and photo fom PMIC)