António Ferreira

Born in Lisbon, António Ferreira studied conducting with Jean-Marc Burfin at the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra (Lisbon), and took conducting courses with Jean-Sébastien Béreau, former professor of the Conservatoire Superior de Paris.

António Ferreira has conducted several orchestras in concerts all over Portugal. Currently, he is the Principal Conductor of the Orquestra do Novo Círculo de Cultura Musical.  Among the concerts performed with this orchestra are the “Wellington Concert” (Figueira da Foz), the season in the Queluz Palace (Lisbon), the Opera Gala “Noite de Ópera” (Lisbon and Vila do Conde) and the “Christmas Concert”, performed in “Santo Condestável” Church (Lisbon).

In May 2012 António Ferreira conducted the Spanish orchestra La Spagna (an orchestra that plays on period instruments), on a Spanish / Portuguese tour – Madrid (Ateneo de Madrid) / Lisbon (Ajuda Palace / Foz Palace). Since then, António Ferreira returned to Spain several times to conduct La Spagna, an orchestra with which he has worked closely since its founding.

A former student of the Fundação Musical dos Amigos das Crianças (FMAC), where he began his piano studies with Maria Amélia Toscano, António Ferreira continued his piano and chamber music studies at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa with Jorge Moyano and Olga Prats respectively. He also studied chamber music with Maestro João Paulo Santos on the Summer Courses Escolas de Música Portuguesas / Orquestra 91 e 92.

As stage manager he took part in Verdi’s opera “Otello” with Plácido Domingo and in Massenet’s opera “Werther” with Alfredo Kraus and Ileana Cotrubas. Both took place at the Teatro Nacional de S. Carlos (Lisbon).

As a soloist pianist, he has played pieces by Saint-Saëns and Beethoven with the FMAC Orchestra. He has also played in several concerts and recitals at the Portuguese Public Television and Radio, S. Carlos National Theatre, Gulbenkian Foundation, Queluz National Palace, Belém Cultural Centre, Culturgest and Lisbon Coliseum, among others.

Abroad, he played in Spain – Festival Internacional de Valência and XXXI Semana Musical de Santa Cecilia de Badajoz – and in France – Salon Josephine (Strasbourg) and Parlement Européen (Strasbourg).

In 1999 he taught chamber music on the Summer Course Orquestra das Escolas de Música Portuguesas / 99, in Castelo Branco (Portugal).

At the end of 2003, he took part in a performance for children (music, ballet and theatre), where he played with Yuki Rodrigues (piano 4 hands), Maurice Ravel’s “Ma mère l’oie” and Hiroshi Aoshima’s “Mon père l’oie” (first performance in Portugal).

In 2007 he was a member of the jury in the II Prémio Nacional de Composição Jorge Peixinho (Portugal).

Between January 2006 and December 2012 António Ferreira worked on the Portuguese Radio – Antena 2, where he had a program about Portuguese classical music.

In 2006, and in a co-production between Antena 2 and the Centro Cultural de Belém, he presented a series of chamber music performances with spoken introductions – “As Janelas da Música – concertos conversados”. After that, and in partnership with Artemrede (Associated Theatres), this series of concerts was performed in several regions of Portugal. 37 concerts were given between October 2006 and May 2007.

Between November 2008 and May 2010 he was responsible for the concert series “Música.com” (15 concerts) in Loulé.

In May 2009 António Ferreira launched his first CD – David de Souza “Tout près de mon coeur” – with works by David de Souza (cellist, conductor and composer who was born in Figueira da Foz in 1880 and died in the same city in 1918). The CD with works for piano, voice and piano and cello and piano, included the participation of the soprano Ana Leonor Pereira and the cellist Pedro Neves.

In 2010 António Ferreira wrote the essay “Alma Lusitana – Carlos Seixas, expoente máximo do barroco instrumental português” for the book “Colóquio Barroco”, organized by Dr. Francisco Magno of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil).

In the field of chamber music António Ferreira has a duo with the soprano Ana Leonor Pereira, with whom he has performed hundreds of recitals with a vast repertoire and with a special focus on the Portuguese classical music and Portuguese poetry.