In July the MIC.PT In Focus section is dedicated to Paulo Bastos, composer published by the MIC:PT and, since 1996, professor at the Calouste Gulbenkian Music Conservatoire in Braga, where he teaches Analysis, Composition and Electronic Music.
A great part of his production is focused on chamber music and music for children. However, his catalogue also includes a significant number of works for orchestra, solo instruments and electronics. Some premieres, recordings as well as dedications and commissions of his music, have been destined to and made by renowned musicians / ensembles. Prelude to a rock and fugue (2013) by the Kla-Vier Duo and sou já do que fui (2019) by the Jost Costa Duo, both pieces for four hand piano; Bucolicae (2019) for four hand piano, violin and cello (commission – Le Printemps de l’Europe), Vinte e quatro (1997) for 24 guitars in São Paulo, and Annuntiatio (2019) for wind orchestra and percussion, at the Theatro Circo in Braga (concert – Between the Tradition and Modernity) – these are the works by Paulo Bastos, which have been premiered in the first half of 2019. This summer the composer's music will be preformed in São Paulo (Brazil) – the piece Vinte e quatro by the Guri Santa Marcelina Guitar Camerata conducted by Thales Vieira Maestre (July 20 and 21); and in South Africa (Cape Town e Pretoria) – the piece sou já do que fui by the Jost Cota Duo (August 24, 27 and 28).
"My musical language isn't hermetic – there are works in my catalogue, which are completely different from each other. And I do it consciously, since I think that a composer should try out various languages and techniques" – says Paulo Bastos in the Interview / Questionnaire this month available in the MIC.PT In Focus section.

Ângela da Ponte is organiser of the meeting Música Ricercata – in search for new music, constituted of conferences, workshops and concerts, which will be taking place on July 1-2 at the Regional Conservatoire of Music in Vila Real. "«Ricercare» is an Italian word meaning «to search». The concept for this activity – to look for new music! – was created from this basic idea of search and curiosity. At the same time, the work Musica Ricercata by György Ligeti also influenced the concept, since it's a global renowned work in the context of pedagogy and creativity" – reveals this composer published by the MIC.PT. The main aim of this event is to provide a space for discussion, work and reflection on new music. Its participants are relevant figures from the creative and performative environment in Portugal, including various composers published by the MIC.PT: Fernando C. Lapa, Sara Carvalho, Sofia Sousa Rocha; and also Dimitris Andrikopoulos, Fátima Fonte, Luís Neto da Costa and the clarinetist Frederic Cardoso.

Ricardo Matosinhos, composer published by the MIC.PT and horn player, has been invited to conduct a Masterclass in the Czech Republic at the festival Za poklady Broumovska. In this sense, in the context of this event the composer will perform various works of his authorship: The Horn calls you back!, op. 78 for two horns and piano; Song for Emma, op. 75 for horn and piano; and Song without words, op. 80a for Wagner tuba and piano (premiere in the Czech Republic). The event will also include the participation of the musicians Zuzana Rzounková, Jan Vobořil, Martin Sokol (horn) and Jana Goliášová (piano), having in its programme also the music by Kerry Turner, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss. It will take place on August 10 at the Saint Prokop Church in Bezděkov nad Metují. The aim of the course is to present the French horn not only in solo, but also in chamber music formations, opening for the listeners all its dispositions and showing its possibilites in a completely different light.

The work IMH (2013) for percussion and electronics by João Pedro Oliveira was released on the CD by the Minas de Som label, on the 20th anniversary of the Percussion Group of the Minas Gerais Federal University. Another CD, On Clarinet, with the music by this composer published by the MIC.PT, will be released on July 5 in the context of the DME – Electroacoustic Music Days Festival. During the release concert the performers Carlos Silva (clarinet), Ana Cláudia Assis (piano) and Miguel Rocha (cello), will present the pieces: Integrais II (1986) for solo clarinet, Mercury (2018) for clarinet and electronics and Beyond (2006) for piano, clarinet, cello and electronics. In July and August the music by João Pedro Oliveira will also be presented: in the context of the DME Festival in Seia (July 4) – the piece Tensão-deformação (2017-19) by the Tesseract Ensemble; on July 7 at the Casa Verdades de Faria Portuguese Music Museum, the Sigma Duo will perform the piece Enigma (2018) for cello and piano; on August 10 the programme of the Cube Fest 2019 (Blacksburg, Virginia, USA) will include the electroacoustic piece La Mer Émeraude (2018); and the work Maelström (2006) for cimbalom and electronics makes part of the programme of the Bergstadtsommer Festival in Germany (August-September).

The composer published by the MIC.PT [ka'mi], together with Jaime Wolfson and Berthold Cvach, assumed the organisation / direction of the Platypus Ensemble. This group, with headquarters in the capital of Austria – Vienna, has already been internationally active for more than ten years. Its main focus is on the contemporary repertoire, with special attention given to direct work with emerging composers. After a period of adaptation, the Platypus Ensemble is looking forward towards the near future in order to make partnerships with Portuguese institutions, to support, in this context, the international dissemination of Portuguese music and to present the work by the Platypus Ensemble in Portugal. "On the occasion of the premiere performance of Peça para Eça, in the framework of the Workshop for Young Composers of the Gulbenkian Orchestra, in conversation with Pedro Boléo from the Público Journal I briefly traced the scenario of music in Portugal. At that time I mentioned what to me still seems important today: there’s an enormous potential, especially at the level of human resources. The question, which I then put, remains equally present: can we substantiate this potential?" – said [ka'mi] in the Interview given to the MIC.PT in June 2018.

This Summer Jaime Reis – composer published by the MIC.PT – will be professor and teacher in the framework of various courses dedicated to contemporary music creation. The first one, organised by the DME Festival – Interpretative Improvement of Contemporary Music – will be taking place between July 29 and August 1 at the Lisboa Incomum Space. In the context of this Training the participants will have the opportunity to work with the conductor and composer Pedro Pinto Figueiredo, as well as with the composers: Jaime Reis and Simon Steen-Andersen from Denmark, among others. The other course – Académie d'été de composition électro-acoustique –, where Jaime Reis together with Hans Tutschku will conduct the lessons dedicated to Mixed Music Composition, is organised by the Musiques & Recherches association. It'll be taking place between August 22 and September 1 in Ohain (Belgium). This course also includes the participation of another composer published by the MIC.PT: João Pedro Oliveira (Acoustic and Multiphonic Composition).

Two works by Carlos Marecos – composer published by the MIC.PT – will be presented in concert on July 3: terras por detrás dos montes [nº 78] (2011) for piano, by José Pedro Ribeiro at the Vianna da Motta Auditorium at the na ESML – Music College of Lisbon; and 2 canções populares portuguesas [nº 81] (2013) for voice and wind ensemble, by Célia Teixeria (soprano) and the ESML Wind Orchestra conducted by Alberto Roque, at the Fronteira Palace in Lisbon. "I think that it is interesting that music is capable of making the listener think, of asking him and raising new questions and, in this sense, of provoking emotions and triggering sentiments. In fact, I have a particular interest in playing with the emotional side of music. I have already made some experiences inspired in the knowledge of the interference that the basic emotions have in the human voice timbre, either sung or spoken. These alterations are obviously subtle, but observable on the spectrogram" – siad Carlos Marecos in MIC.PT Interview from September 2013.

The premiere of the new piece Túnel de Vento (2019) by Carlos Alberto Augusto will take place on July 14 at the São Francisco Convent in Coimbra. The performance is integrated in the Dar a Ouvir 2019 Festival. "It's a project composed of five moments  – electroacoustic and mixed pieces (soprano saxofone & electronics, brass quartet & electronics, choir & electronics), installations and sound walks" – reveals this composer published by the MIC.PT. And he continues: "the moments will be taking place in diverse spaces of the Covent". Carlos Alberto Augusto is composer, sound designer and specialist in communication and acoustic ecology. He studied with R. Murray Shafer and Barry Truax. His work is centered in the areas of theatre (music / sound design for around 60 pieces), music-theatre, opera and multimedia. He's also author of the book Sons e Silêncios da Paisagem Sonora Portuguesa.

This year, Fernando C. Lapa is Composer in Residence at the ZêzereArts 2019 Festival – taking place between July 14 and 27. In this sense the premiere of the work for mixed choir O Único Poeta da Natureza (three sketches on the texts by Alberto Caeiro) by this composer published by the MIC.PT, will take place on July 19 and 20. His another piece Poemas de amor e de neblina (1998-2006) for chamber choir, clarinet, string quartet and piano, will be performed at the ZêzereArts 2019, in the framework of the CriaSons 2 concerts, with the music by the two other composers published by the MIC.PT: António de Sousa Dias and Cândido Lima. Another performance with the music by Fernando C. Lapa, this time played by the Toy Ensemble – Homero (2012) based on the story by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, version for clarinet, cello and piano – will take place on July 13 at the Cistermúsica 2019 Festival (Alcobaça Monastery).

The work Ecos da Eternidade (1999) for guitar orchestra by José Mesquita Lopes – composer published by the MIC.PT – will be presented during the concerts by the Guri Santa Marcelina Guitar Camerata, conducted by Thales Vieira Maestre – on July 20 and 21 de Julho in São Paulo (Fábrica de Cultura – Belenzinho and MASP Auditorium). The programme of these performances will also include the music by the two other composers published by the MIC.PT: Paulo Bastos e António Pinho Vargas.

Uma série de harmónicos (A Series of Harmonics) is an exhibition of multimedia creations by Rui Penha – composer published by the MIC.PT. Composed of two works, this project presents the interactive installation resono from 2015 and the audiovisual installation pendulum from 2018. The latter was created on the basis of the homonymous piece for ensemble, video and electronics from 2012. The exhibition – Uma série de harmónicos – will be open for the public from July 19 until October 4, at the gnration gallery in Braga (Portugal).

Hugo Vasco Reis – composer published by the MIC.PT – has been selected for the SYNTHETIS – International Summer Course for Composers, taking place in Radziejowice (Poland), between July 15 and 27. There, he will have the opportunity to work with the composers: Chaya Czernowin, Toshio Hosokawa, Zygmunt Krauze and Justė Janulytė. Presently, he is working on diverse pieces – for solo instruments and chamber music – for Portugal, Croatia, Estonia and Italy; they will be performed in concert and recorded.

The premiere of the new piece for electric guitar, three percussion players and lighting – Blackout Phase – by the composer published by the MIC.PT Igor C. Silva, will take place in the context of the concert Lux-Lucis on July 4, 5 and 6 at the São João National Theatre in Porto. It'll be performed by the Drumming – Percussion Group. "Through the contagious synesthesia of the interactive choreographies between light and sound, Lux-Lucis intends to illuminate the understanding of the acoustic phenomenon and the world" – reveal the concert's organisers.

On July 4, 5 and 6, the DME – Electroacoustic Music Days Festival comes back to its homeland, Seia (Portugal), for a series of activities with renowned musicians, members of the Tesseract Ensemble – DME and the DME Ensemble. Organised in collaboration with the summer academy of the Collegium Musicum, these three days are filled with concerts, a workshop and the release of the most recent CD by the DME Ensemble – On Clarinet, focused on the music for clarinet by João Pedro Oliveira – composer published by the MIC.PT. On this new CD the clarinetist Carlos Silva, soloist of the DME Ensemble and professor at the Conservatoire of Music in Seia, is joined by Ana Cláudia de Assis (piano) and Miguel Rocha (cello). The release concert will take place on July 5. One day earlier (July 4), the Tesseract Ensemble – Monika Streitová · flute; Pedro Rodrigues · guitar; Miguel Rocha · cello; Ana Cláudia Assis · piano; Marco Fernandes · percussion –, conducted by Pedro Pinto Figueiredo, will perform the programme entitled Encontro, entirely composed of the music by Portuguese composers, most of them published by the MIC.PT: António de Sousa Dias, Christopher Bochmann, João Madureira, José Carlos Sousa, João Pedro Oliveira; and also Álvaro Salazar. On the last day of this edition of the DME Festival (July 6), Jaime Reis will conduct the Workshop – Introduction to Electroacoustic Music and Spatialisation.

Sons Partilhados No Tempo (Sounds Shared in Time) is the title of the concert by the Sigma Duo – Ana Cláudia Assis (piano) e Miguel Rocha (violoncelo) –, which will take place on July 7, at the Casa Verdades de Faria Portuguese Music Museum (Monte Estoril). The programme of this concert is entirely composed of the works by the composers published by the MIC.PT: Fragmentos (2019) by Isabel Soveral, Castelos d'Oiro em Mundos Irreais (2017) by Clotilde Rosa, Estudo V (1992) by Jorge Peixinho, Essay XVII (2014) by Christopher Bochmann, A Escada de Jacó (2019) by José Carlos Sousa and Enigma (2018) by João Pedro Oliveira. With this programme the Sigma Duo puts into perspective different sonorities from Portuguese music, yet which have one aspect in common – the interest towards the timbral and idiomatic combinations of the cello and piano.

Three composers published by the MIC.PT – Jaime Reis, João Madureira and João Pedro Oliveira – and also Ivan Fedele (president), Gerhard Stäbler and Jorge Sá Machado, constitute the jury of the 4th International GMCL / Jorge Peixinho Composition Competition. This biennial initiative is organised by the GMCL – Lisbon Contemporary Music Group. Its main objectives are the encouragement of musical creation and its dissemination, thus contributing to the increase of the repertoire within chamber music. The music works and application forms need to be sent by registered mail until the October 1, 2019.

Cândido Lima (CL0179)
Ode ao Tejo – regresso de um piano de guerra (2018-19) · eight instrumentalists and electronics

Hugo Vasco Reis (HVReis0010)
Enigmatic Icon (2015) · percussion and electronics

Between July 1 and 15 the Portuguese Music Research & Information Centre – MIC.PT team will be on a holiday break. During this period our activities – including the update of the MIC.PT Agenda and the social networks (Facebook & Twitter) – will be suspended. We will return to working normally after July 15. The next MIC.PT Newsletter – after the July one – will be released in the beginning of September.
Good holidays for all and see you soon!