Current Projects
Intertextualities/Interculturalities
Performa Ensemble
Begun in 2016
Supported by DGArtes
Abstract
The project focuses on the theme of intertwining cultures and the resulting intertextuality in music. Eight Portuguese composers of different generations – Fernando Lapa (1950), João Pedro Oliveira (1959), Miguel Azguime (1960), Evgueni Zoudilkine (1965), Sara Carvalho (1970), Ricardo Ribeiro (1971), Nuno Figueiredo (1982), and Ângela da Ponte (1984) – were invited to create a musical work that incorporates elements of African diaspora cultures resident in Portugal, a musical work that would cite or develop specific aspects of these cultures. This artistic reflection would result in each of these composers creating a space for the recognition of these revisited African cultures, and most fundamentally, recognising their dignity. The concert will be performed by an ensemble that is one of the most representative of Portuguese contemporary music, the Performa Ensemble, with the commentary provided by the composer Sara Carvalho.
Concluded Projects:
FADOs
Performa Ensemble
Begun in 2013
Supported by DGArtes
Abstract
This project presented works commissioned by the Performa Ensemble, which challenged various composers to re-invent/deconstruct fado as a musical tradition and genre. This concert featured the ensemble Ana Barros (soprano), Jorge Salgado Correia (flute), Nuno Soares (violin), Luís Carvalho (clarinet), Marco Pereira (violoncello), Pedro Rodrigues (guitar) and Helena Marinho (piano). The project was awarded with DGArtes support in 2014, and was presented in England, Ireland and a number of Portuguese cities. The Performa Ensemble’s concerts premiered the new works of Alexandre Delgado, Cândido Lima and Carlos Marecos, in addition to featuring pieces by Ângela Lopes, João Pedro Oliveira, Rui Penha and Sara Carvalho, and a work by the young composer Túlio Augusto, selected through the Ensemble’s Call for Scores.
Portuguese Female Composers
Performa Ensemble
Begun in 2014
Supported by DGArtes
Abstract
For this project, the Performa Ensemble dedicated itself to Portuguese female composers from the 20th and 21st centuries. The resulting programme toured Brazil, in addition to being performed throughout Portugal. In this case, the Performa Ensemble was comprised of Jorge Salgado Correia (flute) and Helena Marinho (piano).
Programme:
Constança Capdeville: Portugalesas
Ana Tavares: Palavras
Ângela Lopes: La Forêt
Isabel Soveral: Le Navigateur du Soleil Incandescent
Ângela da Ponte: Seis aparições de Lenine sobre um piano
Clotilde Rosa: Alternâncias
Berta Alves de Sousa: Tema e Variações para piano
Sara Carvalho: My shadow walks home with me
Crossover
Performa Ensemble
Begun in 2008
Supported by DGArtes
Abstract
This project was the result of a challenge given to composers of the Department of Communication and Art of the University of Aveiro, namely to revisit non-classical musical genres in producing original compositions. Thus, João Pedro Oliveira elaborated on the energetic and ironic music of Frank Zappa; António Chagas Rosa developed a personal interpretation of ‘the blues’; Sara Carvalho constructed and de-constructed the concepts of tonality and atonality, approaching the unpredictability of musical discourse; Isabel Soveral explored jazz, departing from a theme by Manuel Lourenço; and Evgueni Zoudilkine was inspired by the rhythmic patterns in jazz and popular music, integrating them into his musical language. All works were specifically composed for this project.
João Pedro Oliveira 1 Zzapping
Sara Carvalho 2 Cleave II
António Chagas Rosa 3 Cassandra’s Songs
Evgueni Zoudilkine 4 Revelação
Sara Carvalho 5 Sound Bridges
Isabel Soveral 6 Pinos Baja Cross Worlds
Performa Ensemble:
Isabel Nogueira: Voice
Jorge Salgado Correia: Flute
Luís Carvalho: Clarinet
Helena Marinho / António Chagas Rosa (Cassandra Songs): Piano
Valter Mateus: Violoncello
Mário Teixeira: Percussion