28 to 30 of June
João Casimiro Almeida -Piano
João Casimiro Almeida was born in Cabeceiras de Basto in 1994. He won more than a dozen national and international awards and already has extensive musical experience, performing regularly as a soloist. He began his musical studies at the age of eleven and had the opportunity to work with several renowned pianists, such as Guigla Katsarava, Joaquín Soriano, Leon McCawley, among others.
He has worked with internationally renowned musicians such as António Saiote, Filipe Quaresma, Maria Beloussova, Ryszard Woycicki, Suzanne Van Els and Victor Pereira. He is part of the Lumennis Trio (formed in 2016, with clarinetist Diana Sampaio and cellist Ana Mafalda Monteiro), and has performed on several stages across the country. The Trio was awarded 1st Prize in the highest category of the Vila Verde Chamber Music Competition and 2nd Prize in the 2018 Young Musicians Award, higher level. João Casimiro Almeida explores all types of repertoire, from J. S. Bach to modern-day music, having premiered several contemporary works nationally. Graduated in Piano Performance from ESMAE (Porto), in Madalena Soveral's class, he completed his master's degree in performance at the National Superior Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris, in the class of professors Michel Dalberto and Claire-Marie Le Guay. Throughout his training, he was awarded scholarships by the Meyer Foundation and the Les Amis d’Alain Marinaro Foundation. He has been teaching at the Espinho Professional Music School since 2018.
Nadejda Tzanova - Piano
Nadezhda Tzanova started playing the piano at the age of five. At the age of 11 she won first prize in the "Our Children Play Bach" Competition in Bulgaria, and a year later she won the Grand Prix in the same competition. A period followed during which she won more than 20 awards. At the age of 16, she made her debut with the Kharkov Symphony Orchestra, Ukraine performing a concerto for piano and orchestra by Robert Schumann. In 2005 Nadezhda Tzanova enrolled the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music studying under Prof. Stella Dimitrova-Maystorova and Prof. Iliya Chernaev. During her studies she made her first tour in Europe, visiting Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Bratislava and the Czech Republic. She was granted scholarships by the Todoroff Foundation, the Globul M3 Communications Foundation, and the Solty Foundation. She took part in a number of festivals among which the Pianissimo, Apollonia, Austrian Music Weeks, Sofia Music Weeks, Winter Music Evenings Ivan Spasov, Bosa Antica in Italy, Mozarteum in Austria and others. In 2011 Nadezhda Tzanova graduated with a Master's Degree in Piano and began specialization at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium under the guidance of Prof. Boyan Vodenicharov. At the same time, she graduated from the Schola Cantorum in Paris, where she received the highest award for concert pianist – the Diploma Di Concert. In 2013 she won first prize in the Flame International Piano Competition in Paris, France. This award marks the beginning of an international concert career. She has toured internationally in Japan, China, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Germany. She has been invited to appear as a soloist with the symphony orchestras of Kharkov, Ukraine, in Tokyo, Japan, in Illinois, Chicago, USA, in Adana, Turkey, in Regensburg, Germany, with the chamber orchestra of the Salzburg Soloists, Austria, with the orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, and with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. Those were followed by the international awards from the Mayenne Piano Competition in France, the Treviso Award in Italy and the Debut Berlin Award in Germany. She has had solo recitals in Italy, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Japan, China, USA and others. In 2021 she performed a concert in the palace of Catherine the Great, and the recording was broadcast to a huge Russian audience on the occasion of the May 24th holiday. Nadezhda Tzanova has an extremely diverse repertoire, not only as a soloist but also as a chamber musician. She takes part in TV shows and makes recordings for the Bulgarian National Radio.
Domenico Nordio -violino
Domenico Nordio is one of the most acclaimed musicians of our time. He performed in prestigious halls worldwide (Carnegie Hall in New York, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Teatro allaScala in Milan, Barbican Center in London and Suntory Hall in Tokyo), with important orchestras, including London Symphony, National de France, Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orquestra Nazionale della RAI, among others, and with conductors such as Flor, Steinberg, Casadesus, Luisi, Lazarev, Aykal. Student of Corrado Romano and Michèle Auclair, born in Venice in 1971, he performed his first recital at the age of ten and at the age of sixteen Nordio won the International Viotti Competition in Vercelli with the legendary Yehudi Menuhin as President of the Jury. After achievements in the Thibaud Competition in Paris, the Viña del Mar Sigall Competition and the Francescatti Competition in Marseille, the Eurovision Grand Prize obtained in 1988 launched his international career. He is resident artist at the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra in Milan and records exclusively for Sony Classical. Recent seasons have included concerts at the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Enescu Philharmonic Hall in Bucharest, Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Great Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, among other world-renowned venues. Much appreciated as a chamber musician, Nordio appears at prestigious festivals alongside Misha Maisky, Louis Lortie, Boris Belkin, Giovanni Bellucci, Mikhail Lidsky and Jeffrey Swann. He is also an influential interpreter of modern music and many composers they dedicated masterpieces to him.
Armando Possante - Barítono
He completed his musical studies at the Instituto Gregoriano de Lisboa and at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, where he completed the Higher Courses in Choral Conducting, with Professor Christopher Bochmann, Gregorian Singing, with Professor Maria Helena Pires de Matos, and Singing, with Professor Luís Madureira. He was awarded the Title of Specialist in Singing by the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon. He studied singing in Vienna with Professor Hilde Zadek and attended various singing masterclasses. He perfected his studies of Gregorian Chant in Italy and is a professor of Chant and Gregorian Chant at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa. He led several workshops and masterclasses in Portugal and also in Canada, England, Singapore and Spain. He is musical director and soloist of the Grupo Vocal Olisipo and the Coro Gregoriano de Lisboa, having performed in concerts in several countries around the world. He recorded more than two dozen albums with great critical recognition, distinguished with the Choc du Monde de la Musique, the Diapason d'Or and a nomination for the SPA awards, among other awards. She won several awards, including 3rd prize in the Luisa Todi Competition and 1st prize in the 7th Estoril Interpretation Competition and, with Grupo Vocal Olisipo, four first prizes and interpretation prizes in international competitions. He regularly performs as a soloist in recitals, oratorios and operas, having collaborated with the main orchestras and conductors in the country.
Maria Repas Gonçalves - Soprano
Maria Repas Gonçalves studied Singing and Composition at the Lisbon Conservatory and Choral Conducting at the Instituto Gregoriano de Lisboa. Completed a Master's degree in Early Music – Singing/Vocal Pedagogy at Indiana University in the USA. A singer specializing in the interpretation of Early Music, she is a member of several chamber music groups with which she has participated in hundreds of festivals, recitals and concerts in Portugal and abroad and programs for Radio and Television. She has also interpreted contemporary authors, having premiered works by Portuguese authors and performed Baroque and Contemporary Operas. She recorded 12 CDs of Early and Contemporary Music and Portuguese Baroque Opera. She frequently teaches Voice and Elocution workshops. She was Pedagogical Director and teacher of Singing and Chamber Music at the Academia de Música Eborense for 7 years. She directed the Pequenos Cantores do Estoril and the Coro Juvenil de Santo Amaro de Oeiras - MaisMúsica and has directed the Coro de Câmara de Cascais since its foundation, in October 2003. She has been a Voice teacher at the Higher School of Theater and Cinema of the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Theater Department, since 1999, where she is responsible for the Voice/Music Area of the Bachelor's degree in Theater and Master's in Performing Arts courses.
She is the author/creator and artistic director of several shows and a children's CD within the scope of Music Theatre, both in academic and community contexts, since 2007. Directs the Choir of Sto. Amaro de Oeiras since January 2014.
Budapest String Quartet
The Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1853 by Erkel Ferenc, it is the first symphonic orchestra in Hungary, and the members of the orchestra came from the Hungarian State Opera, modeled after the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The nearly 100 members of the Budapest Philharmonic Society play in different formations more than 50 times a year.
They say that music is the food of the soul. If this is true, then the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra has nourished many souls by performing the greatest musical works over the last 170 years. Throughout these rich decades, the orchestra has inspired the finest of composers to write masterpieces, and thus the ensemble can boast numerous world premières, not to mention a history of musical direction which includes some of the world’s most renowned conductors.
In addition to symphonic orchestra concerts, each season the Budapest Philharmonic Society offers a number of chamber music concerts where their musicians can also perform as soloists. The members of the String Quartet are all principals of the Hungarian State Opera House: