Between May 30 and June 7, Portugal will host, for the first time, the World New Music Days, a century-old festival by the ISCM – International Society for Contemporary Music. Highlighting this unique initiative in terms of contemporary music dissemination and experience, the MIC.PT May In Focus section presents the presentation text by Miguel Azguime, the artistic coordinator of the World New Music Days 2025 and direction member of Miso Music Portugal, the Portuguese ISCM Section since 1999, which is responsible for organising this year’s festival in Portugal.
‘This moment carries a very special meaning’, emphasises Miguel Azguime. He continues, ‘The realisation of this dream is happening in a context of great artistic vitality in our country. Portuguese contemporary music has been gaining recognition for its creative proposals’ quality and diversity. Undoubtedly, Portugal today positions itself as one of Europe’s emerging hubs of contemporary musical creation. Therefore, the Portuguese edition of the World New Music Days festival is more than an achievement: it is a meeting point, a window to the world, and a celebration of music of research and invention as a future-forward musical language.’

The work Ombres Résonantes (2025) by Ângela da Ponte (a composer published by MIC.PT) will premiere in May, performed by the Borealis Ensemble – António Carrilho (recorders), Helena Marinho (piano), and Catherine Strynckx (cello) – as part of the Despojos project. The concerts will occur on the 15th, 17th, and 18th at Lisboa Incomum, Convento dos Remédios in Évora, and the Auditorium of the Conservatory of Music in Seia, respectively. The programme will also feature premieres of works by Jaime Reis and Sara Carvalho (composers published by MIC.PT), Francisco Ribeiro, Jônatas Manzolli, and Olívia Silva. Despojos explores sustainability and renewal by reusing composers’ discarded musical materials and incorporating everyday artefacts into composition and performance. Another Ângela da Ponte’s piece, Ensaios Sobre Cantos IV (2019) for adufe and electronics, will be performed by Tiago M. Soares at Teatro Narciso Ferreira in Riba d’Ave on May 23.

The release of the new CD by António Pinho Vargas (a composer published by the MIC.PT) – Oscuro | Six Portraits of Pain – will occur on May 18. This new edition, by Artway Next, brings together live recordings of the premiere performances of both works at Casa da Música, with the participation of its two resident ensembles: the Porto Symphony Orchestra and the Remix Ensemble. The release event will take place at the Cibermúsica space of this venue situated in Porto. On the CD, the piece Oscuro (2022), written for orchestra, is performed by the Porto Symphony Orchestra with the conductor Pedro Neves. Six Portraits of Pain (2005), for cello and ensemble, features the cellist Anssi Karttunen, the Remix Ensemble, and the conductor Franck Ollu. Additionally, the documentary about António Pinho Vargas, directed by Adriana Romero, will also premiere on the same day. This brand new film offers a fresh perspective on the life and work of this key composer within Portuguese contemporary music.

‘2025 marks the 25th anniversary of the Composition Course at the Braga Conservatory. Since it started in 2000, many people have come into contact with the Composition Course, permanently or temporarily. Some went on to study and are now composers with established careers; others have had more fleeting contact and have gone on to other paths, either in music or in different areas’ (according to the website of the Calouste Gulbenkian Conservatory of Braga). As part of the anniversary celebrations, on May 17 at the Adelina Caravana Auditorium in Braga, the Braga Sinfonietta will perform the work “was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?” (2019) by the Braga-born composer Carlos Brito Dias (published by the MIC.PT). Tiago Moreira da Silva will conduct this work for string orchestra. The concert allow the Braga audience to hear music by a contemporary Portuguese composer, and have a moment of encounter with the work of a composer sharing his hometown with them. The concert will also honour the artistic and pedagogical work developed for more than a quarter of a century at the Conservatory.

Diogo Alvim (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will participate in the 16th SAR International Conference on Artistic Research in May. This conference, taking place between the 7th and 9th at the University of Porto, is organised by the Society for Artistic Research. Diogo Alvim’s paper, Modes of Permeability in Music, is scheduled for the event’s second day. In this paper, Diogo Alvim will question how musical creation ‘engages with real-world elements to affect the listening experience in an integrated or situated way’ and to what extent these elements ‘interact with the perception of sounds, not merely as a metaphor but effectively in a concrete experiential way, integrating experience in a larger field of meaning and consequence’. Diogo Alvim will also discuss ‘relational music’, ‘non-fictional music’, ‘context-based composition’, ‘artistic device’ or ‘extra disciplinarity’. The twenty-minute presentation by Diogo Alvim, a researcher at the Centre for Music Studies (CESEM) of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the NOVA University of Lisbon, will be followed by another twenty minutes of debate.

On May 20 the opera-monodrama Há que ser rio by Diogo da Costa Ferreira (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will be presented at the ESML in Lisbon. In addition to the music, Diogo da Costa Ferreira is also responsible for the sound design, video and staging. The soloist will be the soprano Cláudia Anjos. Há que ser rio was awarded at the Musa Prize 2023 dedicated to the poet Natália Correia, and promoted by the MPMP Património Musical Vivo. This concert is part of the artistic research carried out by the composer within his doctoral thesis on the role of stage resources and multimedia in the aesthetic experience. ‘[Opera] is the most transdisciplinary practice’, shared Diogo da Costa Ferreira in 2023 in the Music of Research and Invetion radio programme (Miso Music Portugal/ MIC.PT for Antena 2). ‘I do not want or make music or art to entertain or for mere enjoyment. I have an intention to deepen and reflect on certain concepts. It becomes easier when words are associated with music.’

In May, Hugo Vasco Reis (a composer edited by MIC.PT) will have several performances of his works across Portugal. On the 11th, the world premiere of Fios will take place at Quartel das Artes in Oliveira do Bairro. This composition for eight guitars, twelve mandolins, six mandolas, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, percussion, accordion, and double bass will be performed by Hélder Magalhães (conductor) and the Portuguese Guitar and Mandolin Orchestra, which also commissioned the work. Then, the work Fragile Movements Towards Absence for percussion trio will premiere in the second half of the month. This work is a commission of the RePercussion Trio, featuring Alexandre Silva, Daniel Araújo, and Jorge Pereira, who will perform it at Salão Brazil in Coimbra on May 23. In addition to the two premieres, Hugo Vasco Reis is also working on a new CD that will include his composition Imago for viola and electronics, performed by Trevor McTait (viola) and the composer himself (electronics). The album’s release is scheduled for the end of June.

In May, the work untitled.paula. by Jaime Reis (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will be premiered at the O Meu nome é Ópera recital, with Marina Pacheco (soprano), Luciana Ribeiro (actress) and Helena Vasques (piano), and with text by Tiago Matos. This performance joins contemporary Portuguese composers such as Jaime Reis and Sara Ross, to reflect on and write opera arias in dialogue with classical composers such as Mozart and Bizet. The concerts will occur on May 2 at the Macedo de Cavaleiros Cultural Centre, the 3rd at the Chaves Cultural Centre and May 23 at the Alcochete Cultural Forum. Additionally, on May 9, the Armenian pianist Hayk Melikyan will perform the work monólito.ébano. (2019) on the 5th Anniversary of 2000+, on Europe Day in Armenia, at the Komitas Museum-Institute in Yerevan. Also noteworthy is the premiere of Jaime Reis’ piece emoliente.mavioso. on the 15th, 17th, 18th, at the Lisboa Incomum, in Évora and Seia, by António Carrilho (recorder), Helena Marinho (piano) and Catherine Strynckx (cello), as part of the INET-md project Despojos, exploring the theme of sustainability and renewal.

The piece L’Accordéon du Diable (2006) for accordion and electronics by João Pedro Oliveira (a composer published by the MIC.PT) will be performed by Maurizio de Lucca as part of the SUENA festival on May 9 at the Echoraum in Vienna (Austria). Additionally, in the second half of the month, this composer’s percussion music will also feature in the Reencontros de Música Contemporânea programme in Aveiro and the Metatempo concert by the RePercussion Trio. At the latter performance, percussionists Alexandre Silva, Daniel Araújo, and Jorge Pereira will present a new work by João Pedro Oliveira on the stage of Salão Brazil in Coimbra on May 23. A week earlier, on May 16, percussionist Nuno Aroso will give a concert at the Sala Estúdio of Teatro Aveirense to present a programme titled City Walk: Nuno Aroso plays João Pedro Oliveira, as part of the Reencontros de Música Contemporânea 2025. The 5th edition of this initiative by the Arte no Tempo association, supported by the Direção-Geral das Artes and Aveiro City Council, offers new encounters with music, both pieces that have just been created and those from our more recent past.

In May, João Quinteiro (a composer published by MIC.PT) will have his music performed in Lisbon and New York. On the 14th, at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (ESML), the ESML Percussion Group will perform his piece Oidhche Shamhna (2016). Then, on the 22nd, also at ESML, Alex Waite will premiere his new work for piano and live electronics, entitled [ab]strata_sP1. Finally, on May 29, the musicians from Ensemble Mise-En will perform the piece Canção III – Pairs, à propos de l’intériorité (2024) for piano and percussion, at MISE-EN_PLACE in New York City (USA). In the 2024 interview with MIC.PT João Quinteiro expressed that it was ‘important to counter all the forces that cyclically rise, aiming to promote smallness and impoverishment in life. And this is not just for those who see those forces for what they are but, above all, for those who, due to vulnerability, might become easy targets for such rhetoric. Thus, art must be generous, not condescending.’

Two works by Mariana Vieira (a composer published by MIC.PT) are part of the SUENA Festival, an initiative by SUENA – Verein zur Förderung und Verbreitung neuer Musik. This event will take place from May 7 to 13 in Vienna to provide a space for dialogue and exchange between audiences, performers, and artists from Austria, the Iberian Peninsula, and Latin America. In this sense, on May 10, the saxophonist Juan Moreda will perform Música para uma fábrica, a piece for solo saxophone composed by Mariana Vieira in 2019. The following day, on May 11, her new work for accordion and percussion, esquissos-morfologias, will have its premiere by Maria Mogas Gensana and Hannes Schöggl, members of the Between Feathers ensemble. Then, on May 25, the ars ad hoc ensemble will present Mariana Vieira’s String Quartet No. 1 (2023) at the Reencontros de Música Contemporânea 2025 (an initiative organised by Arte no Tempo).

On May 2, the Interdito Duo (Sofia Marafona, soprano; Duarte Pereira Martins, piano) will perform the work Rente ao chão by Miguel Resende Bastos (a composer published by the MIC.PT), inspired by Eugénio de Andrade’s poem contained in the Rente ao Dizer volume. The concert will occur at O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon. It is part of the Caderno de Eugénio project, an initiative by the duo to celebrate the centenary of the poet’s birth. To celebrate the ‘links between literature and music, so dear to Eugénio’, as the duo says, the programme also includes works by Erwin Schulhoff and Wolfgang Rihm. Additionally, the musicians will perform pieces by young Portuguese composers directly inspired by Eugénio de Andrade’s poetry. Along with Miguel Resende Bastos’s piece, these works are Camila S. Menino’s Nocturno, Sara Ross’sToda a poesia é luminosa, Carlos Lopes’s Oiço correr a noite pelos sulcos, Pedro F. Finisterra’s Contigo, and Fábio Cachão‘s Lume breve.

The work Igne Natura Renovatur Integra II for three percussionists by Ricardo Ribeiro (a composer published by MIC.PT) will be performed by the Taleae Trio as part of the opening concert of the Reencontros de Música Contemporânea 2025. The performance will occur on May 15 at the Studio Hall of Teatro Aveirense. Premiered in 2023 by the Clamat – coletivo variável, this piece is Ricardo Ribeiro’s homage to the French philosopher, sociologist, and anthropologist Edgar Morin. The Taleae Trio comprises three promising young percussionists, Afonso Primo, Lourenço Oliveira, and Pedro Leitão, who share a deep curiosity and enthusiasm for contemporary music and the common experience of having studied under Nuno Aroso. At the concert these musicians will present a programme featuring works by Portuguese composers, including the world premiere of the very first piece written specifically for the Taleae Trio.

The NOVA Contemporary Music Meeting 2025 programme includes presentations of two composers published by the MIC.PT, Ângela da Ponte and Luís Neto da Costa. The conference, organised by the Centre for Music Studies (CESEM), will occur between May 7 and 9 at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences in Lisbon. In Ângela da Ponte’s presentation, entitled Framed stories – narrative, memory and media in “Homenagem Subconsciente”, the composer and researcher will focus on a stereo acousmatic piece she composed in 2015 at the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre in the UK. ‘This piece forms part of a portfolio of compositions that seek to integrate traditional culture from my homeland, São Miguel Island in The Azores, within a contemporary medium’, she explains. And regarding Luís Neto da Costa, this composer and researcher explores the microtonal techniques he used in his compositions between 2016 and 2021, ‘emphasising their conceptual frameworks and practical applications’. In Microtonal expansions: the diverse techniques in Luís Neto da Costa’s pieces from 2016 to 2021, he will also analyse approaches ‘ranging from chromaticism to innovative spectral perspectives, showcasing the versatility of microtones in shaping melodic, harmonic, and glissandi structures’.

The World New Music Days 2025 festival will officially inaugurate on the upcoming May 30 and will run until June 7. Over nine intense days of programming, the event will feature 27 performances alongside other parallel activities, showcasing more than 140 works representing 44 different countries. Of these, 40 compositions are by 40 different Portuguese composers, several of whom have scores published by MIC.PT. The opening concert will take place on May 30 in the Foyer of the Grand Auditorium at the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB) in Lisbon. The audience will listen to two pieces from the Aduf&lectrónica project by Rui Silva and Bruno Gabirro (a composer published by MIC.PT) and Portuguese guitar music by Carlos Paredes and Miguel Amaral who will also premiere a piece for Portuguese guitar and electronics by Jianing He. Later, on the same evening, at the CCB Grand Auditorium, among pieces from Canada, Belgium, South Korea, Italy, and Hungary, the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, conducted by Pedro Neves, will perform Greeting (2010) by João Madureira (another composer published by MIC.PT). Then, on May 31, the festival will travel to Casa da Música in Porto, where, among other works from Eastern Europe, the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, conducted by Pedro Carneiro, will perform two pieces by composers published by MIC.PT: Patrícia Sucena de Almeida’s Instabile Tempus (2016) and Rui Penha’s Pendulum (2012). And to end the day, the Porto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Brad Lubman, will premiere João Caldas’ piece Esta Montanha já foi fogo (2024), alongside works by Helena Skljarov (Croatia), James Tenney (USA), Liza Lim (Australia), Veljko Nenadić (Serbia) and Yuri Demetz (Italy). On June 1, the World New Music Days 2025 will continue in Porto before returning to Lisbon on the 2nd. More updates in the next MIC.PT Newsletter.

The Cadavre Exquis Call is open until June 15 as part of the Mind the Gap project, supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, dedicated to promoting and recognising works by women composers of all ages in Europe. Led by PIANO AND CO (France), Miso Music Portugal (Portugal), Sansusī (Latvia), and Pro Progressione (Hungary), this initiative aims to create a space where the work of these composers receives the recognition it deserves. The call is open to women and non-binary composers of any age who are nationals or residents of France, Portugal, Latvia, or Hungary. Through this project, four composers (women and non-binary persons) will be invited to contribute to a collective musical work based on the Cadavre Exquis format. This work will be performed and recorded live in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2026 at O’culto da Ajuda, with another performance in 2027 in Budapest, Hungary, during the Transparent Sound New Music Festival.

The applications for the 8th edition of the Accordion Composition Prize, an initiative by the Folefest Association, are open until July 18. This competition aims to promote and encourage contemporary classical music creation for accordion, contributing to this repertoire’s qualitative and quantitative development. The Prize’s dedicatees are Portuguese composers, or those residing in Portugal, of any age. The application works (for accordion solo or accordion with electronica) must be unedited. The prize’s organisers reserve the right to realise the premieres of the awarded works. The prize’s jury comprises Amílcar Vasques-Dias (composer), Ângela da Ponte (composer) and Paulo Jorge Ferreira (accordionist/ composer and jury president).

With the aim to encourage the creation and diffusion of new acousmatic/ electroacoustic works, Miso Music Portugal promotes and organises the 26th International Electroacoustic Composition Competition – Música Viva 2025. The deadline for the works’ submission is July 31, 2025 (11h59 p.m., Lisbon time) and the results will be announced on October 31, 2025. The presentation of the winning work, diffused via the Miso Music Portugal’s Loudspeaker Orchestra, will occur in December, 2025, in the context of the Short Circuit Festival in Lisbon. The jury of the 26th International Electroacoustic Composition Competition – Música Viva 2025 comprises Hans Tutschku, Manuella Blackburn and Miguel Azguime.

In April the MIC.PT published on the YouTube Channel one new In the 1st Person Interview (in Portuguese) with the composer Paulo Ferreira-Lopes. The musicologist and journalist Pedro Boléo conducted these two interviews recorded in 2023 at the O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon.
Presently the MIC.PT YouTube Channel contains 36 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.