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Who we are

Since its first performance in Leiria Castle in June 1995, Vozes Alfonsinas group has been affirmed in the national and international panorama as one of the most creative and solid musical groups in Portugal.

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Check out who we are!

The Director

 

Manuel Pedro Ferreira (1959) has a PhD in Musicology from Princeton University (1997), and since 2001 he has been an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the Universidade Nova of Lisbon, where he teaches about the music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and where he coordinates, since 2005, the Center for Studies in Sociology and Musical Aesthetics (CESEM).

 

He has also been dedicated to criticism, composition and musical interpretation: since 1995 he directs the group Vozes Alfonsinas, with which he recorded five albums.

 

As a musicologist, he published more than eighty scientific articles and directed several research projects with public tender funding.

 

He is a member of the European Academy (since 2010) and the board of the International Society of Musicology (since 2012).

 

He was responsible for the facsimile publication of the "Cancioneiro de Elvas" (Lisbon, 1989) and the manuscript "Porto 714" of the Municipal Public Library of Porto (Porto, 2001);

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His book "O Som de Martin Codax" (Lisbon, 1986) was awarded by the Portuguese Council of Music.

 

Meanwhile, he wrote or coordinated nine other titles: "Cantus coronatus" - "Sete cantigas d'amor d'El-Rei Dom Dinis" (Kassel, 2005), and "Ten Portuguese composers".

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Musical writing courses in the 20th century (Lisbon, 2007), "Music Anthology in Portugal in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance", 2 vols. (Lisbon, 2008), "Medieval Sacred Chant: from Japan to Portugal" (Lisbon, 2008), "The Cathedral of Braga. Art, Liturgy and Music, from the end of the 11th century to the Tridentine period" (Lisbon, 2009)

"New Music, 1400-1600" (Évora-Lisboa, 2009)

"Aspects of Medieval Music in the West Peninsular", 2 vols.

(Lisbon, 2009-2010), "Revisiting the Music of Medieval France: from Gallican chant to Dufay" (Farnham-Burlington, 2012)

and "Harmonies of Heaven and Earth: Music in the manuscripts of Guimarães" (12th- Guimarães, 2012).

 

... and other recent published articles.

 

Voices

 

Susana Teixeira

meio-soprano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gonçalo

Pinto Gonçalves

tenor e percussões

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sérgio Peixoto

tenor

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victor Gaspar

barítono

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The instrumentists



Madalena Cabral

rabeque

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nuno Torka Miranda

alaúde e vihuela

BRIEF SUMMARY:

 

In 1998, a first compact disc of "Voices Alfonsinas", with melodies of Martin Codax was published in Galicia.

 

In 1997, the group recorded a CD dedicated to the renaissance villain, published by EMI-Classics in 2001.

 

In 1999/2000, a new CD titled "The Time of Troubadours" (songs by D. Dinis, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Arab-Andalusian songs) for the label Strauss / PortugalSom was critically considered "a landmark in Portuguese discography" evidencing "great stylistic awareness" (Public) and a "loudness of clarity" (Expresso). Classics Today stated: "It's a fine bit of work, recommended for anyone interested in medieval music - or just looking for something very old and different."

 

In 2000, the group also recorded a CD dedicated to the music of the Bracaean liturgy (The Profession of S. Geraldo and Christmas Songs), in which Plainsong & Medieval Music magazine affirmed with admiration: "the singing is of exquisite purity" (JF Weber), highlighting "the beauty of the voices" (E. Hornby), in 2002, was recorded the "Mon seul plaisir" disc, based on codex 714 of the Public Library of Porto; 2008, a new album, "Dos Visigodos a Dom Sebastião", for an Anthology of music in Portugal in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, in two volumes, with which the CD recorded in 2000 was also published. These CDs were commented on by António Marujo (Beyond-Sea): "With moments of great commotion and intensity, these records also show the maturity and unprecedentedness of the work done by Manuel Pedro Ferreira and Vozes Alfonsinas, an inescapable work to know where we came from."

 

Alfonsinas Voices have performed in Portugal for various public, municipal and religious entities, with five live recordings for Antena 2 (including two performances at the Centro Cultural de Belém), a recording for RTP (" Portuguese music "), and also several participation in:

- "Leiria Music Festival",

- "Lisbon Festival",

- "Music in S. Roque" Festival,

- "Atlantic Festival" (Azores),

- "Sesimbra Medieval Music Festival",

- "Alcobaça Music Festival",

- "Estoril Festival",

- "Terras sem sombra" Festival

and

- "Days of Music" at the CCB.

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In 1999 the group had a warm international debut in Pesaro, Italy, under the "Sipario Ducale" Festival. In January 2003, performed in Amsterdam, with considerable success, in a concert integrated in the cycle "De zuilen van Hercules". In 2006 performed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where performed, with great success, five performances with Renaissance music; and in 2009 acted with great applause at the Ancient and Iberoamerican Music Festival in Cáceres, which motivated the invitation to a performance in 2011, in Valencia de Alcántara, also welcomed.
 

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