In March, in the second 2024 In Focus, the MIC.PT presents a new interview with the composer João Quinteiro to mark his 40th anniversary.
João Quinteiro is a composer and PhD researcher at the FCSH (NOVA University in Lisbon) – Kunstuniversität Graz – Fondazionne Archivio Luigi Nono. He studied Composition with João Pedro Oliveira, Isabel Soveral, Emmanuel Nunes and Beat Furrer, having also worked with and contacted composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, Pierluigi Billone and Helmut Lachenmann. João Quinteiro is a teacher at the Ourearte – Art and Music School in Ourém; he integrates the Administrative Council of the APC – Portuguese Association of Composers, and is also one of the founding members of the Concrète [Lab] Ensemble. He had his music performed, premiered and commissioned throughout Europe and the USA, and these activities have involved groups and associations such as the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon Ensemble 20/21, Lisbon Contemporary Music Group, Vertixe Sonora, Opuspiritum Ensemble, Mise-en Ensemble, Kodu Percussion Group and Miso Music Portugal. João Quinteiro’s new opera Regresso, whose creation is part of the composer’s PhD project, will premiere at the end of May 2024 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon.

The composition for wind orchestra A Cidade de Valdrada (2021) by Ângela da Ponte (a composer published by the MIC.PT), inspired by Italo Calvino’s literary work, is part of the Urbanscapes concert programme performed by the Mannheimer Bläserphilharmonie under the baton of Luciano Pereira. The concert will occur on March 3 at the Rosengarten Mannheim Musensaal (Alemanha) and include works by Martinez Gallego and Nelson Jesus. Another Ângela da Ponte’s piece, index(a) (2023) for percussion, saxophone and electric guitar, will have its performance on March 9 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, in the context of the first CD release by the Electroville Jukebox (ed. Rosa Music). At this concert, the Electroville Jukebox musicians will also perform two improvisations as well as pieces by Carlos Guedes and Ricardo Ribeiro (a composer published by the MIC.PT). And, finally, Ângela da Ponte’s piece Väri (2024) for violin and wind ensemble will premiere at the Aula Magna of the Unversity of Azores on March 23 (Arquipélago Cromático).

In March, two works by António Pinho Vargas (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will have their performances at the Casa da Música in Porto (the 2nd) and the Belém Cultural Centre (CCB) in Lisbon (the 8th). The first one, Sinfonia (subjetiva) from 2019, is part of the concert, Portugal – Brazil, where the Porto Symphony Orchestra Casa da Música conducted by Andrew Gourlay will also perform works by Pedro Amaral (a composer published by the MIC.PT) and Heitor Villa-Lobos. The second work, Collections & translations (…varianti…) (2024), will have its premiere by the Leipzig Quartet which, at the CCB’s Small Auditorium, will also perform the music of Joly Braga Santos and Dmitri Shostakovich. “At first impression, there’s little uniting the Joly Braga Santos’s, António Pinho Vargas’s and Shostakovich’s string quartets. However, there’s more that unites than separates them” – reveal the programme notes. This Pinho Vargas’s 5th String Quartet shares “a certain tragic pathos with Shostakovich, indicating a unique existential anxiety in recent Portuguese music”.

Mysterious Heart is a new dance piece with choreography by Tânia Carvalho and original music created by Diogo Alvim (a composer published by the MIC.PT), whose premiere will occur on March 2 at the Staatstheater Mainz in Germany. The piece’s programme notes reveal: “Tânia Carvalho’s Mysterious Heart is characterised by outlines, costumes, colours, and, of course, by crafted movement material. Together with the composer Diogo Alvim, she draws inspiration from character pieces in music. These character pieces were especially popular during the Romantic period, often describing clear and well-defined emotions. Tânia Carvalho will use them in a modern musical guise as a basis for research developed with the Mainz dancers.”

The Lopes-Graça Quartet and Yuri Marchese (guitar) will premiere the work Lubramix V (2023) for a quintet with guitar by Eli Camargo Júnior (a composer published by the MIC.PT) on March 14 at the Misericórdia Church in Tomar. This concert, entitled Urbe, is part of the Musicamera Produções Música e Migrações project, “which has as a simple as direct aim: the Migrations, as movements of people enabling a fruitful contact between cultures, are neither a fact to regret, nor a phenomenon to tolerate – they are a process to celebrate.” In the programme, which besides the premiere piece will also include music by Fernando Lopes-Graça, Alberto Ginastera, Carlos Gustavino and Leo Brower, “the presented works revolve around the city and its sonorities”.

Helder Filipe Gonçalves (a composer published by the MIC.PT) is responsible for the music and sound design of the theatre piece A Grande Imprecação Diante das Muralhas da Cidade, which will be restaged in Portugal on February 29 and will be shown at the Teatro das Beiras in Covilhã until March 10. The play was previously performed at the same theatre in 1979 and is now being shown again as part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Teatro das Beiras. The theatre’s website describes the work as “a parable of the ancient Orient, inspired by the confusion of the world”. The author is the German playwright and storyteller Tankred Dorst, the translation is by Mário Barradas, and the production is by Gil Salgueiro Nave. The cast includes the actors and actresses Sónia Botelho, Paulo Monteiro, Bernardo Sarmento and Miguel Brás.

The Creation Space with Hugo Vasco Reis will occur on March 9 in the context of the Music Temple at the Misericórdia Church in Tomar (a Musicamera Produções project). In this context, this composer (published by the MIC.PT) will conduct a “spontaneous workshop open to all creative population”, followed by a concert where Hugo Vasco Reis, who’s also a Portuguese guitar player, will present the material from his new project and album, Tateabilidade (Portuguese guitar, electronics and objects). Additionally, in March, on the 2nd, at the Carpintarias de São Lázaro in Lisbon, the Drumming – GP will premiere his work Mediações Poéticas (2024) for percussion quartet, electronics and video (a commission by Pedro Vaz). On the 8th, the pianist João Casimiro Almeida will perform Metamorphosis and Resonances for Piano (2014) at the Casa das Artes in Porto.

An International Masterclass for Composers conducted by Jaime Reis (a composer published by the MIC.PT) and the Swedish composer, musician and artist Åke Parmerud will occur between March 25 and 27 as part of the Immersive Festival (Lisboa Incomum). In this sense, Jaime Reis will dedicate his workshop to Mixed and Acousmatic Music and Åke Parmerud to Composition with Modular Synthesis. This year, the Immersive Festival, an annual event dedicated to electroacoustic music highlighting the dome sound systems at the Lisboa Incomum venue, will have its third edition. “It is a system composed of loudspeakers arranged in space, involving the audience in a dome, which allows for a deep perception of the ‘space in music’ parameter and an immersion in sound fluxes and movements” – says Jaime Reis, DME Project’s artistic director. This year, the Immersive Festival invited composers Åke Parmerud, Thomas Gorbach, Enrique Mendoza Mejia, and Julien Guillamat.

On March 27 and 28, José Mesquita Lopes, a guitarist and composer (published by the MIC.PT), will give a masterclass at the Music Academy in Alcobaça for all the levels, starting from the third basic course level. In this context, a concert performed by José Mesquita Lopes and the guitarists João Tiago Correia, Guilherme Soares and Vladimir Frutuoso will occur on the 26th. The concert’s programme will include three of José Mesquita Lopes’s works: two premieres, Dois Mis Num Sol Quântico (2022) for octachord and Solos e Cadências from the Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra (2023) for solo guitar, and Glosa Desconcertante (2004) for guitar. At this concert, the musicians will also perform various other works by foreign composers, including Ferdinando Carulli’s and Enrique Granados’s pieces for guitar duos. The audition of the students (solos and guitar orchestra conducted by José Mesquita Lopes) and the delivery of the diplomas will occur on March 28.

Luís Neto da Costa (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will have a work premiered in March. Old Vinyl (2024), a piece for solo bassoon and double woodwind quintet, will be played for the first time at the Aula Magna of the University of the Azores on March 23. Luís Neto da Costa’s new composition is the result of a commission by Arquipélago Cromático, a recently established cultural association dedicated to performance but also social and pedagogical action in the musical field. One of its main objectives is to be an agent promoting culture in the Azores archipelago, dynamising, valorising, and nourishing the region’s music sector. In this sense, the concert featuring the premiere of Old Vinyl is part of the Young Soloists for Equality project. The bassoon solo part will have its performance by Erline Moreira, a Cape Verde musician who was a member of the Orquestra Geração.

In February, Paulo Bastos (a composer published by the MIC.PT) released his latest digital album entitled IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE (WOW). This work comprises 16 electroacoustic pieces, and the composer reveals that he has written it “impulsively”, in just three weeks. Paulo Bastos also shares some more thoughts on this latest work: “Some of the compositions on this album reflect my view on different things that surround me, from the idiosyncrasies of people and things to the ‘tics’, ‘manias’ and nuances of the language”. The album’s title is full of irony, reflecting the current “permanent and modern trend that all music experiences must be immersive, incredible, and WOW!” Additionally, Paulo Bastos’ piece Íris-abandono… (2016) for vibraphone is part of Jonathan da Silva’s recital (Antena 2), which will occur on March 14 at the Lisbon School of Economics and Management.

The work Vagueando pela EN2, op. 96, for trumpet quartet by Ricardo Matosinhos (a composer published by the MIC.PT), will have its premiere by the PLAN B4T quartet on March 25 in the context of the Algarve International Trumpet Festival 2024, in Loulé. “This work presents a music journey along the National Highway 2, which runs through the interior of Portugal from the north to the south’ – says Ricardo Matosinhos. And he continues: ‘The piece has three movements – norte, centro, sul – and results from the inspiration in traditional Portuguese song themes, here receiving a different outfit, sometimes a complete turnaround, as it is already habitual in my works. As in all music, I invite the performers to have fun and become co-authors of the artistic result.”

The piece Ode Marítima Remix by the João Garcia Miguel Company, with music creation and composition by Vítor Rua (a composer published by the MIC.PT), will have its presentation on March 8 at the João d’Oliva Monteiro Cine-Theatre in Alcobaça. João Garcia Miguel, the piece’s director and co-performer, says: “The endless task to comment on Fernando Pessoa’s work sends us, from the outset to two capital questions which are a constant and a truly distinctive trace of the author’s literary corpus. In this piece, through their performance, an author and a musician take as for an adventure of developments, dialogues between childhood and adulthood, within a game between known and unknown places, interior and exterior geographies.”

The exhibition, Portuguese Contemporary Music Groups Founded by Composers of the 1960s Generation, is open until April 12 at the Cloisters of the Congregants Building – Music Department at the University of Minho, in Braga. “The importance of the significant composers of the so-called Generation of 60 of musical creation in Portugal was not limited to composition“ – says the exhibition’s curator, Pedro Junqueira Maia. Álvaro Salazar, Cândido Lima, Constança Capdeville and Jorge Peixinho (the latter three composers published by the MIC.PT) “stood out not only for their fertile activity as creators of in-depth technical and aesthetic interest, but also for the fruitful work they developed as informed and refined promoters of contemporary musical creation”. In this sense the exhibition highlights four Portuguese Contemporary Music Groups founded by these composers, which “gradually left an undoubted and indelible mark on the musical creation scene in the Portuguese space throughout the last quarter of the 20th century”. The groups are Lisbon Contemporary Music Group, Musica Nova Group, Oficina Musical and ColecViva.

On March 22, the São Tetónio Music School in Coimbra will host a concert by the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group (GMCL), conducted by Rui Pinheiro. In the context of the Mundos cycle, the concert’s programme will comprise works by the composers published by the MIC.PT: Clotilde Rosa, Constança Capdeville and Jorge Peixinho, as well as the music of António Victorino d’Almeida, Francisco Fontes and Rodrigo Cardoso (two premieres commissioned by the GMCL). This concert will also have the participation of the São Tetónio Music School students to see and listen to the aspects approached at the workshop with the GMCL musicians, which occurred at the end of February, to reveal a unique moment of mutual exchange.

The Miso Music Portugal/ MIC.PT, as the Portuguese Section of the ISCM – International Society for Contemporary Music, has launched the Call for Works for the ISCM World New Music Days 2025 festival, which will occur for the first time in Portugal between May 30 and June 7, next year. The Call involves some of the most renowned and talented musicians in Portugal, comprising 14 categories, which range between music for orchestra, string ensemble and percussion group, works for ensembles of different sets and dimensions, pieces for string quartet, trio, duos and solo instruments (all of them with or without electronics), as well as compositions for youth choir, electroacoustic music, and audiovisual installations. In this Call, one must highlight the 12th Category, Solo Portuguese Guitar (with or without electronics), which aims to encourage and stimulate the creation of new contemporary music works for this unique and virtuoso instrument, constituting an essential element of Portuguese tradition, culture and identity. The Call for the ISCM World New Music Days 2025 is open until April 25 2024, and there are two ways to submit works for consideration: 1) Official Submissions, realised through the ISCM Sections and Members who issue their calls and invitations; 2) Individual Submissions, made independently by the composers or their authorised representatives.

In February, the MIC.PT activated the new Performer’s Page dedicated to João Pedro Delgado. The violist, who holds a Doctorate, has developed his career on the national and international scene, performing both solo works and chamber music in collaboration with António Rosado, Carlos Alves, Morgan Szimansky, Filipe Quaresma, Dejan Ivanovic, José Corvelo, Fausto Neves, César Viana, and many others. In chamber music, he is also a member of the João Roiz Ensemble and the Síntese – Contemporary Music Group. He gave concerts at many venues in Portugal and abroad, in various countries from China to Mexico. Within his musicological activity, João Pedro Delgado was the artistic director of the Centre for the Study of the Arts in Belgais and author of RTP – Antena 2 radio programmes. In addition to his artistic work, he is also a guest lecturer at the Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas in Castelo Branco.

In February the Espaço Crítica para a Nova Música/ New Music Review Lounge published two new texts (in Portuguese) by Pedro Boléo: Óperas de bolso para estimular a criação and Uma ópera (desaproveitada) com a criação ao centro. While the first one talks about the six mini-operas by João Pacheco, Tiago Jesus, Bárbara Sanchez, David Miguel, Diogo da Costa Ferreira and Iris Bramberger, premiered at the end of January at the Sobralinho Palace in the context of the Contemporary Opera Creation Lab (Inestética), in the second review the author leans over the new Ópera Π by João Pedro Oliveira, premiered on February 9 and 10 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, in the context of the Criasons IV Festival (Musicamera Produções).

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 12. The jury of the 25th International Electroacoustic Composition Competition – Música Viva 2024 comprises: Panayiotis Kokoras, Robert Normandeau and Miguel Azguime.

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).

The preliminary programme of the 30th edition of the Música Viva Festival 2014, which will occur between May 3 and 12 in Lisbon (Ajuda National Palace, Nossa Senhora da Ajuda Church and O’culto da Ajuda), is now available on the Miso Music Portugal website. This year, the Música Viva programme includes 11 world premieres in the context of 14 activities (13 concerts and a workshop with Robert Normandeau), all of them dedicated to new music creation, with a particular focus on the music by composers residing in Portugal, including António de Sousa Dias, Christopher Bochmann, Cláudio de Pina, Daniel Martinho, Diogo Alvim, Diogo da Costa Ferreira, Filipe Esteves, Hugo Vasco Reis, Ivan Moody, Jaime Reis, João Castro Pinto, João Madureira, João Pedro Oliveira, Miguel Azguime and Rui Penha. Additionally, as it is customary at the Festival, the Música Viva will have the participation of some of the most renowned and talented performers who have new music creations in the DNA of their repertoires. They are: Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, conducted by Pedro Neves; Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, conducted by Pedro Carneiro; MPMP Ensemble, conducted by Jan Wierzba; Power Trio, Vertixe Sonora Ensemble, and Re:Flexus Trio, among others. Finally, there wouldn’t be Música Viva Festival without the International Electroacoustic Composition Competition and concerts dedicated to electroacoustic music diffused through the Miso Music Portugal’s Loudspeaker Orchestra and Dome, with the highlighted presence of Panayiotis Kokoras and Robert Normandeau.

The submissions for the 13th edition of the Composition Prize promoted by the Portuguese Author’s Society and Antena 2 are open until July 1, 2024. The Prize promotes and encourages contemporary music creation and disseminates young composers’ work. It’s destined for Portuguese composers, or the ones residing in Portugal for over four years, born on and after January 1, 1989. The submitted works should be for orchestra without soloist(s) and electronics. The premiere of the 1st-award-winning work will occur in the framework of the 14th Young Musicians’ Festival in Lisbon (September 2024).

The applications for the 7th edition of the Accordion Composition Prize, an initiative by the Folefest Association, are open until July 5. This competition aims to promote and encourage contemporary classical music creation for accordion, contributing to this repertoire’s qualitative and quantitative development. The Prize’s dedicatees are Portuguese composers, or those residing in Portugal, of any age. The application works (chamber music: accordion + 3-6 instruments) must be unedited. The Prize’s organisers reserve the right to realise the premieres of the awarded works. The Prize’s jury comprises Isabel Soveral (composer), Sérgio Azevedo (composer) and Paulo Jorge Ferreira (accordionist/ composer and jury president).

Since the begining of this month a new In the 1st Person Interview (in Portuguese), with the composer Pedro Rebelo, recorded on January 2, 2023, at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, is available on the MIC.PT YouTube Channel.
Presently the MIC.PT YouTube Channel contains 29 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.