The Itinerant Percussion Festival 2023, an Arte do Tempo association initiative occurring between December 27 and 30, will present several works by Portuguese composers. In this sense, the work Geometrias (2023) by Ângela Lopes (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will have its first performance at the festival’s final concert reserved exclusively for world premieres. The work is a commission by the Arte no Tempo. Its instrumental set is a percussion septet ‘between deterministic and indeterministic writing, with materials performed randomly, repeating and improvising’ – as the composer says in the programme note. This work has emerged from a graphic idea – ‘lines, sections of lines, angles, geometric figures. I created this septet by revisiting these and other geometric themes’. The concert will also feature septets by Isabel Soveral and Luís Salgueiro, and it will occur on December 30 at the Cine-Teatro Avenida in Castelo Branco.

Carlos Caires (a composer published by the MIC.PT) is on tour in the United States of America in the first half of this month. On December 1, the composer participated as a guest in the Corwin Series at the University of California Music Department in Santa Barbara. In this context, Carlos Caires’ activities included the direction of a workshop dedicated to the IRIN software he has developed and dedicated to concatenative sound synthesis. Additionally, between December 5 and 8, Carlos Caires will realise a residency at the School of Music at the University of Iowa, during which he will give Composition classes and direct a Composition Seminar, including the presentation of the IRIN software. In the framework of this residency, the performance, conducted by David Gompper, of Carlos Caires’ work Os Sons Em Volta (2019) for flute, clarinet, percussion, harp, piano, violin, viola, cello and electronics will occur at the Center for New Music.

A monographic concert performed by the Matosinhos String Quartet, dedicated to the music of Christopher Bochmann (a composer published by the MIC.PT), will occur on December 7 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon. On this occasion, the quartet constituted by Vítor Vieira and Juan Carlos Maggiorani (violins), Jorge Alves (viola) and Marco Pereira (cello) will present the String Quartet no. 3 (1986), and the pieces Miniatures in Memoriam Tom Eastwood (2001) for two violins and viola, and Canticum (2009) for string quartet. The programme of this concert, broadcast live on the Antena 2 (Portuguese National Radio), will also include two premieres: String Trio and String Quartet no. 4, composed, respectively, in 2012 and 2001. Additionally, the performance of Christopher Bochmann’s work Canzona V (2021) by the Dão Saxophone Orchestra will occur on December 8 in the framework of the 19th World Saxophone Congress in Las Palmas de Gran Canária (Spain).

The work Gravitas (2023) for flute, clarinet, piano, violin and cello by David Miguel (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will occur on December 13 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon at the concert by the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble conducted by Pedro Carneiro. “Gravitas is a work on heaviness in music. Sonic weight? Expressive weight? Emotional weight? Is there such a thing as universal heaviness in music? What is ‘heavy music’?” asks David Miguel. “Gravitas also means seriousness; for that matter, fragments of musical heritage undergo ‘slight’ rhythmic, harmonic, melodic and textural transformations. Gravitas is a collection of frames about heaviness, reinterpreted and reconstructed from a naturally intimate and personal sonic universe. However, Gravitas is neither a manifesto nor a study. It is a journey and the materialisation of a necessity.” At this concert, the Sond’Ar-te will also perform music by João Madureira, Luís Salgueiro, Miguel Azguime and Victor Morató.

The opera-monodrama Há que ser rio by Diogo da Costa Ferreira (composer published by the MIC.PT) has received a unanimous Honorary Mention with the highest classification in the context of the Musa Prize 2023. In this sense, the composer will have his work recorded and released on a digital album. The 2023 edition of the Prize, which is an initiative by the MPMP Património Musical Vivo with the support of the Public Library and Regional Archive in Ponta Delgada, was dedicated to Natália Correia in the context of the writer’s 100th anniversary. According to the rules, the competition has admitted six compositions, and the Musa Prize 2023 jury comprised the soprano Raquel Camarinha, Rui Penha and Ângela da Ponte (composers published by the MIC.PT). The Musa Prize aims to distinguish music excellence within classical and contemporary composition and promote the Portuguese language as an expression vehicle.

Tateabilidade is the title of the new CD by Hugo Vasco Reis (a composer published by the MIC.PT), whose release occurred in November. The album Tateabilidade comprises a cycle of works developed and created by the composer through experimentation with the Portuguese guitar, electronics, and the sense of touch, providing the Portuguese guitar with a less common meaning and dimension than its regular use. In December, Hugo Vasco Reis will present this new project on the 14th at the Ideal Clube de Fado in Porto. This month, his music will also have presentations outside Portugal, in Switzerland. In this sense, the Ö! – Ensemble für Neue Musik will perform his work Sculpture for a While (2021) for flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, water, sticks and stones at the Ackermannshof in Basel (December 10) and at the Postremise in Chur (December 17).

Two electroacoustic works by Jaime Reis (a composer published by the MIC.PT) are part of the IR:IS (Inner Reality: Imaginary Soundscapes) concert programme, which will occur on December 16 at the Casa da Música in Porto, in the context of the PEMS – Porto Electronic Music Symposium. The works are: Magistri Mei – Bruckner (2020) e Fluxus, pas trop haut dans le ciel (2017). Before this concert, curated by the DME Project, whose programme will also include music by Annette Vande Gorne and Hans Tutschku, Jaime Reis will make a presentation dedicated to the 16-channel immersive sound system and its compositional approach and use. Organised by the Casa Música and the Digitópia, the PEMS – Porto Electronic Music Symposium is a meeting point celebrating the artistic creation, performance and inclusion employing the music and technology relationship.

The work Open Enclosure (2019) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano by João Madureira (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will have its performance by the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble conducted by Pedro Carneiro on December 13 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon. ‘After Ausgraben und Erinnern (2006), meaning “excavating and remembering”, I thought a great deal about Lucian Beria’s book with his Harvard lessons entitled Remembering the Future, particularly the Translating Music one. Because “excavating and remembering”, so well described by Walter Benjamin, is an act of autoanalysis present in the activities of all musicians’ – says João Madureira in the programme notes. He adds: ‘Commissioned by Miso Music Portugal, the work Open Enclosure aims to portray the intersection in the composer’s invention, simultaneously open to all the events exterior to their invention, interfering with it and asking for transcription/ translation, and closed in their own making, involved in the multiple plans of their composition process. In this piece, I revisit my writing and aim to get out of its plot, rehearsing new gestures.’

Recently, João Pedro Oliveira (a composer published by the MIC.PT) has had his music distinguished with various awards. The acousmatic work with video Aphâr (2015) received the third prize at the 6th International New Vision Composition Competition Galaxies (New York, USA). The video-music piece Coalescence (2021) received a distinction in the video-music category at the Prix CIME 2023 promoted by the International Electroacoustic Music Confederation, where Miso Music Portugal/ MIC.PT is the Portuguese Federation. The audiovisual opera The 70th Week (2021-2022) is one of the American Prize in Composition winners, distinguished with the jury mention, ‘Stunning Achievement in Film with Music’. Additionally – the work In the House of the Glass King (2021) for five percussionists and electronics is one of the winners at the Italian Percussion Art Society Competition; the work Titanium (2014) is part of the new CD Flotsam & Jetsam Music for Piano and Assorted Accoutrements (MicroFest Records); and, lastly, João Pedro Oliveira received the Grant Award at the Late Winter Storms competition promoted by the Art Emerge Gallery.

This month, the work Labyrinth (2023) for saxophone ensemble by Lino Guerreiro (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will have its performance by the Metropolitana Saxophone Ensemble conducted by João Pedro Silva, in the framework of two concerts – on December 4 at the Thalia Theatre in Lisbon and on the 6th during the 19th World Saxophone Congress in Gran Canaria (Spain). The composer explains in the programme note that Labyrinth explores ‘the intersection between two sound universes, which takes us on a short journey through a labyrinth that at times reveals itself to be transparent, but in a sudden turn makes us question what universe we are really in.’ The programme of the Metropolitana Saxophone Ensemble concerts will also include works by Joly Braga Santos, Luís Tinoco, Tomás Márques and Andy Scott.

The piece Genealogias do Horizonte (2023) for soprano, flute and piano, included in the cycle Genealogias by Miguel Azguime (a composer published by the MIC.PT), is part of the concert programme by the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble conducted by Pedro Carneiro, performed on December 13 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon. It is another concert organised in the context of the Miso Music Portugal Season at the O’culto da Ajuda presenting the novelties in contemporary music creation of the Iberian Peninsula. In this sense the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble – with Camila Mandillo (soprano), Sílvia Cancela (flute), Nuno Pinto (clarinet), Elsa Silva (piano), Vítor Vieira (violin) and Luís André Ferreira (cello) – will also perform the music of David Miguel, João Madureira, Luís Salgueiro and Victor Morató.

The Matosinhos Internacional Competition 2024, a virtual initiative promoted by the horn player Ricardo Matosinhos (a composer published by the MIC.PT), is taking place until May. These competitions, organised regularly since 2013, aim to present new compositions for the horn and stimulate the horn players’ practice, demystifying the prejudice that the horn is a complex instrument. Additionally, in December, Ricardo Matosinhos will present an article in the Horns and More newsletter of the International Horn Society, entitled The Creative Process in the Composition of a New Music Piece. This article offers a thorough vision of the complex process through which the music ideas get their shape, from the spontaneous origin to the meticulous transformation into music notation performable by the musicians.

Sara Carvalho (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will have the work crowded silences (2023) premiered on December 8. Written between June and September 2023, this composition for alto saxophone solo and saxophone ensemble will be performed by the soloist Henrique Portovedo, accompanied by the Dão Saxophone Orchestra. The world premiere will take place as part of the XIX World Saxophone Congress at the Auditorium of the Professional Music Conservatory in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in Spain. Sara Carvalho’s piece explores the complexity of human relationships and the experience of loneliness. As the composer emphasises: ‘Just because one may have others around, one can feel overwhelmingly alone. Therefore, the idea of being alone but surrounded by people got me thinking about how silence can be so crowded’.

Two new Pedro Boléo’s texts (in Portuguese) – Radicalidades saxofónicas and A estreia de uma “acordeorquestra”, ou Luís Tinoco no meio do caminho – are now available on the Espaço Crítica para a Nova Música/ New Music Review Lounge. In the first review, Pedro Boléo leans over the Space and Noise recital by the saxophonist Henrique Portovedo on November 4 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon. The concert’s programme included music by Clarence Barlow, Dimitris Andrikopoulos, Michael Edwards, Diogo Novo Carvalho (premiere of F¿*#ing Manifesto) and Panayiotis Kokoras. In the second review, this journalist and musicologist highlights the premiere of Luís Tinoco’s new Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra, performed by João Barradas (accordion) and the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra conducted by Pedro Neves, in the context of the concert which occurred on November 26 at the CCB in Lisbon, and whose programme also included the music of Pedro Lima and Ludwig van Beethoven.

In December, in the context of the Portuguese 20th and 21st Century Music Notebooks series, the MIC.PT releases one new Notebook, #23, dedicated to the composer Ângela Lopes. This Series of bilingual editions constitutes an ‘introspection’ into each composer’s work, simultaneously being an incentive to explore and (re)discover their music and their reflection on music philosophy and aesthetics. Each Notebook comprises a biographical note, questionnaire/ interview or musicological article, two catalogues of works – according to instrumentation and chronological order – and a discography. Among 24 Notebooks 16 are 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; #13 · António de Sousa Dias · #15 · Isabel Soveral; #16 · Tiago Cutileiro; #18 · João Castro Pinto; #20 · [ka'mi] · #21 · Álvaro Salazar; #22 · Armando Santiago.

With the aim to encourage the creation and diffusion of new acousmatic/ electroacoustic works, Miso Music Portugal promotes and organises the 25th edition of the International Electroacoustic Composition Competition – Música Viva 2024. The deadline for the works’ submission is March 31, 2024. The winning work will be announced during the Música Viva 2024 Festival, occurring between May 3 and 11. The jury of the 25th International Electroacoustic Composition Competition – Música Viva 2024 will be announced shortly.

The submissions for the 1st International Lied Composition Competition (Álvaro García de Zúñiga/ Casa de Mateus/ Sond’Ar-te) are open until March 21, 2024. The competition is an initiative by the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble in partnership with the Casa de Mateus Foundation and the blablaLab Cultural Association. The competition is open to composers of any nationality, without age limits. The submitted compositions must be written for a duo, within a combination selected between soprano and the following instruments (with or without electronics): flute, clarinet, violin, cello or piano. The selection of the texts must encompass Álvaro García de Zúñiga’s work. The members of the competition jury are Iris Ter Schiphorst (composer; Germany), Philippe Leroux (composer; France) and Miguel Azguime (composer; Portugal).

Since September a new In the 1st Person Interview (in Portuguese), with the composer Sofia Sousa Rocha, is available on the MIC.PT YouTube Channel.
Presently the MIC.PT YouTube Channel contains 27 New Interviews to composers residing in Portugal, realised since 2019; as well as eight Interviews from the MIC.PT Archive, realised between 2003 and 2005.
The New Interviews, conducted by Pedro Boléo, were filmed at the O'culto da Ajuda in Lisbon and realised in the context of the In the 1st Person cycle of the Music Today and Research & Invention Music radio broadcasts, produced by the MIC.PT and Miso Music Portugal for the Antena 2. They constitute a (re)visit to the creative universe of various composers published by the MIC.PT, following the Historical Interviews recorded by the MIC.PT almost 15 years ago. Today they are unique registers of the artistic evolution of each interviewed composer.
In order to access the Interviews (in Portuguese) follow the links below or visit the MIC.PT YouTube Channel.