Bernardo Santos
Pianist
"A very talented pianist with undeniable qualities" (Bachtrack)
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"A pianist whose animated playing brings vibrancy and clarity to the duo, ably supporting as needed and shining out in soloistic moments" (Piano Journal)
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"Virtuoso prodigy" (The Guardian)
Portuguese pianist Bernardo Santos has been performing widely as a recitalist and chamber musician, with performances ranging over more than twenty countries in venues such as the Casa da Música, Convento de São Francisco in Portugal, Palau de la Música Catalana and Teatro Liceo in Spain, the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, National Concert Hall in Dublin, Fairfield Halls in London, Sala São Paulo, Sala Cecília Meireles, Teatro Amazonas and Palácio das Artes in Brazil, Sala Sudasiri Sobha in Thailand, Teatro Degollado in Mexico, among many others, having been invited to festivals all over Europe, South America and Asia. Several of his concerts were recorded by Portuguese classical radio Antena 2 and his recordings have been featured in Colombian radio Señal Clásica, Brazilian Radio MEC and TV Brasil and Classic FM. The Guardian mentions him as a virtuoso prodigy.
As an invited soloist with orchestra, Bernardo had the opportunity to play with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Barcelona Metropolitan Orchestra, Podkarpacka Philharmonic Orchestra, Cali Philharmonic Orchestra, Vidin State Philarmonic Orchestra, Beiras Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Clássica do Centro, among others. He has played under the baton of conductors such as António Vassalo Lourenço, Daniel Nery, Ernst Schelle, Hilo Carriel, Jorge Mario Uribe, Kira Omelchenko, Pedro Carneiro, Sílvio Viegas, and others.
Bernardo complements his artistic career with research on Portuguese composers, being responsible for the c ritical edition and publishing of works by Berta Alves de Sousa and Frederico de Freitas and Ruy Coelho, the latter being the latest focus of research. Bernardo gave masterclasses in several universities and music schools in Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Malaysia, Mexico and Vietnam.
As a chamber musician, Bernardo studied under guidance of Antonio Chagas Rosa, Eugene Asti and Martino Tirimo. Bernardo frequently collaborates with artists in several forms of chamber ensembles, having taken part in chamber projects such as the CD “Curtas” of the composer and guitar player Israel Costa Pereira. For Italian-Japanese label Da Vinci Publishing, Bernardo recorded the complete sonatas for violin and piano of Edvard Grieg alongside David Lloyd, the piano quintets by Saint-Saëns and Dvorak with Belém Quartet and two piano works by Piazzolla, Infante and Ravel with Martim Almeida. For MPMP label, Bernardo recorded piano works by Ruy Coelho.
Bernardo Santos is currently taking part of the Doctoral Programme in Music Performance (PhD) at the University of Aveiro, being a research fellow at INET-md. Bernardo graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, Ljubljana Academy of Music, Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona and from the University of Aveiro (Aveiro City Prize), having studied with Dubravka Tomsic, Deniz Gelenbe, Josep Colom, Álvaro Teixeira Lopes and Klara Dolynay.
Bernardo Santos is the president of the World Piano Teachers Association (WPTA) Portugal and Artistic Director of the “Ciclos Lua Nova” concert series, hosted by Fundação Dionísio Pinheiro e Alice Cardoso Pinheiro, in Águeda, Portugal.