The new work by Ângela da Ponte, Caixilho (2021) for percussion duo and electronics, will be premiered on June 11 at the 2nd International Percussion Festival of Amarante. “The piece Caixilho was composed at the request of the percussionists Tomás Rosa for the Atlantic Percussion Group. The commission asked for the use of adufes and electronics, at the 2nd Amarante Festival. The work explores the relation between the adufe and the other membranophones, within a dialogue, non-reactive to the electronics» – reveals this composer published by the MIC.PT in the programme note. The 2nd International Percussion Festival (June 10-13) is an initiative by the Maria Amélia Laranjeira Culture Centre of Amarante.

The piece for solo violin Recifes (2016) by António Chagas Rosa, composer published by the MIC.PT, is included in the programme of the recital performed by Vítor Vieira, which will take place on June 9 at the O'culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, in the context of the Extraordinary Formations & Performers cycle (Lisbon Feasts 2021). On this occasion Vítor Vieira, violinist from the Matosinhos String Quartet, will also perform a new work by Miguel Azguime and a piece by Bela Bartók. “In my music there are stories which are narrated through sonic images; I thus assume to construct a discourse from images, a kind of «oratio» of sounds” – said António Chagas Rosa in the Interview given to the MIC.PT in 2015.

The premiere of a new work by Bruno Gabirro, I’ll know my song well (2021) for ensemble and electronics, will take place on June 26 at the O'culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, at the concert by the Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne. On June 14 and 15 this composer published by the MIC.PT will present, also at the O'culto da Ajuda, the new project Aduf&lectrónica realised in collaboration with the percussionist Rui Silva. “Despite making part of the collective imagination of the Portuguese folk, even outside the regions where it's autochthonous, the percussion instrument adufe, has become circumscribed, except for one or two situations, to traditional music. Aduf&lectrónica aims at taking the adufe to the contemporary classical music tradition. We propose a project including not only the composition and performance of new pieces for adufe and electronics, but also the process of research and experimentation” – reveal the project's creators. The performances Aduf&lectrónica and by the Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble, both with live streaming via the Miso Music Portugal YouTube Channel, make part of the cycle Extraordinary Formations & Performers (EGEAC – Culture in Lisbon).

The programme of the University-of-Évora-Arts-School Day, which took place on May 11, included the Last Lesson entitled Four Episodes of an Exposition, given by Christopher Bochmann, composer published by the MIC.PT, to mark his Retirement as Professor. On this occasion, the Auditorium of the Mateus d'Aranda College has received Christopher Bochmann's name and the professors form the University-of-Évora Music Department gave a special concert entirely dedicated to the composer's music. The concert's programme included two premieres of the works: Essay XIX (2018) for flute, performed by Monika Streitová and Intonation (2016) for tenor saxophone, performed by Mário Marques; as well as the pieces: Three Dances (1968) performed by the Orpheus Trio (guitars), Essay XVIII (2015) by Gonçalo Pescada (accordion), Essay XX (2019) by Eduardo Lopes (percussion) and Dialogue IV – Flights of Fancy (2015) performed by Luís Gomes (bass clarinet) and Ana Telles (piano). On June 16 Christopher Bochmann's Dialogue IV will be performed again by Ana Telles and Luís Gomes, in the context of their recital at the O'culto da Ajuda in Lisbon.

During this month, two works by Hugo Vasco Reis, composer published by the MIC.PT, will be premiered in Portugal and Estonia. On June 5 in the Aldeia do Bispo (Guarda district, Portugal), the Síntese – Contemporary Music Group and various Aldeia do Bispo habitants, will premiere the work Carta aos Remanescentes (2021) for saxophone, accordion, viola, cello, electronics and audience. This concert, entitled Vanguarda na Aldeia (Avant-garde in the Village) and organised in the context of the 14th Síntese Contemporary Music Cycle of Guarda, makes part of the project, Música na Comunidade (Music in the Community). One week later, on June 12, the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa (Estonia) will host a concert by the Una Corda Ensemble, which will give the premiere performance of Hugo Vasco Reis's piece Labyrinth of Stillness (2021) for harp, harpsichord and kannel. The programme of this concert will also include the music by Galina Grigorjeva, Arvo Pärt and Pekka Jalkanen, as well as elements of free improvisation by the Una Corda Ensemble.

To mark the 2021, 100th anniversary of the multidisciplinary artist Ernesto de Sousa, the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre in collaboration with the Music Department of the Gulbenkian Foundation and with Jaime Reis, presents on the stage of the Grande Auditório, on June 2, the work Luiz Vaz 73 (1975-1981) by Ernesto de Sousa and Jorge Peixinho (composer published by the MIC.PT). This work, whose title makes reference to the poem Os Lusíadas (1573) by Camões, is a spatial, sonic and visual project, with live improvisation by the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group. In the context of this project Jaime Reis is responsible for the sound treatment and restoring of the work Luiz Vaz 73, as well as for the music direction and sonic spatialisation. Additionally – on June 7, this composer published by the MIC.PT will make an online presentation at the CRIA – Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, entitled: Soundscapes: critical perspectives on an inspiring concept for the music arts and anthropology; and on June 19, his works Bartolomeu, o voador [Interludes no. 4 (saxophone and electronics) and no. 5 (piano and electronics)] and Fluxus, Lift (electroacoustic piece), will be presented in the context of a pedagogical concert with pupils of the Music Conservatoire in Santarém.

João Castro Pinto, composer published by the MIC.PT, has been selected to realise an online artistic residency, which will be taking place during the month of June, in the context of the RIVERSSSOUNDS international project. RIVERSSSOUNDS is a platform dedicated to virtual sonic experience, inviting the audience to navigate around the rivers of Europe through the microphones of different sonic artists. Twenty years after his artistic focus on the river which disgorges into the sea in Lisbon (in the context of the 8th edition of the Ernesto de Sousa scholarship in 2001), the sounscape of the Tagus will be again the centre of this João Castro Pinto's' new residency. Among various other activities planned in this framework, the composer will realise new field recordings, along several locations on the Tagus River, in order to create a brand new soundscape-composition piece. All the works and activities realised by João Castro Pinto will be exposed and available online during and after the residency. RIVERSSSOUNDS is an initiative organised by the Dzestra association (Chernivtsi, Ukraine), in partnership with the Semi Silent/ Asociaţia Jumătatea plină (Bucharest, Romania), and supported by the European Union under the House of Europe programme.

The work Things I Have Seen in My Dreams (2019) by João Pedro Oliveira, composer published by the MIC.PT, is included in the official selection of the MUTE Festival, which will be taking place in June (4-6 and 11-13) in the Basilicata region in South Italy. This month this video-music piece will be also presented in the context of the New Music On the Bayou Festival in Louisiana in the United States (June 4); and in the framework of the Lisbon Film Rendezvous at the LACS space in Lisbon (June 25). Additionally – the premiere of João Pedro Oliveira's piece Bass on Fire (2021) for double bass, electronics and video, will take place during the ISB – International Society of Bassist Convention (June 8-12, USA); the electroacoustic piece with video, Neshamah (2016), is included in the programme of the Synchresis – the body, the gesture series of the Dock of the Bay 2021 Festival (June 7-12, Donostia/ San Sebastián, Spain); and the electroacoustic work N'vi'ah (2019) will be presented on June 26 in Lecce (Italy) at the Matera Intermedia Festival.

Anticatacresofonia is a seminar project dedicated to contemporary music, conceived and produced by the Interferência – Association for Intervention in Artistic Practice, with artistic and pedagogical direction by Manuel Brásio, composer published by the MIC.PT, as well as by José Tiago Baptista and Ricardo M. Vieira. “Anticatacresofonia is an extracurricular project developed at schools specialising in artistic musical education. Its objective is to disseminate the knowledge on new sonorities, practices and techniques, developed in the framework of contemporary music. Based on an exploratory, creative, cooperative and interactive musical practice, these seminars are conceived to disseminate a theoretical knowledge on the music from the 20th and 21st centuries” – reveal the project's creators. The first seminar will be taking place on June 12, 18 and 19 at the Music Conservatoire in Felgueiras. Until December 2021, the Anticatacresofonia project will visit various schools specialising in artistic musical education, all around Portugal.

The new piece by Miguel Azguime, Point Vermeil (2021) for violin and electronics, will be premiered by Vítor Vieira (violin) on June 9 at the O'culto da Ajuda, in the context of the first concert of the Extraordinary Formations & Performers cycle (Lisbon Feasts 2021). Another work by this composer published by the MIC.PT, D’un horizon tendu (2019) for clarinet, violin, piano and percussion, is included in the programme of the cycle's last concert performed by the Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne, on June 26 also at the O'culto. Additionally, on June 21, the Miso Ensemble (Paula Azguime and Miguel Azguime) will perform the multimedia opera Salt Itinerary (2006) at the Alguén que respira! Festival in Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Salt Itinerary is a reflection on creation and insanity, revolving around the language – the concepts of “words as meaning” and ”words as sounds”, treated as dimensions of the voice constituting the body's extension. This concept is integrated in the stage construction as a tangible sonic and visual projection of the word's resonance.

The premiere of the solo piano version of the piece ad-sum (2014) by Paulo Bastos, composer published by the MIC.PT, will take place on June 4 in the context of the Sextas às Sete cycle at the Music Conservatoire in Vila do Conde. The programme of this concert, performed by the pianist João Tiago Magalhães, also includes five other pieces: Terras por de Trás dos Montes (2011) by Carlos Marecos, Mantra 3 (2007) by Eduardo Luís Patriarca and Variações sobre o «Coro da Primavera» de José Afonso (2000) by Fernando C. Lapa (three composers published by the MIC.PT); and also Variações sobre um tema popular português (1927) by Fernando Lopes-Graça and Opiário (2021) by Mafalda Silva (premiere). Another Paulo Bastos' piece, Sou já do que fui (2019) for four hand piano, is included in the programme of the Kla-Vier Duo concert, taking place on June 5 at the Altice Forum in Braga (Festival d’Ponte). In this context the duo of the pianists Patrícia Ventura and Sónia Amaral, will also perform the music by António Victorino d’Almeida, Tomás Alvarenga, Debussy and Bach/ Kurtág.

The work by Nuno Peixoto de Pinho (composer published by the MIC.PT), Lutar contra a voz que esmorece (2021) for ensemble and electronics (commission – Sond'Ar-te), will be performed by the Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne, on June 26 at the O'culto da Ajuda in Lisbon. The programme of this concert – with live streaming on the Miso Music Portugal YouTube Channel and making part of the Extraordinary Formations & Performers cycle –, also includes the music by: Bruno Gabirro (premiere – I’ll know my song well), Miguel Azguime (D'un Horizon Tendu), Nicolas Brochec (premiere – The Eye; piece distinguished with the 1st Prize at the no 10th Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble Composition Competition – New Chamber Music with Electronics) and Pierre Jodlowsky (Coliseum).

On June 3 the O'culto da Ajuda in Lisbon will host a concert with the participation of the students from the 1st and 2nd Years of the Contemporary Music Courses at the Artistic Music School of the National Conservatoire in Lisbon. This concert – an initiative by the professor Jorge Sá Machado, in collaboration with the teachers: Gyongyver Csigó, Rui Martins, Luís Cunha, Ricardo Mateus and Filipe Coelho –, will include in the programme four works by the composers published by the MIC.PT: Christopher Bochmann (Aleafonia de Câmara), Clotilde Rosa (Divertimento for solo clarinet) and Jorge Peixinho (Sine nomine and Glosa III for solo violin); and also four other pieces by: Filipe Pires (Figurações I for solo flute), Hugo Xavier (Rotina – microtonal study for trumpet and electronics), Marta Domingues (Terra – didactic piece for viola and electronics) and Máximo Francisco (4 Seasons – music for electronics and acoustic instruments).

In May the MIC.PT has activated a new Performer's page dedicated to the pianist Diana Botelho Vieira, who was born on the São Miguel Island (Azores) in 1984. She has given concerts in Portugal, Spain, France, United States and South America. She is prize winner of the Prémio Jovens Músicos (Young Musicians' Award), having also received other awards, such as the Búzio Revelação (Expresso das 9) and Prémio Cultura (Correio dos Açores). Diana Botelho Vieira has premiered works for solo piano, piano and orchestra and chamber music pieces, by composers such as Brett Madsen, Parisa Sabet, Sérgio Azevedo and Inés Badalo. She was protagonist of the documentary Bravo (RTP), having also participated in the documentary series by the RTP, Portugueses pelo mundo: Chicago. In 2018 she released her first CD, A toque de caixa (under the MPMP, Património Musical Vivo label), with children music by Sérgio Azevedo. Recently she has recorded other two CDs, which will be released in the final of 2021. Simultaneously to her activity as concert pianist, Diana Botelho Vieira teaches at the Lisbon Music Academy.

The New Music Review Lounge has recently published three new texts (in Portuguese) – one by Tiago Schwäbl, researcher, musician, performer and new New Music Review Lounge regular collaborator; and two other ones by Pedro M. Santos and Pedro Boléo. In the first, most recent review, o piano ímanente, Tiago Schwäbl meticulously describes and analyses the new project and CD (Cipsela Records) by the composer, pianist and performer Simão Costa, Beat With Out Byte – (un)learning Machine, whose release took place on May 21 and 22 in Coimbra (Salão Brazil) and Almada (Convento dos Capuchos, Caparica). The second review, by Pedro M. Santos, O “Estado da Nação” em perspetiva na Casa da Música, is dedicated to the concert by the Porto Symphony Orchestra – Casa da Música conducted by Pablo Rus Broseta and with Lucas Fels (cello). This concert, with the music by Carlos Lopes, António Pinho Vargas and Fernando Lopes-Graça, took place on May 7. And lastly the text by Pedro Boléo, «Vamos descobrir» no centro da arte, is dedicated to the concert by the Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble conducted by Pedro Carneiro, which took place on May 3 at the O'culto da Ajuda in Lisbon and whose programme included four premieres of works by Ângela da Ponte, Mariana Vieira, Nuno Peixoto de Pinho and Pedro Junqueira Maia, as well as a piece by Miguel Azguime.

In June the entities which make part on the riZoma – Portuguese Platform for Intervention and Research in New Music, will meet in the context of the 7th on-line Meeting, in order to define and finalise the next steps within the development of this new network, which intends to foment the approximation with the audience, to stimulate a critical mass for intervention, to create dialogue with the trusteeship and to defend the richness and vitality of the contemporary-classical-music creation and practice. These steps will include the release of the riZoma On-line Calendar, with the activities and initiatives organised by the network's entities; and also the release of the riZoma Presentation Letter, in order to promote the Platform's objectives, and to show the multiplicity and richness of activities exercised by each of the entities.
All the entities from contemporary-classical-music area in Portugal, which would like to integrate the riZoma, can communicate their interest via the following e-mail: mic[at]mic.pt.

In May, in the context of the series Portuguese 20th and 21st Century Music Notebooks, the MIC.PT has rereleased the Notebook #15 dedicated to Isabel Soveral. This Series of bilingual editions constitutes an «introspection» into the work of each composer, published by the MIC.PT, at the same time being an incentive to explore and (re)discover not only their music, but also their reflection on music philosophy and aesthetics. Each Notebook is composed of a biographical note, questionnaire/ interview or musicological article, two catalogues of works – according to instrumentation and chronological –, as well as discography. Among 21 Notebooks 14 are already available in print: #1 · Paulo Ferreira-Lopes; #2 · Sara Carvalho; #3 · António Ferreira; #4 · António Chagas Rosa; #5 · Bruno Gabirro; #7 · Patrícia Sucena de Almeida; #8 · Miguel Azguime; #10 · Pedro Rebelo; #12 · João Madureira; #15 · Isabel Soveral; #16 · Tiago Cutileiro; #18 · João Castro Pinto; #20 · [ka'mi]; #21 Álvaro Salazar. Presently the MIC.PT is preparing the release of two new Notebooks dedicated to António de Sousa Dias (#13) and Armando Santiago (#22).