20TH CENTURY AND FORWARD

20th Century and Forward
The pianist João Paulo Santos and I have given concert performances of the five works which make up this CD numerous times. Four of these works (the Sonatas by Elgar and Debussy, Luíz Barbosa’s Romance and Ravel’s Tzigane) were written during the first twenty five years of the twentieth century; Ivan Moody’s Ascent was composed in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic. All are masterpieces of the literature for these two instruments, and for this reason we have chosen to create an album that would bring them together, creating a bridge from the last century to the current one.

Bruno Monteiro, Violin
One of Portugal´s leading classical musicians, Bruno Monteiro is internationally recognized as a “top violinist” (Opus Klassiek) as well as an “admirable artist” (Musical Opinion).
For more than 25 years he has been leading an intense concertizing career as recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. He has performed in the most important music festivals and concert halls of Portugal and internationally he has appeared throughout Europe, the United States, Middle-East and and Asia, performing in prestigious venues such as the Palácio Cibeles and Casa de America in Madrid, Vienna´s Musikverein, Bucharest´s Cultural Center, Rome´s Vatican, Sofia´s Bulgaria Hall and Pancho Vladigerov´s Great Hall, Kiev´s Philharmonic Hall, the Felicja Blumenthal International Music Festival in Tel Aviv, Washington´s D.C Kennedy Center and New York´s Carnegie Hall, among many others. In recital, he has been performing with João Paulo Santos for over 20 years. He has also been a guest soloist with numerous orchestras, including the English Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica de Palma de Mallorca, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Orquestra Clássica da Madeira, Orquestra do Norte and Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras.

João Paulo Santos, Piano
João Paulo Santos is a graduate of the Lisbon National Conservatory. He completed his piano studies in Paris with Aldo Ciccolini, with sponsorship from the Gulbenkian Foundation.
For the past four decades, he has been associated with Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (the Lisbon Opera House), first as Principal Chorus Conductor, and currently as Director of Musical and Stage Studies.
Artistically, Santos has distinguished himself as an opera conductor, concert pianist and researcher of lesser-known and forgotten works by Portuguese composers. He has conducted operas ranging from Menotti to Sondheim, receiving the Acarte 2000 Prize for his musical direction of Henze´s The English Cat. He has conducted first performances of both orchestral and operatic works by Eurico Carrapatoso, António Chagas Rosa, Clotilde Rosa and António Pinho Vargas.