In May, the In Focus section presents a new Questionnaire/ Interview with Carlos Marecos to mark the 60th anniversary of this composer, researcher and professor at the Music School of Lisbon (ESML).
Carlos Marecos graduated in Composition from the ESML. He got a doctorate in Music at the University of Aveiro with the thesis, Interaction between interval and spectral structures in instrumental/ vocal music, oriented by João Pedro Oliveira and Christopher Bochmann. Carlos Marecos’ catalogue of works encompasses music for diverse formations – choral music, chamber music and solo pieces (with or without electronics), orchestral music, opera, or electroacoustic music. The composer also collaborates with theatre and contemporary dance (recently, he’s created the works Tríptico [2020] and Interior Presente [2021] with the choreographer Sofia Silva). Carlos Marecos’ music lies within a plan close to the ideas proposed by Gérard Grisey and Horațiu Rădulescu. ‘My composition material results from the interaction between a more abstract plan (the interval architecture), with a more natural plan (the spectral aspect)’, said this composer published by the MIC.PT in the interview from October 2013.

Within the celebrations of the 49th anniversary of the April Revolution, Musicamera Produções promotes the release of the CD De Ouvido e Coração – Celebrando José Afonso (Lusitanian Music). The project, supported by the DGArtes and Musibéria, is led by Amílcar Vasques-Dias (a composer published by the MIC.PT), one of the creators of the programme De Ouvido e Coração, active since 2011, despite the recent five-year interregnum. The work includes the partnership of the violinist and Musicamera director Luís Pacheco Cunha who says that the programme ‘demonstrates not only Zeca Afonso’s genius but also the transversality of his themes’. Through the special participation of various performers (Esther Merino, flamenco singer; Ricardo Ribeiro, fado singer; Nataša Šibalić, and Carlos Guilherme, both lyric singers), the CD presents different arrangements of twelve themes by ‘this most iconic singer of Abril’, in a more erudite tone. Among the themes, it is possible to find Balada de Outono (1960), Vejam Bem (1967), Canção de Embalar (1968), and Cantigas do Maio (1971). The release of the CD is the culmination of a work developed since 1975 when Amílcar Vasques-Dias started to rearrange José Afonso’s scores for diverse ensembles.

The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (2023) by António Chagas Rosa (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will premiere on May 26 at the Aveirense Theatre at the Contemporary Music Reencounters 2023. The Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, with the violinist José Pereira, and conducted by Pedro Neves, are the performers of this concert, occuring again on May 27 at the Picadeiro Real in Lisbon. Within this programme, the audience will also hear works by Joly Braga Santos and Ligeti. Additionally, three other António Chagas Rosa's works make part of the Contemporary Music Reencounters 2023 (Arte no Tempo): From the Journal of Delacroix (2021; premiere) for two percussionists, performed by Kuniko Kato & Nuno Aroso (May 18); Lost (2018) for recorder & electronics (May 19); and Cicuta (2005) performed by Inês Simões (sporano) & the pianist Daniel Godinho (May 25). António Chagas Rosa said in the 2015 MIC.PT Interview that there were aspects which he frequently explored in terms of musical language: the harmonic plan and the search for relations between chords, tensions between consonance and dissonance, timbre as an expression of the music idea, and the research on the possibilities of instruments.

On May 14 at the the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, conducted by Pedro Neves and two soloists, Ana Pereira (violin) and Joana Cipriano (viola), will perform two works by António Pinho Vargas (a composer published by the MIC.PT), Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (in memory of Gareguin Aroutiounian), and Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, composed between 2015 and 2016. The programme of this concert, entitled Vivaldi & Pinho Vargas, will also include three Concertos for Orchestra by the baroque composer from the Venetian Republic. As referred to in the programme notes on the Metropolitana’s website: ‘Antonio Vivaldi and António Pinho Vargas share only the name and the craft. For the rest, they belong to tremendously distant universes – as distant as the separation between the Venetian 18th century and the Portuguese post-April-25 period. Their aesthetic and technical orientations are far apart, but there is a circumstance that unconditionally unites them: the appreciation that the Metropolitana’s musicians have for the music of both.’

Two works by Carlos Alberto Augusto (composer published by the MIC.PT), Akinesis for viola and electronics (premiere) and Observing Time for snare drum, electronics, and voice, make part of the concert, Árvore Metálica e Outras Histórias (Metallic Tree and Other Stories), which will occur on May 19 at the Cine-Teatro Paraíso in Tomar. This performance has the musical and scenic creation by Carlos Alberto Augusto and by Paulo Brandão, whose two works, Árvore Metálica and Fantasia Sinfónica para Viradores de Página, also make part of this programme. The performers of this surrealist and oneiric concert are the Brass Ensemble conducted by João Paulo Fernandes, Paulo Brandão, Jorge Alves, Andrés Perez, Taíssa Poliakova Cunha and Adriano Aguiar. In this context, it will also be possible to hear two works by Constança Capdeville: Valse, Valsa, Vals; Keuschheits Waltz for solo piano and Amen por uma Ausência for solo double bass. This concert is a production of the Criasons Festival/ Musicamera Produções in the framework of the project, Templo da Música (Temple of Music).

In March, the publishing house Documenta released the book O Som e a Música no Cinema Português Contemporâneo – processos criativos by Helder Filipe Gonçalves (a composer published by the MIC.PT). The book aims to explore the relationship between image and sound in cinema. The author justifies its relevance by pointing out how often one disregards the sonic dimension in film. In this sense, one frequently considers the ‘image-sound’ relationship fragmented. What follows the book’s analytical part are ten interviews with cinematographers and sound designers, offering personal perspectives, enriching the content and inspiring younger generations: ‘the ones who have not experienced times of greater adversity can, however, draw important lessons for their technique and art from past experiences’, emphasises Helder Filipe Gonçalves. In summary, this book sheds light on a neglected aspect of film and offers valuable insights for aspiring filmmakers.

Hugo Vasco Reis (composer published by the MIC.PT) will have various works performed in Austria and Portugal in May. The soundscape composition, Cinco Lugares Sobre a Fragilidade (2022), commissioned by the Academia de Produtores Culturais with the support of the EEA Grants and DGArtes, will have its presentation at the SONify! Festival in Graz (Austria). On May 19, Marco Pereira and Lígia Madeira will perform the work Colors Seen in Silence II (2020), for flute and piano, at the Music Conservatory in Vila do Conde in the context of the Sextas às Sete concert series. The piece Micro Images for Violin and Electronics (2022), a commission by the Arte no Tempo supported by the DGArtes, will premiere on May 21 at the Aveirense Theatre at the Contemporary Music Reencounters 2023, in the context of the concert New Music for New Musicians. Hugo Vasco Reis has also been selected for the KWDS artistic residency between May 1 and 17 at the Kunstuniversität and IEM studios in Graz (Austria).

The work Sangue Inverso: Rosa do Deserto (2022) for ensemble by Jaime Reis (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will premiere in Sweden on May 6. In the context of this concert, integrated into the SoundSpaces 2023 Festival and organised by the Hertzbreakerz collective, the DME Ensemble, conducted by Rita Castro Blanco, will perform Portuguese contemporary music at the Palladium Theatre in Malmö. Another Jaime Reis’ piece, Estudo de Densidades III (2023) for ensemble and electronics, will premiere on May 21 at the Aveirense Theatre (Contemporary Music Reencounters 2023). And finally, the Contracello Duo (Miguel Rocha and Adriano Aguiar) will perform the piece nœud.navire. (2021) for cello & double bass on May 20 in Ferreira do Zêzere. ‘In 2018, I began a composition approach based on autotelic processes. The development of materials comes from elements intrinsic to the work. The knot (nœud) embodies the essence of the path. It navigates the ship (navire)’ – says Jaime Reis in the programme note.

João Pedro Oliveira (a composer published by the MIC.PT) is among the 171 awarded by the Guggenheim 2023 grant. The award, created in 1925, currently supports 48 academic disciplines (distributed across natural or social sciences and humanities) and distinct artistic fields, aiming at a ‘further development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts under the freest possible conditions’. For the creative arts, they also include the support of the Joel Conarroe Fund, named in honour of the Foundation’s former President, himself a former Guggenheim fellow. In the fellowship for Music Composition, the Portuguese based in Santa Barbara shares the distinction with ten other composers. Additionally, João Pedro Oliveira’s new work for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello, and electronics, entitled Kra, will premiere, by the Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble, at the Música Viva 2023 Festival on May 5 (O'culto da Ajuda, Lisbon).

Shades of White (2023) is a work for violin and electronics by Luís Neto da Costa, a composer published by the MIC.PT. Commissioned by the DME Festival, the work will premiere on May 20 by Dejana Sekulić at Lisboa Incomum. The composer and the performer will also participate in the Violin + residency between May 17 and 21. There, one will be able to follow the finishing touches to this piece ‘creating a conversation between the physical and artificial self, the past and the present, through a quadraphonic canon where the listener can easily lose track of what is alive, who is alive, what repeats itself, what leads and what follows, and in what order things occur’. At the end of the month, Luís Neto da Costa will present this recent premiere at the Music School of Lisbon Composition Week. Also, in an academic context, the composer and the saxophonist Henrique Portovedo will make a presentation at the Nova Contemporary Music Meeting (May 3-5, Lisbon) about the piece Orgias do agora (2019). Regarding the circulation of his works, Cae mi voz (2021) will be performed by the Concrète [Lab] Ensemble at the Música Viva 2023 Festival on May 10 (O'culto da Ajuda in Lisbon).

Three works by Miguel Azguime (a composer published by the MIC.PT) are included in the Música Viva 2023 Festival programme, occurring between May 5 and 13 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon. The first one, Derrière Son Double (2000-2001) for ensemble and electronics, will be performed on May 10 by the Concrète [Lab] Ensemble, conducted by João Quinteiro. The second work, Une Folie Finie (2023) for wind quintet, is a premiere integrated into the concert on May 12 by the Humorictus Ensemble (Marina Camponês, flute; Carla Pereira, oboe; Patrícia Silva, clarinet; Joana Maia, bassoon; and Kevin Cardoso, horn). Finally, the Sond'Ar-te Trio (Elsa Silva, piano; Vítor Vieira, violin; & Filipe Quaresma, cello) will perform Melancholia (2019) at the Música Viva 2023 final concert on May 13. ‘The performers of my music are people whom I admire the musical and technical qualities and who have the generosity to devote work to the requests I make in the scores, which may require more time and effort. They are also musicians who help me find my path, who teach me and who, by their skills, motivate me to go even further’ – said Miguel Azguime in the MIC.PT interview from 2020.

On May 6, at the ATLAS Aveiro, the Kinetix Duo, with Fernando Ramos (saxophone) and Jeffery Davis (vibraphone), will release their first CD album, Lost Travellers. It contains the six movements of the work Estudos Irreflexivos (2019) by Paulo Bastos (a composer published by MIC.PT) and various other pieces by foreign and Portuguese composers, such as Carlos Azevedo and Telmo Marques. On May 15, Paulo Bastos will also participate in the second edition of the MusicEd – Annual Music Education Meeting held at the Music School of Lisbon (ESML). This meeting, which various invited participants will attend, will offer a series of lectures, workshops, and other activities promoting dialogue and reflection on music education. In this context, Paulo Bastos will make a presentation on the Composition Course at the Calouste Gulbenkian Conservatory in Braga, showing its good results that make the course ‘a reference on the panorama of composition in Portugal, as far as the training and education of young composers is concerned’ – as the composer explains in the synopsis of his presentation.

Three concerts with music by Sara Carvalho (a composer published by the MIC.PT), will occur in May. The first and last have the same programme dedicated to the relationship between poetry and music, entitled The Word of Music, featuring works by Jônatas Manzolli, Isabel Soveral (a composer published by MIC.PT), Ana Tavares, Francisco Ribeiro and Sara Carvalho, who composed her work, Episódio de intervalo III (2022), to texts by Fernando Pessoa. The programme will be presented by the Performa Ensemble: Helena Marinho (piano), Henrique Portovedo (saxophone) and Jorge Salgado Correia (flute). The concerts will occur in Spain, at the Manuel de Falla Auditorium (Royal Music Conservatory in Madrid), and the Auditorium of the University of Alicante, on May 6 and 18, respectively. The second concert will occur on May 13 at the House of Portugal – André de Gouveia (Paris). In this context, Patrícia Sousa and Catarina Peixinho will perform works for piano four hands. In addition to Sara Carvalho’s piece Being your own reflection (2021), the programme has works by Lopes-Graça, António Victorino d’Almeida, Poulenc, Debussy & Ravel.

On May 11 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, in the context of the Música Viva 2023 Festival, the percussionist and performer João Pedro Lourenço will premiere the opera Sonic Rumble with Green Mustard (2022) by Vítor Rua (a composer published by the MIC.PT), for percussion, digital unit, video, and performance. The opera’s programme notes reveal: ‘the meeting between João Lourenço and Vítor Rua is an idiomatic journey, a language panel among the tutti. The variation and idiolectal multiplicity make unsusceptible any unambiguous stylistic and typological classification. It's an assembly of heterophony, a deconstructive and discontinuous flux, with differentiated idiolectal and idiomatic sides. The idiolect, the singular and musician-deprived discourse, is a schizoid function. It puts its stamp on the whole symptomatology and exhibits a private and independent code of only one speaker, emerging from a cathartic significance of the music experience’. Additionally, Vítor Rua is the author of the music for the theatre piece Apocalipse, staged by João Garcia Miguel. Its premiere will occur on May 28 in Serpa by the Baal 17 Theatre Company.

On May 6, the DME Ensemble will give a concert at the Palladium Theatre in Malmö, Sweden, as part of the SoundSpaces 2023 Festival, organised by the Hertzbreakerz collective. This event will showcase contemporary Portuguese music with a selection of works by composers published by the MIC.PT: Gárgulas d’Arga (2013) by Ângela Lopes, Mise-en-page #2 (2023) by António de Sousa Dias, premiered at this concert, Sangue Inverso: Rosa do Deserto (2022) by Jaime Reis, and Timshel (2007) by João Pedro Oliveira. The DME Ensemble will also perform Mariana Vieira’s Retracement (2021). While Jaime Reis’ work is composed solely for ensemble, the other pieces will be interpreted by both the instruments and electronics, with Mariana Vieira herself responsible for the electronics. For this concert, the ensemble is constituted by Rita Castro Blanco (conductress), Alex Waite (piano), Beatriz Costa (violin), Carlos Silva (clarinet), Marina Camponês (flute), and Ângela Carneiro (cello). The DME Ensemble’s artistic director is Jaime Reis.

Following the Spring, the Música Viva 2023 Festival will occur between May 5 and 13 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon. Constituted by nine concerts, two operas, 40 works, and 12 world premieres, the Música Viva is an initiative by Miso Music Portugal since 1992, this year in its 29th edition, giving voice to contemporary music creation, always highlighting Portuguese composers and performers, and affirming the vitality of new music. During these days, the O’culto da Ajuda will be a meeting hub for Portuguese and foreign musicians, either at the beginning of their careers or fully established, presenting a diverse and expressive new music repertoire, with a considerable number of premieres, including various creations by composers published by the MIC.PT. At the festival’s opening, the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, conducted by Pedro Neves, will perform the works: ...de vos sourires. (2020) by António de Sousa Dias, Propagation (2022) by Carlos Caires, Descalça (2023) by Fátima Fonte (world premiere), Salsugem – 2.º quadro (2021) by Isabel Soveral, Kra (2023) by João Pedro Oliveira (world premiere), and Uma peça apropriada (2022) by Rui Penha.. On May 8, the concert programme by the Sigma Project saxophone quartet will include the world premiere of Ângela da Ponte's piece Echoes from a near future (2022). On May 10, the Concrète [Lab] Ensemble conducted by João Quinteiro, will perform the four works by composers published by the MIC.PT: só o silêncio que reluz é ouro (2021) by Eduardo Luís Patriarca, Smart Alienation (2016) by Igor C. Silva, Cae mi voz (2022) by Luís Neto da Costa and Deirrière Son Double (2000-2001) by Miguel Azguime. On May 11, the percussionist João Pedro Lourenço will give the first performance of Vítor Rua’s opera Sonic Rumble with Green Mustard (2022). On the following day, at the concert whose protagonist will be the Humorictus Ensemble, it will be possible to hear the premiere of Miguel Azguime's work Une Folie Finie (2023), as well as the pieces: Entre murmúrios e silêncios (2007) by Bruno Gabirro and Six or Seven Sketches (1992) by Christopher Bochmann (composers published by the MIC.PT). And at the Música Viva 2023 Festival closing concert on May 13, the Sond’Ar-te Trio will premiere three works commissioned by Miso Music Portugal in the context of the exhibition A Guerra Guardada – Photos of Portuguese Soldiers in Angola, Guinea and Mozambique (1961-1974), curated by Maria José Lobo Antunes and Inês Ponte. The works are Flash & Flesh (2023) by Daniel Schvetz, Jogo Duplo (2023) by Diogo Alvim (composers published by the MIC.PT), and Como se fosse um filho (2023) by Pedro Lima. The programme of this concert, with Elsa Silva (piano), Vítor Vieira (violin) and Filipe Quaresma (cello), will also include the three works by composers published by the MIC.PT: Fragmentos de movimento e melancolia (2023) by Carlos Marecos, Miguel Azguime’s Melancholia (2019) & Sofia Sousa Rocha’s Jogos (2023).

The 4th edition of the Contemporary Music Reencounters, an Arte no Tempo association initiative, will occur between May 18 and 28 at Teatro Aveirense. This year, the focus will be on the work of António Chagas Rosa (a composer published by the MIC.PT). Three world premieres will represent his work – From the Journal of Delacroix (2021), a percussion duo to be performed by Kuniko Kato and Nuno Aroso; Lost (2023), a solo work for recorder with electronics, integrated into the NMfNM – New Music for New Musicians project; and Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (2023), with José Pereira as a soloist, and Pedro Neves conducting the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra. The pieces will be presented on the 18th, 19th and 26th. On May 25, the Tágide Duo, with Inês Simões (soprano) and Daniel Godinho (piano), will revisit the songs from the Cicuta cycle (2005) at a concert with António Chagas Rosa’s introduction. The festival programme also includes works by other composers published by the MIC.PT. One of them is the premiere of One from All-in-One (2023) by Carlos Caires, a piece for oboe and electronics, performed by Tiago Coimbra, on May 19. Furthermore, at the concert on May 21, directed by Rita Castro Blanco (NMfNM), one will hear Density Studies III (2023) by Jaime Reis, Micro Images for Violin and Electronics (2022) by Hugo Vasco Reis, and LAURA – la fointaine de Vaucluse (2020) by Cândido Lima. The 4th Reencounters final concert, performed by the Orquestra das Beiras under the baton of Nuno Coelho, and with the soloists Andrea Conangla (soprano), Luís Salomé (saxophone) and Tiago Coimbra (oboe), will be an opportunity to listen to three concerto works: Concerto de Outono (1983) for oboe and orchestra by Jorge Peixinho (a composer published by the MIC.PT), Concerto de Saxofone (2021; premiere) by João Carlos Pinto and Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre (1993).

On April 14 the Espaço Crítica para a Nova Música/ New Music Review Lounge published a new text (in Portuguese) by Pedro Boléo, Música pelos olhos adentro, dedicated to the cineconcert Os faroleiros (March 31, Culturgest in Lisbon). In this context, the Arditti Quartet performed Daniel Moreira's new music (commissioned by the Batalha Cinema Centre) for the restored and digitalised version of Maurice Mariaud's film, Os faroleiros. The restoration of this film, realised more than 100 years ago, in 1922, occurred in the framework of the FILMar project, operationalised by Cinemateca Portuguesa with the support of the EEAGrants 2020-2024 programme.

Recently Fátima Fonte has joined the group of Composers Published by the MIC.PT, and presently the MIC.PT Score Catalogue includes her work coração acordeão (2019) for soprano and piano. Soon the MIC.PT will publish various other scores by this composer, born in 1983, who studied at the ESMAE in Porto and the Music Conservatory in Amsterdam. She also went to India to study Hindustani Music with the singer Aparna Gurav. The groups that performed Fátima Fonte's works include the Nieuw Ensemble, the Icarus Ensemble, or orkest de ereprijs. Her pieces have also been performed at various venues in Portugal. On May 5, at the Música Viva 2023 Festival, the Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble will premiere Fátima Fonte's new work Descalça (2023) for soprano, flute, piano and viola, with texts by Ana Hatherly. Presently, the composer is finalising her PhD at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London on Visible music – a dialogue between the sound and the visual.

In April, the MIC.PT has activated a new Performer's Page dedicated to the MPMP Ensemble. It’s a group with a flexible instrumental set, which since 2012 has been developing work in proximity to musicologists and composers, with the view to rediscover past Portuguese patrimony and to valorise contemporary repertoires. The ensemble has performed at the Young Musicians’ and the São Roque Festivals. It has premiered works by a dozen composers from the 17th to the 21st centuries. The MPMP Ensemble performed operas, such as O cavaleiro das mãos irresistíveis and Cai uma rosa…, respectively, by Ruy Coelho and Daniel Moreira. It has also conceived the projects Latitudes e Música Portátil and appeared on various CDs. Its participation at the 2017 Music Days Festival, with the presentation of João Domingos Bomtempo’s Requiem à memória de Camões, was broadcast by the RTP.

Do you know that there is a simple way to support the MIC.PT/ Miso Music Portugal activities? Each Portuguese citizen and resident can dedicate 0.5% from the IRS (Personal Income Tax) to a non-profit institution! This value isn't associated with any additional cost for the taxpayer, since it's taken directly from the tax entering into the State coffers. In the IRS tax annual Statement (model no. 3 · table no. 11) simply chose the Instituições Culturais option and insert the tax number: 504 732 595. Supporting the MIC.PT/ Miso Music Portugal activities allows you to become the patron of new music within innovative projects, and to contribute for the research and dissemination of the music created by composers residing and active in Portugal.
Thank you for your support!

The Operafest Lisboa presents the 4th edition of the contemporary opera competition – Maratona Ópera XXI, coproduced with the MPMP Património Musical Vivo. It aims to project this total art form into the future, promoting the emergence of new composers, operas, and performers, potentiating the creation of more contemporary opera, and bringing it closer to the modern world. The addressees of this edition’s challenge are lyrical singers up to 35 years old, who’ll be performing contemporary-time operas in Portuguese. In this sense, the competition participants will integrate a concert of arias and opera excerpts by various Portuguese composers, such as Alexandre Delgado, António Chagas Rosa, António Pinho Vargas, Francisco Fontes, and Sara Ross, among others. They will be competing for the Carlos de Pontes Leça Award and the involvement in the Operafest 2024 productions. The concert will occur on September 6 at the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, and the call is open until May 21.

Supported by the Ministry of Culture/ Direção-Geral das Artes and the Ponta Delgada Public Library and Regional Archive, the MPMP Património Musical Vivo announces the Musa Prize, with applications open until August 31. The fifth edition of the award, created in 2019, will celebrate Natália Correia’s centenary. For this reason, all the works in the competition must be based on her literary work. One should also note that the pieces must be unpublished in addition to being composed for solo female voices. The use of electronics or other transdisciplinary means is optional. In the organisers’ words, the MPMP created the Musa Prize ‘to distinguish musical excellence in the contemporary composition of classical tradition and promote the Portuguese language as an expressive vehicle’. The jury includes the composers Ângela da Ponte and Rui Penha, both published by the MIC.PT, and the soprano Raquel Camarinha.

The DME Project presents the 12th edition of the Electroacoustic Nano Musicians Competition to promote electroacoustic composition among the younger generations. Only official music students under 21 years old can apply. The deadline is November 27, and the jury is formed by the composers João Pedro Oliveira and Jaime Reis, the artistic director of the DME Project. The pieces written for any instrument must last less than five minutes, and the presence of electronics is mandatory. The selected works will have a public presentation by the competition composers at the Seia Music Conservatory in December this year at a concert integrating the DME Festival. The final results and the distribution of the different prizes will be known only at the end of the festival.

To encourage national music composition for children and youth choirs, Miso Music Portugal is promoting the Águas Gémeas competition. The applications are open until the end of August 31. Only Portuguese composers up to 35 years old are eligible, and the works must be original. The competition is part of a homonymous scientific research and artistic creation project directed by the anthropologist Pedro Prista and developed in the territory of the Santa Clara dam in Odemira. The project’s theme dedicated to water focuses on the reformulation of a resource that is the ‘key to understanding the cultural forms of the relationship we build with the world and with others’, but that is also ‘socially alienated’, says Pedro Prista in the text Uma nota sobre a gemelidade da água. Regarding the musical form of the competition works, one should consider two categories: children's choir (SSA), or youth choir (SATB) allowing longer pieces. The competition’s jury includes the participation of Basilio Astúlez Duque (Spain), Erica Mandillo (Portugal), Miguel Azguime (Portugal), and Sanna Valvanne (Finland). The Children and Youth Choir of the University of Lisbon will premiere the winning works, and the Portuguese Music Research & Information Centre – MIC.PT will publish their scores.

Since March a new In the 1st Person Interview (in Portuguese), with the composer Christopher Bochmann, is available on the MIC.PT YouTube Channel.
Presently the MIC.PT YouTube Channel contains 25 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.