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The Portuguse soprano, Raquel Alão, studied at Escola Superior de Educação de Setúbal, where she obtained her BME degree in Music Teaching (1996-2000). She completed her singing course in 2004 at Escola de Música do Conservatório Nacional, under the guidance of singing teacher Filomena Amaro, and graduated with the highest honours (GPA, Classical Singing Course: 2001-2006). In 2007, she participated on the Concurso Nacional de Canto Luísa Todi, having been awarded Third Prize for Female Voice. As a complement to her musical education, she took part in master-classes, among which those with Sarah Walker, Mara Zampieri, Elena Nentwig, Dieter Schweickard, Hellen Kwon, Lucetta Bizzi and Maria Cristina Kiehr, deserve a special mention.
Raquel Alão has been a soloist in Antonio Caldara's Mass in G; W.A. Mozart’'s Short Mass in G major, Spatzen-Messe, Benedictus sit Deus, Exultate Jubilate, Short Mass in F major, Te Deum; Du Mont’'s Christus natus est, Notturni with Trio Stadler, Antonio Vivaldi's Nulla in mundo pax sincera; Felix Mendelssohn's Lauda Sion; Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony and Orff'’s Cenic Cantata Carmina Burana, with Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa and Coro do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, conducted by Günter Neuhold. She has also recorded A. Vivaldi's Gloria and J.S. Bach's Cantata Christen, äztet diesen Tag (BWV 63) for TV channel Mezzo with Baroque Orquestra Divino Sospiro under Enrico Onofri (December 2008).
In opera Raquel Alão has taken the role of Amor in Glück's Orfeo and Euridice, Flaminia in Avondano's Il Mondo della Luna; Euridice in Charpentier's La Descente d’'Orphée aux Enfers; Belinda in Purcell's Dido & Aeneas, Ophelia/Young Suicidal in Os Mortos Viajam de Metro (a contemporary opera comissioned to Hugo Ribeiro) and Königin der Nacht in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Jean-Bernard Pommier, Cesário Costa and Julia Jones.
At the same time Raquel Alão has been involved in the performance of Early Music with the chamber group Banchetto Musicale, of which she is a founding member, participating in several music festivals in Europe and Brasil. Sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, they toured Brazil in 2004, performing in Rio de Janeiro, Juiz de Fora and Tiradentes, within the Fifteenth Colonial and Early Music Festival of Juiz de Fora. In 2006 Banchetto Musicale Lusitania were invited by Maria Cristina Kiehr to perform at the Twenty-first Haut-Jura Music Festival (France), where they were highly praised. In that same year, they opened the Tenth International Mafra Music Festival (Portugal).
In addition, Raquel Alão has been Soprano in Coro do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Linbo (January 2007-Present); Soprano in Coro Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon (2007-2013); Soprano soloist in Lisboa Cantat (2009-2012); Singing teacher at EDSAE - Escola de Musicais (October 2011-January 2013).
In August 2011, Raquel Alão took once again the part of Königin der Nacht in the Seefestspiel Berlin production of Die Zauberflöte, under Judith Kubitz, to much celebrated critic acclaim. She has recently been part of Teatro Nacional de São Carlos’ Opera Studio (September 2009-July 2010), where she performed the roles of Fata Azzurra in La Bella Dormente nel Bosco (Ottorino Respighi), Berenice in L'Occasione fa il Laddro (Rossini), and had several concerts throughout the season. |
