Virgílio Melo was born in Lisbon in 1961. He is composer, teacher and musicographer. He began his music studies at the National Conservatory of Lisbon, having studied violin and composition with Constança Capdeville and Santiago Kastner. Having obtained a scholarship by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, he studied composition with Emmanuel Nunes in Paris and Cologne. He obtained Diploma in Composition (with unanimity) at the École Normale in Paris, the First Prize in Aesthetics by the Conservatoire Supérirur de Musique de Paris and the Second Prize in Electronic Music at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Liège. He attended the Sound Technician Course at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion in Louvain-la-Neuve.
His pieces have been performed in Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium and Hungary. He took part in the Lisbon Contemporary Music Encounters, the Música em Novembro Festival, the Ars Musica Festival in Brussels and the Música Viva Festival. He has had commissions from the Porto 2001, the University of Aveiro, the Viana do Castelo Professional School and the Artave, mostly for educational music pieces.
Some of Melo's scores have been edited in Oficina Musical, Ediciones Cecilia Colien Honneger and the Oporto Academic Journalism Group. He is currently represented by the Atelier de Composição and some of his pieces are also available on CDs.
His articles have been published in newspapers and specialist magazines, such as Público, Colóquio/Artes magazine, Arte Musical, as well as in the Contemporary Portuguese Composers series. He also wrote programme notes for the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the São Carlos National Theatre. This side of his activity has received positive attention of the specialized critique, which stressed the "analytical refinement and (...) theoretical solidity and relevance" (Público, Mil Folhas, December 7th 2002) , at the same time emphasizing that "... within national musicology, [Virgílio Melo] expresses oneself as one of the most refined interpreters of Portuguese contemporary music.” (Público, Mil Folhas, May 22nd 2004)
Virgílio Melo studied conducting with Luca Pfaff and Jean-Claude Harteman and has since directed several ensembles. He is a teacher at the University of Aveiro and the Vila Real Music Conservatory.
