General – Page 3 – Gonçalo Gato

Recordings at Casa da Música

by Gonçalo Gato6 August, 20192 March, 2021CDs / General

Pianist Alexander Soares and recording engineer Hugo Romano Guimarães joined me at Casa da Música in late July 2019 to record the piece NowState, premiered last January at the Southbank Centre. Among other pieces, it will feature on a CD, the details of which will follow as soon as the project becomes more consolidated. Here are some pictures from the session at the wonderful Sala Suggia (Casa’s main concert hall), taken by photographer Vitorino Coragem. I deeply thank António Jorge Pacheco, Júlio Moreira and all at Casa da Música management for this wonderful opportunity.

Alexander Soares, Gonçalo Gato, Hugo Romano Guimarães

Premiere of ‘Ex machina colores’ for orchestra

by Gonçalo Gato11 November, 201812 December, 2018General / Performances

The piece Ex machina colores will be premiered on the 9th of December 2018, 6pm, at Casa da Música, Portugal, by the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, conducted by Baldur Brönnimann. The title alludes to process of creating harmony through computer programming. The piece is dedicated to composer Luís Tinoco. Click here for tickets.

Collaboration with pianist Alexander Soares

by Gonçalo Gato15 August, 20188 March, 2021Collaborations / General

Alexander Soares is a pianist I admire very much. We met at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama while we were both enrolled on the doctoral programme (DMus). I can never forget his amazing performance of Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles… at the Milton Court Concert Hall. I’m very happy and lucky to be working with him towards a new set of piano etudes which I hope will be an important contribution to the solo piano repertoire. We’ve been testing ideas and I’ve been getting a lot of valuable feedback in terms of piano technique and idiomatic notation.

Below are some pictures of our first working session at LSO St. Luke’s. The London Symphony Orchestra staff has been immensely supportive and deserves a special thanks. This includes the excellent AV team at St. Luke’s which recorded the session.

Artistic Residency at Casa da Música 2018

by Gonçalo Gato17 December, 201726 October, 2018General

In 2018 I’ll become the Young Composer in Residence at Casa da Música, Porto, Portugal, writing music for the in-house symphony orchestra (Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música), for the Remix Ensemble, and for the award-winning Trio Adamastor. I’m humbled to be joined by Georg Friedrich Haas who will become Composer in Residence for the 2018 season.

Casa da Música is a world-class music venue featuring state-of-the art performance spaces and several in-house ensembles. Notably, it has hosted several artistic residencies by top composers such as Harrison Birtwistle (2017), Georges Aperghis (2016), Helmut Lachenmann (2015), Unsuk Chin (2014), Kaija Saariaho (2010), Magnus Lindberg (2008), among others.