The work Libera Me (1979) for choir, percussion, piano and electronics, by Constança Capdeville (a composer published by the MIC.PT), will close the 1st part of the concert entitled We Emerge from the Night, which will occur on April 21 at the Casa da Música in Porto (Music and Revolution – 50 Years of April 25 Cycle). At the concert’s 1st part, performed by the Casa da Música Choir with the conductor Pedro Teixeira and Digitópia (electronics), the audience will also hear the music of Vicente Lusitano, Manuel Cardoso, Miguel Jesus and Fernando Lopes-Graça. Then, the Remix Ensemble, with the conductor Peter Rundel, will enter the stage at Casa da Música’s Suggia Hall to perform Emmanuel Nunes’s work Peter Kien, uma máscara acústica (segundo Elias Canetti) (2011-2012), where the Digitopia, in collaboration with the SWR Experimentalstudio, will be responsible for the realisation of the electronics. Another Constança Capdeville’s work, Di lontan fa specchio il mare (Joly Braga Santos, in memoriam) (1989), is part of the concert by the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group conducted by Amâncio Cabral, occurring on April 10 in the context of the International Spring Music Festival in Viseu.

The premiere of Daniel Moreira’s new work, A Madrugada (2024) for choir, orchestra and electronics, based on Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen’s poems, will close the 2nd part of the concert entitled It is the Dawn, occurring on April 19 at the Casa da Música in Porto (Music and Revolution – 50 Years of April 25 Cycle). The premiere of the piece by this composer (published by the MIC.PT), a commission by the Casa da Música, will follow the premiere of the orchestral version of Vasco Mendonça’s work American Settings (2021-2024). The performers of this part of the concert will be the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra Casa da Música, Children Choir and Choir – Casa da Música, Iestyn Davies (countertenor) and Digitópia (electronics). The programme of the concert’s 1st part, performed by the Remix Ensemble Casa da Música, with the conductor Peter Rundel, Victor Pereira (bass clarinet) and Digitópia (electronics), will also comprise two works: Meta-Formoses, Concerto for Bass Clarinet (1984-1985) by Jorge Peixinho (a composer published by the MIC.PT) and Talkin(g) (A)bout My Generation (2019) by Pedro Lima.

The work El Vaso Reluciente (2003) for voice and instrumental group, by Clotilde Rosa (a composer published by the MIC.PT), is part of the concert by the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group (GMCL) conducted by Amâncio Cabral, which will occur on April 10 at the Misericórdia Church, in the framework of the 17th International Spring Music Festival in Viseu. This work, commissioned by the GMCL, has as its base the homonymous Sonnet by Luís Vaz de Camões. At this concert oriented towards contemplation, entitled Evocations and dedicated to Ivan Moody (1964-2024), the GMCL will also perform works by Constança Capdeville (a composer published by MIC.PT), Ivan Moody, Jorge Peixinho and Pedro Amaral (both composers published by the MIC.PT).

The presentation of the sound installation Campo Próximo, created in collaboration between Diogo Alvim (a composer published by the MIC.PT) and the sound artist Matilde Meireles, will occur on April 11 in the context of the Sonorities Festival at the Sonic Lab – Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) in Belfast (Northern Ireland). The installation, which plays with the perception and construction of places, creating dialogues between them and the spaces of its presentation, will include a performative intervention by the artists mentioned above. The presentation of Campo Próximo will take place in the framework of the celebrations of the anniversary of Sonic Arts Research Centre – Queen’s University Belfast, officially opened 20 years ago by Karlheinz Stockhausen.

On April 27, at the Municipal Theatre in Vila do Conde, the Concrète [Lab] Ensemble will give a monographic concert with various works by Eduardo Luís Patriarca (a composer published by the MIC.PT): Não direi… só direi, nos 40 anos do 25 de Abril (2014) for soprano, saxophone and piano; People have no idea how beautiful darkness is (2020) for flute, saxophone, violin, cello, percussion and electronics; Livro dos Mantras (2023, premiere) for solo voice; Inner World (2021) for string quartet; Só o silêncio que reluz é ouro (2021) for flute, violin, percussion, piano and electronics; and Livro das Escolhas(2023-2024) for obbligato piano, mobile ensemble and electronics. Eduardo Luís Patriarca has connections with the spectral school, and in his artistic production, he draws inspiration from Buddhist reflection, Zen, and Taoist philosophy. As he emphasises in the MIC.PT interview from April 2020: “Frequently, I refer to my work as meditations on fractals and spectrums. The factors that distinguish my work, which are part of the technical and creative processes, derive from Buddhist inspiration, meditation, and attitudes in Zen philosophy. I also use fractals, both at a mathematical and merely poetic level.”

Three works by Fernando C. Lapa (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will have performances in the context of the 17th International Spring Music Festival in Viseu. On April 2, at the Viriato Theatre, the Portuguese Guitar and Mandolin Orchestra, conducted by Hélder Magalhães, will perform the work canções do outro lado da rua (2017), and on the 3rd, at the Grão Vasco National Museum, the Opus Duo, with Francisco Berény Domingues (guitar) and Tiago Azevedo e Silva (cello), will present the works Plural VIII (2004) and Melodia tradicional transmontana (dedicated to the Opus Duo). Additionally, on the 7th, the organist Laura Silva Mendes will perform the work Variações sobre o nome da Paz (1999) at the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris (France). Fernando C. Lapa’s arrangement for a cappella choir of Zeca Afonso’s Maio, maduro Maio is part of the concert Heroic and Intervention Songs by the Gulbenkian Choir conducted by Jorge Matta on April 23 at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. Finally, the work da matinal canção (2024), for string quartet and based on Zeca Afonso’s songs, will have its premiere by the Matosinhos String Quartet on April 27 at the Noble Hall of the Matosinhos Municipality.

Two premieres of Igor C. Silva’s music will occur in April. On the 20th, the exhibition Participação, Já! curated by Jorge Sobrado and Rita Roque, and with an original soundscape created by this composer (published by the MIC.PT), will inaugurate at the Museu do Porto (Casa do Infante/ Gabinete do Tempo). On the 26th, the soprano Andrea Conangla and the percussionist João Dias will premiere the composer’s Vou (2024) at the Casa Fernando Pessoa in Lisbon. In the first half of the month, on the 3rd, at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), the United Instruments of Lucilin, conducted by Julien Leroy and with the Digitópia (Casa da Música), will perform Igor C. Silva’s music for Reinaldo Ferreira’s film O Táxi n.º 9297 (1927). Additionally, between April 1 and 5, the Percussion Ensemble of the Royal Irish Academy of Music will perform the piece Smart-alienation (2016) during their tour in New York. Finally, Igor C. Silva’s piece Blackout Phase (2019) will have its performance by the Chicago Percussion Ensemble at the UIC Theater (Chicago, USA) on April 19.

Two pieces by Jaime Reis (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will have performances in April. The performers of the first piece, Calmodulin Synthesis (2002) for five percussionists, will be the ESML Percussion Group, under the artistic direction of Marco Fernandes. The concert will occur at the Vianna da Motta Auditorium of the Lisbon School of Music on April 12. The second piece, Bartolomeu, O Voador (2018), is a music theatre for children’s choir, speaker, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, electronics and video, and dancers and actors. It’s the first time that this didactic work, Jaime Reis’s homage to the priest and inventor Bartolomeu de Gusmão and the writer José Saramago, will have a performance in Coimbra. The concert – performed by students from the Conservatory of Music in Coimbra, with music direction by Rodrigo Carvalho (choir) and Gustavo Martins (instrumental group), and choreography by Ana Margarida Carvalho – will occur at the Auditorium of the Conservatory of Music in Coimbra on April 17.

The video dance Seasons of the Mind, part of a collaboration series that, since 2021, João Castro Pinto (a composer published by the MIC.PT) has been developing with the choreographer and former dancer Mimi Garrard, will be shown at the A Spiritual Journey film event, on April 13 at the Rubin Museum of Art (New York). Organised by the Mimi Garrard Dance Theater Company, this event features three more video dances, created in collaboration between the composers Jonathan Melville Pratt and Tom Hamilton and the dancers Austin Selden, Cynthia Koppe, Kate Jewett and Tim Bendernagel. In the MIC.PT 2018 interview, João Castro Pinto said: “Music becomes an artistic object pregnant with meaning, as it is founded by a set of determinations verified within the composers, or which gain expression in them.”

On April 4 and 5, the Academy of Music in Cantanhede (AMC) will host the 3rd Guitar Masterclass by José Mesquita Lopes – a guitarist, teacher and composer published by the MIC.PT. Each participant of the masterclass will have two individual sessions with José Mesquita Lopes. The participants will also have the opportunity to be present at the lessons of other students, as well as to have access to all the activities realised in the framework of this initiative. Additionally, the masterclass’s programme will include a performance on April 4, with the participation of João Tiago Correia (octachord), Vladimir Frutuoso (guitar) and José Mesquita Lopes (guitar), whose two works are also part of this concert’s programme entitled Portuguese and Foreign Music for Solo Guitar and Guitar Duo.

A recital of the opera A Laugh to Cry (2013) – with music and libretto by Miguel Azguime (composer published by the MIC.PT) and with video and staging by Paula Azguime – will occur during the Sonorities Festival at the Brian Friel Theatre in Belfast (Northern Ireland). A Laugh to Cry is a metaphysical theatre that reflects on the devastation of the Earth and the barbarity of the war, the destruction of Nature and the loss of civilisational memory, the hegemonic power of the “market”, and the consequent destruction of the cultures. This work confronts us with the possible collapse of humanity and its eventual rebirth. The opera’s performers will be Pedro Neves (conductor), Camila Mandillo and Andrea Conangla (sopranos), André Henriques (bass-baritone), Miguel Azguime and Jade Mandillo (speakers), and the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble. Additionally, between April 23 and 28, Miguel Azguime will continue the residency, The Present’s Future, at the Casa de Mateus Foundation in Vila Real, where, on the 27th, the clarinettist Nuno Pinto will give a concert with two composer’s works it the programme: No Oculto Profuso (2009) and the premiere performance of the final version of Drifting (2023-2024); both pieces for clarinet and electronics.

The opera Blown Off Course (2023) by Pedro Rebelo (composer published by the MIC.PT), with libretto by Glenn Patterson, will have its performance on April 8 at the Sonorities Festival at the Brian Friel Theatre in Belfast (Northern Ireland). Blown Off Course, a commission by Miso Music Portugal with the support of the Queen’s University Belfast, explores the relationships between Portugal and Japan through language, music, and food, recounting the chance meeting of Hana, a Japanese, and Valentim, a Portuguese, in both the 16th century and today. These encounters are a result of a ship (16th century) and a plane (today) blown off course by the force of the Wind (the narrator). Six centuries apart, these interactions between Hana and Valentim develop within exchanging sounds, words and food traditions. The performers of the opera Blown Off Course will be Camila Mandillo (soprano, Hana), André Henriques (baritone, Valentim), Miguel Azguime (speaker, Wind), Vicente Viriato (cook, Chef), Kiku Day (shakuhachi); and the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble: Sílvia Cancela (flute), Nuno Pinto (clarinet), Nuno Pinto (clarinet), João Dias (percussion), Francisco Cabrita (piano), Vítor Vieira (violin), and Luís André Ferreira (cello).

On April 5, a symposium entitled Shall we play?: a symposium on music & sound art with participating audiences will be held at the Grieg Academy at the University of Bergen in Norway. ‘It is true that in any kind of performance or exhibition, the audience participates exactly by being an audience – listeners and spectators. But, in some works, the audience participates in a more ‘visible’ way. The audience can even be seen as… a performer!’ – explain the symposium’s organisers. At this symposium, Sara Carvalho (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will participate as a keynote speaker, and the artist Késia Decoté will perform her work occupied mirrors (2019) for toy piano and audience. Additionally, Sara Carvalho’s miniature A hybrid cat hip symposium (2010) for flute, clarinet, piano, violin and cello will have its performance on April 12 at the Pierre Barbizet Conservatory in Marseille (France) in the framework of the Musical Bounce Back project.

The work by Sofia Sousa Rocha (a composer published by the MIC.PT), Quatro canções de luz e de sombra (2023), based on the poetry of Eugénio de Andrade, for soprano, saxophone, accordion, and string quartet, will have its performance by the Síntese – Contemporary Music Group conducted by Yan Mikirtumov, on April 12 at the Grão Vasco National Museum, at the 17th International Spring Music Festival in Viseu. The concert’s programme will include three other works, also for soprano, saxophone, accordion, and string quartet: branco, branco, branco... (2022) by Carlos Marecos (a composer published by the MIC.PT), a piece based on fragments from José Saramago’s Blindness; Itinerário das Amoras Bravas (2023) by João Pedro Delgado, a work which, as the composer says, «is based on Eugénio de Andrade’s geographical itinerary»; and Poemas possíveis (2022) by Tiago Derriça, a piece based on José Saramago’s literary work.

Xénia (2024), a work by Paulo Bastos (a composer published by the MIC.PT), will have its premiere at a concert by the NoMad Duo, within the Êxodo project, financed by the DGArtes. The Duo, constituted by Ricardo Antão (euphonium) and Jonathan Silva (vibraphone), will perform on April 5 at the Auditorium of the Music Conservatory in Seia (Serra da Estrela). This concert, whose programme will also include the music of Francisco Ribeiro and Telmo Marques, will follow an artistic residency (April 3 to 5), with the participation of the musicians and composers. Additionally, on April 6, the Síntese – Contemporary Music Group will present Paulo Bastos’s Branca rosa brava (2023), a piece for voice, string quartet, alto saxophone, and accordion. The piece’s base is the poem Escrita da Terra by Eugénio de Andrade, to celebrate this Portuguese poet’s 100th anniversary. The performance will occur at the Faialense Theatre in Horta (Faial Island, the Azores).

The premiere of the opera with music by Vítor Rua (a composer published by the MIC.PT) and libretto by Risoleta C. Pinto Pedro, 1976, A Evolução dos Cravos (2024), will occur on April 12, 13 and 14 at the Luísa Todi Municipal Forum in Setúbal. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of April 25, this opera with a small orchestra, Vítor Rua (guitar), and Jorge Salgueiro (music direction) is a project of the Setúbal Opera Company, presenting historical events and the response of human beings confronting complex social and political challenges. The performers of the work will be the Setúbal Voz Choir and the Setúbal Contemporary Dance Academy, with the soloists: Mariana Chaves (Eulália), Gonçalo Martins (Vicente), João Merino (Latifundiário, pai de Eulália), Ana Filipa Leitão (Mulher dos cravos), Inês Constantino (Salazar), Helena de Castro (Oráculo Ouroboros), David Martins (Consulente, Filósofo), Mafalda Louro (Estudante) and Sara Batista (República).

The performances of works by four Portuguese composers – Ângela da Ponte and Sara Carvalho (composers published by MIC.PT), Berta Alves de Sousa and Mariana Vieira – will occur on April 11, 12 and 13 at the Pierre Barbizet Conservatory in Marseilles (France), in the framework of the project, Musical Bounce Back – promoting the role of women in music and connecting for a new pedagogy, whose partners are the Casa do Professor and the Music Department – University of Minho in Braga. Launched in 2022, Musical Bounce Back is a three-year programme for young European musicians dedicated to music and education, whose aim is to contribute to changing unbalanced power structures by raising awareness among music students and teachers so that women and gender minorities find equal opportunities in the new world economy as well as safer spaces of expression.

The 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 available on the Miso Music Portugal website. This year, the Música Viva programme comprises 45 works, including 14 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, Bruno Gabirro, 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, Mariana Vieira, Marta Domingues, 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 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 March, the MIC.PT activated the New Composer’s Page dedicated to Solange Azevedo. The young composer and multidisciplinary artist, who was born in Póvoa do Varzim and completed her musical education in Porto, has had her works performed by a wide variety of ensembles, including the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, the Orquestra Gulbenkian, the Remix Ensemble Casa da Música, the Dialecticae Trio, the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, the Ensemble MPMP, the Síntese – Grupo de Música Contemporânea and many others. Solange Azevedo was also Young Composer in Residence at the Casa da Música in 2022. What characterises this composer’s work is the constant search for a connection between different arts, combining music with painting, cinema, literature, and many others.

In March the Espaço Crítica para a Nova Música/ New Music Review Lounge has published a new text (in Portuguese) by Pedro Boléo: Nova música de câmara, criando raízes. In this review, the author describes the concert by the Quarteto Metamorphose, which occurred on February 25 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, in the context of the Young Chamber Music Season, organised by the Miso Music Portugal in partnership with the Portuguese Association of Music Friends (APAM). At this concert, the Quarteto Metamorphose, with Pedro Rebelo (1st violin), João Sá (2nd violin), Djonathan Silva (viola) and Carolina Costa (cello), performed the music of Anton Webern, Tiago Quintas, György Ligeti and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Organised by the Scientific Council of the Portuguese Music Research & Information Centre (MIC.PT) and curated by the composer Isabel Soveral, the 3rd Meeting on Music, Technology and Research will occur on June 14 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon.
Registration is free. Researchers interested in making a presentation at the 3rd Meeting on Music, Technology and Research should send the completed form to research@mic.pt until June 7, 2024.
This event aims to globally contribute to the progress and development of such disciplines as music creation, performance, theory and technology, prioritising subjects connected with contemporary creation and music technology – analysis and theoretical reflection on the creation and performance with electronics. It is a forum for discussion, encouraging music research on various aspects of aesthetic and technical thought in the context of music creation, performance and technology.
In this sense, a call is open for works in the following areas: 1) music creation and studio technical formation; 2) music notation of electroacoustic works; 3) music writing and studio creation; 4) development of new technological tools; 5) development of new theoretical tools in the field of electroacoustic music analysis; 6) interaction between acoustic and electronic instruments; 7) spatial configuration as a relevant parameter in the structure of the electronic music narrative.
This initiative aims to develop students’ literacy from different education cycles in music creation, focusing on music creation with electronics. One should emphasise the essential character of the aesthetic reflection for a correct understanding of the subjects concerning contemporary creation with or without electronics, the approximation between the new technologies’ potential and the creative thought through the analysis of relevant works and texts, and the theoretical reflection on the great references from the first decades of Concrete and Electronic Music.

The submissions for the 1st International Lied Composition Competition (Álvaro García de Zúñiga/ Casa de Mateus/ Sond’Ar-te) are open until June 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 International Music Festival of Póvoa de Varzim announces the 17th edition of the International Composition Competition of Póvoa de Varzim (CICPV). The 17th CICPV aims to award works by composers born after December 1, 1984. The music group invited for the 2024 edition is the Póvoa de Varzim Contemporary Ensemble, under the baton of Nuno Coelho. The works submission process is open until June 7, 2024, and the 17th CICPV jury comprises the composers António Pinho Vargas (president), Carlos Azevedo, Carlos Caires and Fátima Fonte.

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 beginning of this month, two new In the 1st Person Interviews (in Portuguese) with the composers Fátima Fonte and Fernando C. Lapa, recorded, respectively, on March 11 and April 4, 2023, at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, are available on the MIC.PT YouTube Channel.
Presently the MIC.PT YouTube Channel contains 31 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.