Cândido Lima’s work CORO – mulheres no cais (2023) for two guitars will premiere in the first half of June. The Euterpe Guitar Duo (Pedro Lopes Baptista and Titus Isfan), for whom the composer wrote the piece, will perform it on June 6 and 8, respectively, at the Casa da Música Jorge Peixinho in Montijo and the Town Council Hall in Pegões, in the framework of the International Tagus Festival. Cândido Lima (a composer published by the MIC.PT) writes in the programme notes: ‘This work for two guitars re-evokes the quietly poetic and distant look in sounds and rhythms of the lapping waves, where, one day, the composer hovered between the instant and the eternity, on a sailboat immobilised in the middle of the Tagus. It’s a guitar choral in the form of a cantilena torn with the sonorities of Papuan and Beirã women. Therefore, the piece’s concept and composition have in its origin the Tagus and all the rivers, and the women on the pier who are also the work’s dedicatees’. Additionally, on June 29, the guitarist Antonio Fruscella will defend his Doctoral Thesis entitled, Cândido Lima: Contribution to the Contemporary Guitar Repertoire (INET-MD/ Communication and Arts Department at the University of Aveiro).

‘Writing for orchestra is a privilege. I feel special for writing for this large sound mass capable of moulding different sonic spaces and telling stories without words.’ – says Daniel Davis (a composer published by the MIC.PT) on his website. On June 3, at the Madeira Congress Centre, the public will have the opportunity to hear the premiere of the composer’s new piece for orchestra. Landscape of a winter morning (2023), commissioned by the Orquestra Clássica da Madeira, will be performed by this ensemble conducted by Pedro Amaral. The piece draws from two photos the composer took in a German forest. The first one focuses on one tree that stands out from the others. The second photo focuses on the rest of the trees: ‘It’s a minimal landscape with all the trees aligned, guiding the eye to an infinite path where one loses the sight in the unknown’ – says the composer. And he adds: ‘The connection between the two printings is that the tree is lost in the middle of the similarity, but one can find it when properly looking around. The work seeks to create a parallel between the minimal and the likeness of an object that seems infinite. However, in the middle of that immense repetition, one object can be brought to life, becoming the entire ecosystem’s core.’

Wandering from clime to clime (2023) is a new concert for accordion and chamber orchestra by Christopher Bochmann (a composer published by the MIC.PT), whose world premiere will occur on June 3 at the Teatro das Figuras in Faro. In the context of this concert performed by the Algarve Orchestra conducted by Christopher Bochmann, and which will include the participation of the accordionist Gonçalo Pescada, it will also be possible to hear the music of Francisco de Lacerda and Carlos Seixas (Christopher Bochmann’s orchestrations), and by Joseph Haydn. The dedicatee of Wandering from clime to clime is Gonçalo Pescada. ‘The work’s title is a quotation from Homer’s Odyssey, translated by Alexander Pope. It reflects on the music’s journey to integrate an instrument often associated with popular music, dance, or even the Paris Metro! – into the world of classical, contemporary music’ – emphasises Christopher Bochmann in the programme notes.

Diogo Alvim (an architect and composer published by the MIC.PT) and Joana Braga (an artist and architect) will present the Os Passos em Volta – Alcântara project on June 3 and 4. The event makes part of the Temps d’Images Festival. It involves a ‘route around the Alcântara valley (Lisbon), exploring the performative dimension of walking and proposing a game of perception through sound, image and word’. Starting with this ‘questioning and reconfiguring of our relationship with the times and uses of the city’, the four-hour walk, exclusive for people over 12 years old, will cross ‘familiar areas, neglected spaces in urban history and hidden places’, proposing ‘a dive into this territory marked by the tension between the organisation of the urban space and the ways of inhabiting it daily’. This notion of interdisciplinarity is, in fact, part of Diogo Alvim's work, who, in an interview with the MIC.PT, in 2020, shared: ‘As an architect, I've always been sensitive to the questions of space as a dimension affecting the timbre, dynamics, and other listening phenomena. I think we're transdisciplinary by nature, and architecture proves it – accomplishing a multiple and complex perceptive experience. For this reason, I'm interested in what is extra-disciplinary as a method of deconstruction and reconfiguring the limits between the disciplines.’

On June 10, it will be possible to hear music by Fernando C. Lapa (a composer published by the MIC.PT) at the Romantic Museum in Porto. The programme is based exclusively on his repertoire with guitar, so it will feature three guitarists – Hugo Simões, Francisco Berény and Rita Barbosa — who, together with Tiago Azevedo e Silva, on cello, Monika Streitová, on flute and the soprano Daniela Matos, will perform the works Itinerários (1999), Plural VIII (2004), Lamentos (2007), Suite D’oiro (2010), Como se canta o fogo, o mar e o som dos barcos (2010), and Três ou quatro notas para Florbela (2012). Despite having been composed over 13 years ago, Como se canta o fogo, o mar e o som dos barcos has a special place among the other works in the programme because the mentioned trio of guitarists has recently premiered it. On June 10, the Day of Portugal, of Camões and the Portuguese Communities, quoting Fernando C. Lapa’s 2017 interview with the MIC.PT, it is essential to point out that ‘there is an increasing number of active composers in Portugal, and a much greater number of published and recorded works. We also see some works by Portuguese authors in the programmes of circulating performers, yet it’s far from corresponding to the production volume’. The concert line-up will repeat in Fundão on July 6.

On June 10, the artists from the Electroacoustic Music Centre at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory will give a concert at the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre in Moscow, whose programme includes the work Smart-alienation (2016) for small flexible ensemble, electronics and video by Igor C. Silva (a composer published by the MIC.PT). Besides his piece, the performers will also present the music of Alexander Khubeev, Brigitta Muntendorf, Mirela Ivičević, Sara Nemtsov, Sergey Meingardt and Yannis Kyriakides. In the 2015 MIC.PT interview, Igor C. Silva said: ‘Composing is searching. One of the ways to find the intended sound, expressivity and aesthetics is experimentation. I experiment with techniques, sounds and instrumental approaches directly on the instruments. I also test the interactive relations between the instruments and the electronics.’

The electroacoustic composition for a 16-channel cupola-shaped sound system, Fluxus, pas trop haut dans le ciel (2017) by Jaime Reis (a composer published by the MIC.PT), makes part of the concert on June 20 at the Yellow Studio of the Electroacoustic Music Department at the Conservatory of Nice in France. In this studio, one has installed an immersive sound system of 32 loudspeakers, Micadôme (Musique immersive Côte d’Azur dôme), to use this unique technology in the context of autism research. Michel Pascal, an electroacoustic music teacher at the Nice Conservatory, who develops this project with the psychologist Frédéric Vinot, says that the Micadôme ‘is a new social situation’. And he adds: ‘it is not a concert, nor a sound-art installation, but rather a music composition.’

Various works by Miguel Azguime (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will premiere at the Extraordinary Soloists and Formations cycle (Lisbon Festivities 2023), occurring at the O’culto da Ajuda. On June 7, Nuno Pinto will perform the pieces Drifting I, II, III (2023) for clarinet and electronics. And on the 22nd, the Sond’Ar-te Three Women formation – Camila Mandillo (soprano), Sílvia Cancela (flute) & Elsa Silva (piano) – will premiere the 2023 works, Genealogias da Matéria & Genealogias do Horizonte. Additionally, on June 2 in Odemira, within the Miso Music Portugal’s Music through Time cycle, the Sond’Ar-te Trio (Elsa Silva, piano; Vítor Vieira, violin; Filipe Quaresma, cello) will give a concert whose programme will include Miguel Azguime’s work Melancholia (2019). And finally, on the 24th at the CCB in Lisbon, together with Paula Azguime, responsible for sound diffusion (Miso Ensemble), Miguel Azguime, who's also a poet and performer, will present the new poetry action/ electroacoustic theatre A Vida é Sempre Preferível, ou o monólogo do sal para lhe completar a medida (2021-2023). This performance makes part of the Carte Blanche to Pedro Carneiro cycle.

In June, two new works by Nuno Peixoto de Pinho (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will have world premieres. On the 11th, one will hear Que os vossos deuses nos protejam (2023) for toy piano, recorders and two percussionists. The piece’s first performance will occur in Vila Real by the Borealis Ensemble, composed by the pianist Helena Marinho and the flautist António Carrilho, and with the participation of the percussionists Luís Alberto Bittencourt and Aldovino Munguambe. As part of the Des/ Encontros project, the four musicians will make a tour in Aveiro, Paços de Brandão, Évora and Covilhã between June 12 & 30. Additionally, on June 6, at the Casa da Música Jorge Peixinho in Montijo, Pedro Lopes Baptista and Titus Isfan (the Euterpe Guitar Duo) will premiere Nuno Peixoto de Pinho’s Petram morphosis (2023) at a concert with premieres of new Portuguese works for two guitars. The musicians will perform the same programme again on June 8 in Pegões. It also includes music by Ana Roque Antunes, Cândido Lima, Eurico Carrapatoso, Fábio Chicotio, Francisco Chaves, Nuno Guedes de Campos and Pedro Baptista.

In the second half of June, Paulo Bastos (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will have three works performed in the context of two concerts. On the 22nd, in the framework of the Música y Artes Escénicas International Festival in Linares (Spain), the L’Effetto Ensemble (Dora Rodriques, soprano; Rui Gama, guitar) will perform his two works: Cinco Canções de Miguel Torga (2016), version for voice and guitar, and La courbe de tes yeux (2022) for soprano and guitar (on the poem by Paul Éluard). These two Paulo Bastos’ works also make part of the L’Effetto Ensemble’s first CD; its release on various digital platforms will occur on June 23. What will follow is the release of the CD’s physical format on July 29. The third Paulo Bastos’ piece that one will be able to hear in concert in June is the composition for piano four hands from 2019, Sou já do que fui. This work will make part of the concert by the Kla-Vier Duo (Patrícia Ventura and Sónia Amaral) on the 23rd at the St Bride‘s Church in London. The programme of this concert will also include the work Por um dia igual (2014) by Sofia Sousa Rocha (a composer published by the MIC.PT) and also the music of António Victorino d'Almeida, Arvo Pärt and J. S. Bach/ György Kurtág.

Two works by Sara Carvalho (a composer published by MIC.PT) will premiere in June. The work Left Scars (2023) for piano & percussion makes part of the Borealis Ensemble’s Des/ Encontros project. The first presentation of this project will occur on June 11 in Vila Real. Then, throughout the month, it will tour other locations in Portugal – Aveiro, Paços de Brandão, Évora & Covilhã. Alongside Sara Carvalho's work, the project includes pieces by Ana Seara, Carlos Caires & Nuno Peixoto de Pinho (the latter two, also published by MIC.PT). The Des/ Encontros project features the performers António Carrilho (recorders), Helena Marinho (piano), Luís Alberto Bittencourt & Aldovino Munguambe (percussion). On June 14, the Portuguese premiere of the work É-se (1997) will occur at the Salão Nobre – Edifício dos Congregados in Braga. The performance, conducted by André Coutinho, will feature an ensemble with Rodrigo Costa on flute, Madison Dias on clarinet, Gonçalo Gonçalves on horn & Henrique Rocha on cello. ‘Within the perception of the work, the listeners find what it needs to communicate to them. The important thing is to create spaces, enabling the communication with the listeners’ – says the composer in the 2014 MIC.PT interview.

The premiere of the new work by Sofia Sousa Rocha (a composer published by the MIC.PT), Caminhos – dor, luz e esperança (2023) for choir and orchestra, performed by the Braga District Orquestra and Choir, will occur on June 2 at the São Victor Church in Braga. This composition, with the text by the canon João Aguiar, is a commission of the Vós sereis o meu povo Biblical Procession Organising Committee (São Victor Parish and São Victor Council), evoking the 25 years of the Burrinha Procession. In the 2015 MIC.PT interview, Sofia Sousa Rocha said: ‘In my case, the composition process is dynamic. Although I tend to think that I begin with and embryo idea for the music I write, I know this gesture results from a reflection starting with the question: what do I want to hear?’

Making part of the Lisbon Festivities 2023, the Extraordinary Soloists and Formations cycle comprises three concerts on June 6, 7, and 22 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon. At the first one, the flautist Clara Saleiro will present a programme of solo-flute works (with or without electronics) composed between 1985 and 2021. In this context, it will be possible to hear the piece We Can’t Breathe (2021) by Ângela da Ponte (a composer published by the MIC.PT) and para por (2018) by Pedro Berardinelli, besides the music of Rebecca Saunders, Rocío Cano Valiño and Salvatore Sciarrino. On the following day, in the framework of another recital for solo instrument and electronics, the clarinettist Nuno Pinto will perform two world-premieres: J’arrive, bien sûr j’arrive (2023) by Bruno Gabirro and Drifting I, II, III (2023) by Miguel Azguime (both composers published by the MIC.PT). On this occasion Nuno Pinto will also present Pierre Boulez’s Dialogue de l’Ombre Double (1985). And at the final concert of the Extraordinary Soloists and Formations cycle, the O'culto da Ajuda's stage will receive the Sond'Ar-te Three Women trio, constituted by Camila Mandillo (soprano), Sílvia Cancela (flute) and Elsa Silva (piano). These musicians will be joined by the viola player Joana Cipriano to perform the work Descalça (2023) by Fátima Fonte (a composer published by the MIC.PT). At this concert, it will also be possible to hear two more world premieres by Miguel Azguime, Genealogias da Matéria and Genealogias do Horizonte (both pieces from 2023), as well as George Crumb's Apparition (1979) (with choreography by Tiago Barreiros). Organised by the Miso Music Portugal, in 2023, the Extraordinary Soloists and Formations cycle presents three unique and ambitious programmes, including some of the 20th-century reference works, alongside with the most recent music by Portuguese and foreign composers.

On June 14, the Salão Nobre do Edifício dos Congregados at the University of Minho in Braga will host the open auditions by the Contemporary Music/ CM#23 Curricular Unit (Music Department at the University of Minho), coordinated by Pedro Junqueira Maia. In this context, the Unit’s students will perform the music by various composers published by the MIC.PT: Ângela Lopes, António de Sousa Dias, Cândido Lima, Christopher Bochmann, Clotilde Rosa, João Pedro Oliveira, Rui Penha and Sara Carvalho; in addition to the music of Álvaro Salazar, Daniel Osvaldo, Filipe Pires, Iannis Xenakis and Luciano Berio.

In June, the Borealis Ensemble will present the Des/ Encontros project at five different locations in Portugal. The ensemble, which in this context includes Helena Marinho (piano), António Carrilho (flutes), Luís Alberto Bittencourt, and Aldovino Munguambe (percussion), will premiere and perform works by four Portuguese composers: Ana Seara, Carlos Caires, Nuno Peixoto de Pinho and Sara Carvalho (the latter three are composers published by MIC.PT). The project’s tour begins on June 11 at Casa de Mateus in Vila Real and ends on June 30 at Galeria António Lopes – Casa dos Magistrados in Covilhã. In between, three more performances will occur within Des/ Encontros: on June 12 at the Auditorium of the Communication and Arts Department of the University of Aveiro; on June 13 at the Dr Arménio Carvalho Auditorium of the Academia de Música de Paços de Brandão, and finally on June 17 at the Convento dos Remédios in Évora.

Organised by the Scientific Council of the Portuguese Music Research & Information Centre (MIC.PT) and curated by the composer Isabel Soveral, the 2nd Meeting on Music, Technology and Research will take place on June 23 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon.
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 great subjects concerning contemporary creation with or without electronics, the critical approximation between the new technologies’ potential, and the creative thought through the analysis of relevant works and texts, as well as the theoretical reflection on the great references from the first decades of Concrete and Electronic Music.
Registration is free. Researchers interested in making a presentation at the 2nd Meeting on Music, Technology and Research should send the completed form to research@mic.pt until June 16, 2023.

Three new texts by Pedro Boléo – Música Viva de maneiras diversas, Ceci n’est pas un opéra, and O som sem medo –, and a new review by Ana Sofia Malheiro entitled Um concerto de estreias – das obras ao próprio SIGMA Project, were published on the Espaço Crítica para a Nova Música/ New Music Review Lounge in May. In these four articles, the authors reflect on some of the concerts at the Música Viva Festival 2023 (May 5-13). In the review, Música Viva de maneiras diversas, Pedro Boléo leans over the festival’s opening concert performed by the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, and entirely dedicated to Portuguese music, with works by Fátima Fonte, Carlos Caires, Rui Penha, João Pedro Oliveira, António de Sousa Dias and Isabel Soveral. In the second text, Ceci n’est pas un opéra, the author analises Vítor Rua’s work, premiered at the Música Viva 2023 by the percussionist João Pedro Lourenço. And in the third review Pedro Boléo compares the Festival’s two last concerts almost entirely dedicated to the music by Portuguese composers – with the Humorictus Ensemble (wind quintet), performing the works by György Ligeti, Luís Tinoco, Christopher Bochmann, Bruno Gabirro, and Miguel Azguime; and with the Sond'Ar-te Trio (piano, violin, cello), performing the music by Sofia Sousa Rocha, Miguel Azguime, Carlos Marecos, Daniel Schvetz, Diogo Alvim, and Pedro Lima. Now, Ana Sofia Malheiro in the review Um concerto de estreias – das obras ao próprio SIGMA Project, shares her reflections about the concert by the Sigma Project saxophone quartet, whose programme included compositions by Alberto Posadas, Ângela da Ponte, Miguel Farias, Inés Badalo and Iannis Xenakis.

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.