informal biography
I was born in Lisbon in 1976. Encouraged by my parents, I started studying and playing music when I was six years old. Following my brother's footsteps I chose to play the piano. It was not until I was twenty four years old that I considered the possibility of becoming a professional musician. Although I almost completed my studies in a music conservatory, I never felt that I fully belonged there. Somehow I didn't get along with the classical method of music teaching. I simply couldn't stick to the score and repeat it over and over. I remember that in my early teens I kept getting sidetracked, either by trying to improvise over classical scores or by trying to understand how harmonies work in the pieces that I was playing or listening to. But since neither my parents nor me knew about other methods of music teaching, eventually I gave up music school.In the meantime, music remained an important part of my life. I never stopped playing the piano and, as self-taught student, I continued improvising and composing short pieces at the piano. One day, during an internship at CCB, right after finishing a degree in business administration, I had the chance of meeting a musician that was just about my age, and that made a succesful living as a full-time percussionist and composer. This event triggered my dormant dream of being a musician/composer, and thus the following week I enrolled in the composition degree of the Escola Superior Música de Lisboa. Since then, I dedicate my time to composition and also to several projects related to music. Two of these projets - the Big Band Júnior and the Lisbon Jazz Summer School - whose foundation and coordination I share with my friend Alexandra Ávila, represent a way of making available to young musicians what I once lacked in my own music education.
musician biography
© Rita Delille | Outras fotos na secção "galeria"
Born in Lisbon in 1976, João took music and piano lessons from the age of six. After completing a degree in Business Administration, he chose to change his path and study music composition. He graduated from the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa in 2006. During this time he had the opportunity to study with Sérgio Azevedo, João Madureira, Christopher Bochmann, Luís Tinoco, Carlos Fernandes and José Luís Ferreira. As a self-taught student, he has a strong affinity for improvisation and jazz.
His professional debut as a composer took place in 2006 with the premiere of Kaminari – ballet music for the opening show of choreographer César Moniz’s new ballet company. This was followed by the premiere in the Culturgest auditorium of the piece Tumbling, tumbling down (De queda em queda in Portuguese), for piano and string quartet, commissioned by Orchestrutopica (revised in 2011 and also arranged for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano). In 2007, he wrote Xylophagous Insect (Insecto Xilófago) short piece for solo marimba commissioned by Antena2/ Prémio Jovens Músicos. In 2008, he wrote The Puppeteer (O Marionetista), for alto saxophone and string quartet, comissioned by Orchestrutopica and Festival de Música do Estoril. In 2011 he wrote Arson (Fogo Posto) for solo piano, commissioned by MUSMA/Festival do Estoril.
Since 2007, he worked with fadista Joana Amendoeira as arranger and artistic director in the recording of “Joana Amendoeira e Mar Ensemble”. In 2008, this CD/DVD recording was awarded the Amália Rodrigues prize for Best Fado Record of the Year. This work has also been performed in an orchestral version by Orquestra do Algarve in Faro and by Orquestra Nacional do Porto in Casa da Música, both conducted by maestro Osvaldo Ferreira.
Apart from his music studies, he maintains several professional activities connected to the music field, including radio speaker, cultural management, artists management, press relations, marketing, and programming in the cultural field. Since 1993 he works in subtitling for opera, theatre and musicals. From September 2008 to August 2010, he worked as a musical programmer at Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon. He is also founder and juri of the young performers competition Escolas em Palco.
Together with Alexandra Ávila, he founded the Lisbon Jazz Summer School, whose courses take place annually in July, at the Centro Cultural de Belém; and the Big Band Júnior, a jazz orchestra for musicians with ages between 12 and 16.
last updated on October 2011
His professional debut as a composer took place in 2006 with the premiere of Kaminari – ballet music for the opening show of choreographer César Moniz’s new ballet company. This was followed by the premiere in the Culturgest auditorium of the piece Tumbling, tumbling down (De queda em queda in Portuguese), for piano and string quartet, commissioned by Orchestrutopica (revised in 2011 and also arranged for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano). In 2007, he wrote Xylophagous Insect (Insecto Xilófago) short piece for solo marimba commissioned by Antena2/ Prémio Jovens Músicos. In 2008, he wrote The Puppeteer (O Marionetista), for alto saxophone and string quartet, comissioned by Orchestrutopica and Festival de Música do Estoril. In 2011 he wrote Arson (Fogo Posto) for solo piano, commissioned by MUSMA/Festival do Estoril.
Since 2007, he worked with fadista Joana Amendoeira as arranger and artistic director in the recording of “Joana Amendoeira e Mar Ensemble”. In 2008, this CD/DVD recording was awarded the Amália Rodrigues prize for Best Fado Record of the Year. This work has also been performed in an orchestral version by Orquestra do Algarve in Faro and by Orquestra Nacional do Porto in Casa da Música, both conducted by maestro Osvaldo Ferreira.
Apart from his music studies, he maintains several professional activities connected to the music field, including radio speaker, cultural management, artists management, press relations, marketing, and programming in the cultural field. Since 1993 he works in subtitling for opera, theatre and musicals. From September 2008 to August 2010, he worked as a musical programmer at Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon. He is also founder and juri of the young performers competition Escolas em Palco.
Together with Alexandra Ávila, he founded the Lisbon Jazz Summer School, whose courses take place annually in July, at the Centro Cultural de Belém; and the Big Band Júnior, a jazz orchestra for musicians with ages between 12 and 16.
last updated on October 2011
curriculum vitae (in portuguese)
| joaogodinhocv2011.pdf |
