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)

Luís Rodrigues

Photo: Alfredo Rocha

Baritone Luís Rodrigues studied in Lisbon at Conservatório Nacional with José Carlos Xavier and at Escola Superior de Música with Helena Pina Manique. In his country he won the “Luísa Todi” Singing Contest and the RDP-Young Musicians Award (with pianist David Santos), and abroad the 2nd prize at the Concours Festival de la Mélodie Française de Saint-Chamond (France, 1996) and the 1st prize ex-aequo at the PoulencPlus Competition ( New York, 1999 ). He’s regularly invited to S. Carlos Opera Theatre in Lisbon, where he performed roles such as Shaunard, Masetto, Count Robinson, Harlekin, Ping, Figaro, Guglielmo and Marcello. He sang Marcello and Germont at Oporto´s Coliseo and took part in productions of Hänsel und Gretel, Die Zauberflöte, Cosi fan Tutte, Cunning Little Vixen, L’Elisir d’Amore, D. Giovanni, Tosca, Carmen and Il barbiere di Siviglia throughout his country. Under João Paulo Santos direction he sang in Sweeney Todd, Albert Herring, The English Cat and Neues vom Tage. His interpretation of Semicúpio in “Guerras do Alecrim e Mangerona” won him the Portuguese press award for classical musicians Prémio Bordalo - Casa da Imprensa . He performed in many occasions with Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra and Chorus, singing Oratorio with Michel Corboz and Opera in concert versions with Lawrence Foster. His concert performances also include “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen” and “Poème de l’amour et de la mer” with Portuguese Symphonic Orchestra and “Kindertotenlieder” with National Orchestra of Oporto. He recorded Suppé’s Requiem with Gulbenkian Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Michel Corboz (Virgin Classics) and Schubert’s Winterreise with David Santos (AboutMusic). (adapted from text by Luís Rodrigues)

Discography