In May, the MIC.PT In Focus section is dedicated to Eli Camargo Júnior, to mark the 70th birthday of this composer and professor. Eli Camargo Júnior graduated in Classical Guitar from the Faculty of Music of Santos (Henrique Pinto) in Brazil, and in Composition at the Lisbon School of Music (António Pinho Vargas and Christopher Bochmann) and at the University of Évora (Christopher Bochmann and Vanda de Sá), having written his thesis on Synchronism in Chamber Music, notation strategies. He has taught at the Santos School of Music and at various regional conservatoires in Portugal, as well as at the Piaget Institute in Almada and the Lisbon National Conservatoire. He was also coordinator of the educa­tional project of the Centre for Music and Image at EMCN, created with Jorge Sá Machado (electronic music) and João Vasco Almeida (photography and video). He has been active as a composer since 2004, with his music having been performed by soloists and ensem­bles such as the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group, the Metropolitana Soloists, the Entre Madeiras Trio, Júlio Guerreiro, Paulo Amorim, Luís Gomes and Catherine Strynckx. His work has been object of institutional promotion by RTP Antena 2, having also been featured in the monographic concert Elle, held in 2019 at O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon.

On May 3, the Grand Auditorium of the Coimbra Conservatory of Music will host the opera As Sombras de uma Azinheira, with music by Amílcar Vasques-Dias (a composer published by MIC.PT), a libretto by Eduarda Freitas, based on the book by Álvaro Laborinho Lúcio, and directed by Mário João Alves. This performance of the opera, which premiered on April 25, 2025 and was commissioned by the Ritornello Cultural Association, will be conducted by Antó­nio Ramos and feature Tânia Ralha and André Henriques (singers), António Ramos, Clara Dias and Hugo Brito (vio­lins), Diana Antunes (viola), Rogério Peixinho (cello) and Júlia Miranda (double bass). ‘In this opera’, says Amílcar Vasques-Dias, ‘Catarina, the main character, born on April 25, 1974, does not like her name, nor does she like cele­brating her birthday, having a very personal view of the freedom she experiences and feels.’

Written in 2008 for string orchestra, the work Rebel (Chaos) by composer Bruno Gabirro (published by MIC.PT) will be per­formed on May 2 at the São Luiz Municipal Theatre in Lisbon, as part of the Música Viva 2026 Festival – Insurgency. At this concert, entitled Mu­sic/Transformation, the Sinfonietta de Braga, conducted by Rita Castro Blanco, will also perform works by Alban Berg, Carlos Brito Dias (a composer published by MIC.PT), György Ligeti and Tōru Takemitsu. In the work Rebel (Chaos) — winner of the Eric Coates Prize for Composition from the Royal Academy of Music in London and dedicated to the innovative French Baroque composer and violinist Jean-Féry Rebel (1666–1747), whose pieces are characterised by striking originality — Bruno Gabirro explores an incisive and energetic style of composition, with musical gestures asserted through vigour and contrast.

was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht? (2019) is the title of the work for string or­chestra by the composer Carlos Brito Dias (pub­lished by MIC.PT), which forms part of the programme for the Music/Trans­formation concert, as part of the Música Viva 2026 Festival – Insur­gency. The concert, performed by the Sinfonietta de Braga under the baton of Rita Castro Blanco, will take place on May 2 at the São Luiz Municipal Theatre in Lisbon. The title of Carlos Brito Dias’s work refers to a verse from Germanic tradition, specifically Franz Schubert’s Lied Erlkönig, with text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. According to the concert programme notes, in the work was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht? the composer evokes ‘an interrogative and intro­spective dimension, as if the music were seeking to reveal what remains hidden beneath the surface of human experience.’

The work Tłumaczenie (2015) by composer Diogo Alvim (published by MIC.PT) will be performed at the inaugural concert of the Miso String Quartet, as part of the Música Viva 2026 Festival – Insurgency, which will take place on May 2 at the São Luiz Theatre in Lisbon. ‘Tłu­maczenie’, says Diogo Alvim, ‘means “translation” in Polish, and the piece stems from an experience of translation be­tween architecture and music, taking as its reference the building of the Department of Music at Stranmillis College in Belfast, designed by Henry Wightman in 1968. It is an un­usual building: almost suspended, like a flying saucer, yet at the same time integrated into the surrounding landscape in a sensitive and delicate manner.’ At this concert, the Miso String Quartet — Pedro Lopes and César Nogueira (violins), Joana Cipriano (viola) and Luís André Ferreira (cello) — will also perform pieces by Doina Rotaru and Steve Reich.

The piece for solo cimba­lom, Curta-metragem n.º 2 (Bru­mas de outono) (2025), by composer Daniel Morei­ra (published by MIC.PT), will be performed by Cătălin Răducanu on May 25 in Bucharest, as part of the World New Music Days 2026 – Columna Infinită festival in Romania. In his notes on the work, Daniel Moreira states that ‘the cimbalom is a fascinating instrument’ and that it arose from a challenge set by percussionist Manuel Campos, who premiered it at Casa da Música in Porto last year. Curta-metragem n.º 2 (Brumas de outono) is part of a cycle of pieces for solo instrument that Daniel Moreira began writing in 2025. ‘All of them evoke the world of cinema, and each relates to a specific silent film’, reveals the composer. He adds: ‘In the case of the piece for cimbalom, the reference is to the film Brumes d’Automne (1929) directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff’. Curta-metragem n.º 2 has been selected for World New Music Days within the official submission by Miso Music Portugal/MIC.PT (Portu­guese ISMC Section) to this an­nual festival of the Inter­national Society for Contem­porary Music.

The works The Non-human Gestalt (2026), Dystutopic (2025) and Hastebound (2025), which form part of the collection of video-dance pieces that João Castro Pinto (a composer published by MIC.PT) has been creating in collaboration with the American choreographer and former dancer, Mimi Garrard, will be screened as part of the Views event, which will take place at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City on May 2. Organised by the Mimi Garrard Dance Theatre Company, this initiative will also feature two further video dances, namely Inner Space (2025) and Peacock (2023), with music by Mimi Garrard and Tom Hamilton, respectively. The pieces were performed by the dancers: Tim Bendernagel, Kate Jewett, Cynthia Koppe and Samuel Roberts. In a 2018 interview with MIC.PT, regarding his musical taste and some of his compositional approaches, João Castro Pinto stated: ‘[…] I have a deep interest in min­imal music, the kind that, by nature, is rich in the art of or­chestrating difference within sameness and that can lead to non-ordinary states of consciousness.’

Featuring music by com­poser Mariana Vieira (pub­lished by MIC.PT), the per­formance O Corpo que canta, with soprano Nataša Šibalić and cellist Catherine Strynckx, will be presented on May 16 at the Cine-Teatro Paraíso in Tomar. According to the programme notes, it is a multidisciplinary production, with lighting and set design by Nuno Mika Barros, as well as choreography and stage di­rection by Nélia Pinheiro, which ‘explores and questions the dialogue between man and machine, between the human voice and the computer’. The starting point for this project is Philippe Manoury’s work En Echo, based on poems by Emmanuel Hocquard, for soprano and electronics, framed within another sound creation commissioned from Mariana Vieira for soprano, electronics and cello — ‘the human voice, the body and artifice: what attracts us, deceives us, moves us or distances us from the digital reality with which we in­creasingly engage.’

The closing concert of the Música Viva 2026 Festival – Insurgency, which will feature the 2020 work by Miguel Azguime (a com­poser published by the MIC.PT), Against Silence – Triple Concerto for Clarinet, Cello, Piano and String Orchestra, will take place on May 3 at the São Luiz Municipal Theatre in Lisbon. This concert, featuring soloists Nuno Pinto (clarinet), Filipe Quaresma (cello) and Elsa Silva (piano), as well as the Lisbon Metropolitan Or­chestra, conducted by maestro Pedro Neves, will also in­clude a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Triple Con­certo for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra. Additionally, on May 16, at the Covilhã Municipal Theatre, the piece Mestre Gato ou o Gato de Botas (2009), based on the story by Charles Perrault, will be performed as part of the Diz-Concerto series, featuring the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, conducted by Pedro Carneiro, with Miguel Azguime in the role of narrator.

The work Nas Resso­nâncias da Terra, by composer Solange Azevedo, published by MIC.PT, will be premiered on May 10 at the Aljustrel Compressor Station, as part of the Vanguarda na Aldeia project, an initiative of Síntese – Contemporary Music Group. This concert, which will mark the end of an artistic residency beginning on May 9, will feature the Aljustrel Miners’ Choir, the Senior University Choir and the Aljustrelense Musical Society for Education and Recreation. The Vanguarda na Aldeia project was initiated in 2019 with the main objective of promoting dialogue between contemporary classical music and the rural environments. Through organising artistic resi­dencies in villages, commissioning works from Portu­guese composers inspired by local traditions and involving the community in performances, the project aims to counter musical elitism.

The performance of Vítor Rua (a composer published by MIC.PT) entitled Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (2020) for digital unit, video and two electric guitars, will be presented by the Phoebus Collective guitarists, José Teixeira and Luís Miguel Leite, as part of two concerts on the island of Mallorca at the end of May: on the 29th, at the Sant Bonaventura Cloister during the 1st Llucmajor Contem­porary Music Cycle, and on the 30th, at the Manacor Music and Dance Professional Conservatory, as part of the 2nd Mana­cor Contemporary Music Season. Dedicated to José Teixeira and Luís Miguel Leite, Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc is based on experimentation, improvi­sation and performance, making use of various unconven­tional instru­mental tech­niques. As Vítor Rua says, ‘Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc makes life more fun in some cultures: the sun rises when the rooster sings, so the rooster’s singing must make the sun rise.’

On May 16, the Covilhã Municipal Theatre will host the Diz-Concerto, performed by the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, conducted by Pedro Carneiro and featuring Miguel Azguime as narrator. In this performance, which brings together a narrator, orchestral instruments (flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano) and electronic media to bring poems to life through music, works by four composers published by MIC.PT will be performed: Sonho (2014) by Daniel Martinho, with text by Fernando Pessoa, Ao desconcerto do mundo (2014) by Ângela da Ponte, with text by Luís Vaz de Camões, Fala do velho do Restelo ao astronauta (2014) by Sofia Sousa Rocha, with text by José Saramago, and Mestre Gato ou o Gato de Botas (2009) by Miguel Azguime, with text by Charles Perrault. This concert, with the electronic parts realised by Cláudio de Pina and sound design by Paula Azguime, awakens curiosity about contemporary musical language through literature and expands each listener’s sonic imagination, featuring works commissioned from four Portuguese composers.

Last April, Álvaro Cassuto (1938–2026), one of Portugal’s most renowned conductors and composers, passed away. Born in Porto on November 17, 1938, Álvaro Cassuto studied under the composers Artur Santos and Fernando Lopes-Graça. In 1960, he attended the Darmstadt International Courses in Ger­many, where he came into contact with the composers Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti and Olivier Messiaen. He studied orchestral conducting with the maestros Pedro de Freitas Branco, Herbert von Karajan and Franco Ferrara. In 1969, he won the prestigious Koussevitzky Prize, considered the most impor­tant international award for young conductors. Between 1970 and 1992, he conducted the RDP Symphony Orchestra, having founded the New Portuguese Philharmonic in 1993. Between 1993 and 1999, he also conducted the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, subsequently becoming principal conductor of the Algarve Orchestra. Álvaro Cassuto lived in the United States for 18 years, where he was a professor of music at the University of California and music director of the Rhode Island Philhar­monic and the National Orchestra of New York, before returning permanently to Portugal in 1986. As a guest conductor, he has also conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic in the United Kingdom, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre de Paris, as well as the RAI orchestras in Italy and the Spanish National Orchestra. Throughout his career, Álvaro Cassuto has been one of the leading promoters of the work of the composer Joly Braga Santos.

The International Music Festival of Póvoa de Varzim (FIMPV) announces the 19th edition of the International Composition Competition of Póvoa de Varzim (CICPV). The CICPV’s objec­tive is to award works by composers born after December 1, 1985. The music group invited to the 2026 edition is the Póvoa de Varzim Contemporary Ensemble, conducted by maestro Stanley Dodds. Compe­tition entries must use at least ten different instruments from this ensemble. The jury, which will award two prizes and reserves the right to also award honourable mentions, is composed of Vasco Mendonça (president), Ângela da Ponte and Nik Bärtsch. The deadline for submitting works is June 3, 2026.

To promote and encourage the creation of contemporary music and to disseminate the work of young composers, the Portuguese Authors Society and RTP/Antena 2 are holding another SPA/Antena 2 Composition Prize. The competition is open to composers of Portuguese nationality, or to foreigners who have been resident in Portugal for more than four years, who were born on or after January 1, 1991. Submitted works must be unpublished, purely orchestral pieces, with no use of soloists or electronic media. The premiere of the winning piece, performed by the Gulbenkian Orchestra, will take place at the 16th Young Musicians Festival at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon on September 17, 2026. Appli­cations must be sent by registered post by July 3, 2026 (date of receipt).

Applications are open for the 2026 Accordion Composition Award (9th Edition · Folefest Association). This award is open to composers of Portuguese nationality or non-Portuguese residents in Portugal, of any age. The work to be submitted must be unpublished. The promoter of the Award reserves the right to the organisation of the world premieres of the winning works. The works submitted for the competition must be written for a chamber music ensemble (two to six instruments), with the mandatory inclusion of a single accordion. The jury will be composed of: Daniel Moreira (composer), Ana Seara (composer), Paulo Jorge Ferreira (accordionist/composer/jury president) and Nélson Ruivo (secretary — Folefest Association). Applications must be sent by registered post by July 17, 2026 (date of dispatch).

With the aim to encourage the creation and diffusion of new acousmatic/electroacoustic works, Miso Music Portugal promotes and organises the 27th edition of the International Electroacoustic Composition Competition – Música Viva 2026. The competition is open to composers of any nation­ality and age, each of whom may submit only one work, which has not been commercially published or awarded at any other national or international competition. The jury of the 27th International Electroacoustic Composition Competition – Música Viva 2026, whose members will be announced shortly, will award one work with a prize of 1000 €. The winning work will be performed in concert by the Miso Music Loudspeakers Orchestra, in 2026, in Lisbon. The deadline for the works’ submission is July 31, 2026 (11h59 p.m., Lisbon time).

The Portuguese Symphonic Band promotes the International Composition Competition with the aim of stimulating the creation of original repertoire for bands. Open to composers of all nationalities aged up to 40 (as of December 31, 2026), the competition sees musical composition as a space for artistic dialogue often inspired by other areas. In the 2026 edition, the BSP proposes as its theme Portugal’s accession to the European Union. Participants are challenged to create an original work that establishes an artistic and conceptual relationship with the proposed theme. The jury’s final decision on the results of the competition will be made after the public premiere of the finalists’ works, which will take place at a concert by the Portuguese Symphonic Band in November, in Porto. Entries for the competition must be submitted by September 20, 2026.

The Call for Papers is now open for the 4th MMTR, an initiative of MIC.PT curated by composer Isabel Soveral, which will take place on December 11 at O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon. This event creates a space for critical reflection and the sharing of research in the fields of contemporary music creation, performance, music theory and technology, inviting researchers, composers, per­formers, sound artists and students to present papers that explore the multiple relationships between music, technology and creative thinking. The 4th MMTR will focus on practices of spatialisation, electroacoustics and sound diffusion via loudspeaker systems, taking place concurrently with a Spatialisation Symposium dedicated to the Miso Music Portugal Loud­speaker Orchestra. The Call for the 4th MMTR is open until September 11, 2026.

In March, the MIC.PT published on its YouTube Channel one new In the 1st Person Interview (in Portuguese) with the composer Eduardo Luís Patriarca. The musicologist and journalist Pedro Boléo conducted this interview recorded in 2022, in Porto, at the Higher School of Music and Performing Arts.
Presently the MIC.PT YouTube Channel contains 37 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 Music of Invention and Research radio broadcasts, produced by the MIC.PT and Miso Music Portugal for the RTP 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 20 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.