SoundJCaldas

Bio

João Caldas (b. 1995) studied with Eurico Carrapatoso at Escola de Música do Conservatório Nacional and with João Madureira, Luís Tinoco, Carlos Marecos and Carlos Caires during his Bachelor Degree in Composition at Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa.

In 2019 he began a process of creating solo pieces without written score, in which the musician participates as co-composer. From this approach resulted, among others, the piece murmúrios da terra (2021) for Gamba solo, which initiated the multidisciplinary project murmuration, by musician and artist Carolina Schwäbl-Martins.

In 2021, his piece Apneia (2020) won the 1st prize of the 10th Edition of the SPA / Antena 2 Composition Prize, and was premiered by the Gulbenkian Orchestra.

In 2022, he participates as musician and composer in Kantata do Tecto Incerto, a political and communitarian project for the right to housing.

Besides the creation of orchestral, chamber and solo works, he has been dedicating himself to music/sound for theatre (Enseada; Stendhal's Syndrome), sound installations (Réplica), and cinema (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari; workshop Trabalho with Pedro Costa).

He currently lives and works in Cologne.

About the work

I seek to explore the relationship of musical creation with other artistic disciplines (text, theatre, dance, moving image, etc.), aspiring to a unity without resorting to mimicry - that is, recognizing and cementing the interstitial space between disciplines, as a third plane only possible as a result of the dialectic between two points.

Furthermore, I have been increasingly seeking a dynamic of co-creation both with performers, other composers, and creators from other disciplines.

The investigation of these dynamics has led me to a creative process different from the conventional one in contemporary music: a collaborative process that questions both the traditional boundaries between composer and performer and the importance of the score for the concept of a musical work.

To communicate my intentions as a creator, I seek to use direct and bilateral communication, making the score superfluous as an intermediary. In this way I have discovered possibilities to work on aspects that I consider most important in music and that resist the reach of the score, such as timbre, proportion and subjective time.

In this approach the creative act becomes shared as an experience, and a political and social act, which reconfigures the roles of author and interpreter.

Experience


2022

- Participates as musician and composer in the project Kantata do Tecto Incerto, a political and community project with presentations at the Teatro Municipal São Luiz and at the Casa da Achada - Centro Mário Dionísio, in Lisbon.

- He works as musical assistant at Hogarth Worldwide Düsseldorf.

- Participates with the piece murmúrios da terra at the festival fünfzehnminuten in Cologne.

2021

- Wins with the piece Apneia the 1st prize of the 10th Edition of the Composition Prize SPA / Antena 2. Première with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra.

- Participates in the Summer Workshop (19h duration) Trabalho of the director Pedro Costa integrated in the International Documentary Festival of Melgaço.

- Participates as composer, sound designer and performer (real time electronics) in the theatre play Stendhal's Syndrome by Terrence McNally, programmed at Teatro Baltazar Dias, Funchal.

- Composes murmúrios da terra for solo Gamba, which begins the multidisciplinary project murmuration by musician and artist Carolina Schwäbl-Martins.

- Creates the piece of radio art Klangfluss.

2020

- Participates as a musician in the show UMPONTOTRÊS 13th creation residency Compota with artistic coordination by Paula Pinto, held in Marvila Library in Lisbon

- Composes Apneia for symphony orchestra.

2019

- Creates sound installation for the exhibition Réplica by Sandra Casaca at the Museu do Brinquedo in Torres Vedras.

- Participates as co-creator of the concept, musical and sound creator, and performer (real-time electronics) of the play Enseada by Miguel Castro Caldas, programmed in the 32nd Edition of the Gil Vicente Festival, in Guimarães, and in the 2019-2020 season of Teatro Nacional D. Maria II.

- Works as a production assistant for the show Filhas do Fogo by director Pedro Costa and the early music orchestra Os Músicos do Tejo, programmed at Rayo - Festival de artes Visuales Expandidas at Cineteca de Madrid.

- Composes A Sombra de Pitágoras for 1 percussionist. 1st project in the process of creating pieces for soloist without written score.

2018

- Composes Gesto de um Eclipse, for solo harp, commissioned Antena 2 / RTP, in the 32nd edition of the Young Musicians Prize.

- Works as composition assistant of composer João Madureira.

2017

- Creates and performs, in collaboration with Pedro Rodrigues and Lucas Xerxes Enquanto a Chuva, from poems by Mário Dionísio and Carlos de Oliveira. Presentation at Casa da Achada - Centro Mário Dionísio

- Composes Como o Eco de um Grito for 8 mixed voices as part of the 4th Edition of Peças Frescas Açores with presentation at the Colégio Church, Ponta Delgada.

- Participates with 2 original songs in the show Contador de Histórias for youth orchestra and children's choir, produced by the Nossa Senhora do Cabo Music School with presentation in Aula Magna in Lisbon.

- He composes Um Estudo da Elipse - music for a scene from Der Blaue Engel by Josef von Sternberg, for alto flute, cello, double bass and piano. Apre

2016

- Composes A Pedra de Sísifo for 2 percussionists and pianist, edited and recorded on CD by mpmp - movimento patrimonial pela música portuguesa.

- Creates and performs, together with Pedro Rodrigues, music for the film Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari by Robert Wiene. Performances at Casa da Achada - Centro Mário Dionísio and at the Cinemateca Portuguesa.

- He composes rumor quase branco for alto flute and guitar. Performances in Lisbon and Cologne.

2015

- Composes Fragmentos de um Alvor for solo cello. Selected as a compulsory piece for the final exam of the cello Bachelor of ESML, with performances in Lisbon and Cologne.

- Participates as musician in Leitura Furiosa 2015 in Lisbon.

- Composes from the poem with the same name by Mário Dionísio O Maior Poema for clarinet, voice, cello and piano. First creation in the scope of the composition course at ESML with presentations in Lisbon and Castro Verde.

2014 - 2020 - Works as a musical assistant for the musical program of Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

2013 - As pianist of Trio C3PO, wins 1st prize at the I Gilberta Paiva National Music Competition (2013) in the category Chamber Music - Medium Level.

2012 - Wins, as pianist of Trio C3PO, the 2nd prize at the 26th edition of Young Musicians Prize, Antena 2 / RTP (2012) in the category Chamber Music - Medium Level

2011 - Composes and performs with Mariana Nunes 4 Canções Achadas for voice and piano, from poems by Mário Dionísio. First composition project.

2011 - present - Private teacher of piano and ear training.

Education

2014 - 2020

Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa:
Bachelor Degree in Music - Composition
Studied with Carlos Caires, António Pinho Vargas, Luís Tinoco, João Madureira and Carlos Marecos.

2005 - 2014

Music School of the National Conservatory of Lisbon:
Instrumental studies (piano - Grade 8 and double bass - Grade 3); analysis and composition techniques with professor Eurico Carrapatoso; ear training (Grade 8).