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The Portuguese bass and composer, João Fonseca e Costa, began his musical studies at Conservatório Regional de Ponta Delgada in Violin, with Lídia Medeiros, and later in Viola, with Shelly Ross, finishing the conservatory in 2012, with a final grade of 17. In the same year, he started his studies in the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (ESML), where he worked with Luís Tinoco, Sérgio Azevedo, António Pinho Vargas, Carlos Caires, Carlos Marecos, Roberto Pérez and Carlos Fernandes, concluding the Bachelor's Degree in Composition in 2015.
In 2018 João Costa participated in the ACDA Summer Choral Composers Forum in Betheleem, USA and in 2019 in the Choral Chameleon Summer Institute 2019 in New York, USA. In the year 2020, he was selected to be one of the five young composers emerging at the Festival Criasons III, organized by Musicamera Produções. He has been the Artistic Director of the project "Peças Frescas - Edição Açores" since its foundation in 2014, which is intended for national composers to present their pieces in the Azores, and the event already has five editions.
Parallel to the composition, João Costa has been working as a singer (bass) since 2009, which began in Azores with Orfeão Edmundo Machado Oliveira and J.S. Bach Choirs, both conducted by Cristiana Spadaro. Between 2012 and 2017, he became a member of the ESML Chamber and Symphonic Choirs, conducted by Paulo Lourenço and since 2015 is a member of the Ricercare Choir, conducted by Pedro Teixeira. With these choirs he participated in several concerts and choral festivals in Portugal and abroad, including the International Summer Choral Festival in Centro Cultural de Belém, International Music Festival of Ankara, Setúbal Music Festival, Eternal Voices Concert in Madrid, etc. He regularly as a chorister in Coro Gulbenkian and Nova Era Vocal Ensemble. In addition, he often collaborates with other ensembles such as the Officium Ensemble, Ensemble de São Tomás de Aquino, Voces Caelaestes, among others.
João Costa also participated in the 1st workshop of the Coro Gulbenkian in 2016, culminating in a concert directed by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. One year later, he collaborated as a reinforcement of the Coro Gulbenkian in two concerts: the first was conducted by Sussana Mäikki and the second by Paul McCreesh. In 2017 he participated with Ecce Ensemble Choir, conducted by Paulo Lourenço, in two international choral festivals in China, that were organized by the Internacional Federation for Choral Music (IFCM): China (Qiandongnan) Internacional Folk Song Choral in Kaili City and 14th China Inner Mongolia Grassland Culture Festival and Internacional Federation for Choral Music “Sound From the Silk Road” Choral Festival in Hohhot City.
As a soloist (baritone), João Costa performed in 2014 with the Coro da Universidade de Lisboa, interpreting Messe de Minuit by M.A. Charpentier, under the direction of Luís Almeida. In 2016 and 2017 he was a soloist with the Coro Sinfônico e Orquestra Sinfónica da ESML, where he performed works by Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, Leonard Bernstein and Eurico Carrapatoso, under the direction of Maestros Paulo Lourenço and Vasco Azevedo. In 2018 he stood out in the interpretation of Porgy and Bess by G. Gershwin in the role of Jake, under the direction of Paulo Lourenço, accompanied by the Coral de São José. Since 2016 he continues to focus on singing as a training activity, taking regular classes with Professor Joana Nascimento.
João Costa is currently Professor of Analysis and Techniques of Composition at the Conservatório d'Artes de Loures, teaches violin at Academia de Música Arte dos Sons and gives private lessons in Composition and Musical Training. Currently, he is a member of Coro Gulbenkian (since 2017), Ricercare Choir, Ecce Ensemble Choir and Vocal Ensemble Desafinados. |
