Panel of Judges 2023

Considerations

1. The panel of judges shall comprise 3 members and chaired by AMPB teacher of instrument in the Competition.

2. For the attribution of the Excellence and Orchestra Prize, the jury will be constituted by the Educational Direction of AMPB (Teachers Alexandra Trindade and Salomé Fonseca), a representative of the AMPB Administrative Direction, the Artistic Director or representative of Paços de Brandão International Music Festival (FIMUV) and a representative of Youth Wind Band and Symphony Orchestra of Santa Maria da Feira.

3. The panel of judges reserves the right to interrupt the performance of each candidate, if said panel deems it appropriate.

4. The panel of judges reserves the right not to award any prize.

5. Decisions by the panel of judges shall be final.

6. In exceptional cases where the candidate is a student of one of the members of the panel of judges, such panel member shall be ruled out of that same candidate’s evaluation.

Judges List

Paulo Oliveira [Piano]

A scholarship holder of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the FCT, Paulo Oliveira received his doctorate with distinction from the University of Kansas, USA, where he was a student of Sequeira Costa for almost a decade. He also studied with Tania Achot, Helena Sá e Costa, Luiz de Moura Castro, Andrei Diev, Vladimir Viardo, Vitaly Margulis, Aldo Ciccolini, Paul Badura-Skoda and Dmitri Bashkirov.
Awarded in several national and international competitions, he performed solo, with orchestra and in chamber music on several continents and recorded for several European and American radio and television.
He played solo with the Kansas University Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Clássica de Espinho, Orquestra do Algarve, Orquestra do Norte, Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa and Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, under the direction of conductors Nicholas Uljanov, Steven McDonald, Pedro Neves, Ferreira Lobo, Cesário Costa, Jean-Marc Burfin and Daniel Klajner.
Paulo Oliveira is regularly invited to give masterclasses in Portugal and abroad and has been a member of several juries of national and international competitions. He taught at the Piaget Institute and at the National Conservatory. Currently, he is a faculty member of the Academia de Música de Santa Cecília and the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra | Metropolitana.
His album Iberian Impressions, recently released by Odradek Records, received a Global Music Award in the USA, in the Classical Piano category.

Pedro Burmester [Piano]

Pedro Burmester, born in Oporto, has studied with Helena Costa during ten years.
Later he moved to the United States where he worked with Sequeira Costa, Leon Fleisher and Dmitri Paperno. In addition, he has attended several master classes with pianists such as Jörg Demud, Aldo Ciccolini, Karl Engel, Vladimir Ashkenasy, T. Nocolaiewa and E. Leonskaya.
He has collaborated with Manuel Ivo Cruz, Miguel Graça Moura, Alvaro Cassuto, Omri Hadari, Gabriel Shmura, Muhai Tang, Lothar Zagrosek, Michael Zilm, Franz Bruggen and Georg Solti.
For some years now, he has a duo with the pianist Mário Laginha and performs regularly with the violinists Gerardo Ribeiro and Thomas Zehetmair, with the cellists Anner Bylsma and Paulo Gaio Lima and the clarinetist António Saiote.
His discography includes three solo CD’s with works by Bach, Schumann and Schubert, a duo CD with Mário Laginha and three recordings with the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon. In 1998 he released a new solo CD with works by Chopin. In 1999 he recorded the ten sonatas for violin and piano by Beethoven with the violinist Gerardo Ribeiro.
In 2007, alongside Bernardo Sassetti and Mário Laginha, the project “3 Pianos”, recorded live at the Centro Cultural de Belém, was released in CD and DVD.
In December 2013, his concert at Casa da Música was recorded live and was then released in January 2014.
He is currently Professor at the School of Music and Performing Arts in Oporto.

Angelina Rodrigues [Flute]

She is graduated in flute by the University of Aveiro, where she studied with Pedro Couto Soares. Her academic career includes masterclasses with Jorge Caryevschi, Herbert Weissberg, Istvan Matuz, Patrick Gallois, Aurèle Nicolet, Peter Lukas Graf, among others.
She has been a member, as Solista B, of Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras since the formation of this orchestra, with wich she performed solo at 1998 and 99. In 2003 she was selected to participate in Flautissimo, an international event that brings together some of the leading names in flute´s world, like Felix Renggli, with whom she continued his flute improvement in Basel.
In 2017 she performed solo with the String Orchestra of the Aveiro´s University, within the scope of Research Hands on Flute. In 2019 she performed J. Ibert´s concert for flute and orchestra, accompained by the Filarmonia das Beiras Orchestra and in 2020 she was part of the Porto Flute Festival, a festival with renowned national and international flutists, having performed, in this contexto, masterclass and recital.
In orchestra, she played with some nationally and internationally renowned soloists as Mário Laginha, Pedro Burmester, Elisabete Matos, Gregory Porter, John Storgards, Emilio Pomàrico, Eliahu Inbal, Leopold Hager, Michail Jurowski, Stefan Blunier, Joseph Svensen, Michael Sanderling, Vasily Petrenko and Andris Nelsons, among many others.
She has laureated students in the following competitions: Prémio Jovens Músicos 2006, Terras de La Sallete 2007 and 2008, Beja Flute Competition 2007, II Paços Premium Contest, Prémio Jovens Músicos 2008 and Anatólio Falé 2015.
She is flute´s teacher as Guest Assistant at the University of Aveiro and, since 2002, Solista B at the Orquestra Nacional do Porto, currently called Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música.

Stephanie Wagner [Flute]

Flutist Stephanie Wagner is a soloist of the Remix Ensemble Casa da Música since 2004. She has performed more than 50 world premiers by portuguese and foreign composers in concert halls such as the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Musikverein in Vienna and the Tonhalle in Zurich. As a soloist she appeard in pieces such as … explosante, fixe … and Mémorial by Boulez, Tempi concertati by Berio and Abyss de Donatoni. During the year 2021 she gave the portuguese premiere of Deadalus by Francesconi in Casa da Música.
Also as a soloist, Stephanie participated in the festivals of Salzburg (Austria) and Tanglewood (USA).
Stephanie Wagner attended the NEC in Boston and the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. She has worked in orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble Recherche. She recorded for BR, WGBH and MODE Records (New York).
In 2013 she founded the Academia de Flauta de Verão.
She has taught at at different Universitys such as the Portuguese Catholic University, the ESMAE and the University of Aveiro and given Masterclasses at the University of Évora, Universidade do Minho, at the Conservatório do Porto amongst others.
In 2018 she received teachers qualification for the Progressive Muscule Relaxation by Jacobsen.
Stephanie is also a trained Relaxation Coach, applying different techniques in her lessons to avoid stage anxiety and prevent other health issues.

Inês Coelho [Cello]

Inês Coelho began her cello studies at Escola Profissional de Música de Viana do Castelo in 2007. In 2012 she began higher studies in baroque cello at the Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo with Marco Ceccato. In the academic year 2015/16 she participated in the ERASMUS mobility program, where she studied with Gaetano Nasillo, at the Conservatorio Guido Cantelli in Novara, Italy.
She attended masterclasses with Cédric Conchon, Miguel Rocha, Filipe Quaresma, Quarteto Freitas-Branco, Paulo Gaio Lima, Martti Rousi and Stefano Veggetti.
In symphonic orchestra she worked with conductors such as Pedro Neves, Vítor Matos, Javier Viceiro, Julian Lombana, Ernst Schelle and Tiago Correia. In the context of Early Music, she worked with Amandine Beyer, Laurence Cummings, Barbara Ferrara, Anna Margules, Benjamin Chénier, among others.
She is a member of baroque orchestras such as Concerto Ibérico, Flores de Mvsica and Orquestra D´Aquém Mar and integrates the ensembles Mvsica Antiqva do Porto and Ars Luxurians.
She often participates in various festivals such as Festival de Órgão de Braga, Festival Internacional de Órgão e Música Sacra do Porto, Festival Internacional de Música da Primavera – Viseu, Festival Musicórdia em Esposende, Festival Euroclassical, among others.
She has a master’s degree in Music Teaching, and works at the Conservatório de Música de S. José da Guarda, at the Conservatório de Música da Maia, at the Project for the Promotion of School Success in Mangualde, and at Orquestra Geração – Tondela.

Jed Barahal [Cello]

American cellist Jed Barahal has pursued his musical career abroad for the last 40 years.
At the Juilliard School, he studied with Harvey Shapiro and Lorne Munroe and participated in master classes with Pierre Fournier, Paul Tortelier and Janos Starker.
After receiving his Master’s degree from Yale in 1979, where he studied with Aldo Parisot, he was invited to Brazil, where he held the post of first cellist of several orchestras (most notably the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra), and was recognized as one of the most outstanding instrumentalists in the country, having performed widely as a soloist (with virtually every important orchestra), as a recitalist, and in chamber music.
He also spent two years in France, where he was first cellist of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.
Since taking up residence in Portugal in 1989, when he was invited as first cellist to the newly formed Oporto Orchestra (Régie Sinfonia), he has performed widely as a soloist in Portugal as well as in Spain, Germany, Italy, Rumania, Turkey as well as the US.
Among his recordings are a CD with works for cello and piano by Portuguese composers Freitas Branco and Lopes Graça, with Brazilian pianist Christina Margotto, with whom he has maintained a duo for 25 years.
Has also recorded the Boccherini concertos in D and G with the Raizes Ibéricas orchestra.
In addition, he teaches aspiring young cellists at ESMAE – Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo.

Luís Vieira [Trompa]

Luís Vieira was born on November 2nd 1988 in Porto, Portugal. Started playing the piano at the age of 6, but decided to change for horn at 13, after gradually falling in love with the instrument sound, making his decision after listening to Mahler’s 5th Symphony with Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Dale Clavenger playing principal horn. Luis graduated in ESART (Castelo Branco, Portugal) with the teacher Paulo Guerreiro in 2009, proceeding then to post-graduate courses in 2010 in ESMAE (Porto, Portugal) with Abel Pereira and Bohdan Sebestik, and in CSMA (Zaragoza, Spain) with Sarah Willis and Eric Terwilligher.
From 2011 to 2013, he was a student at the “Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia”, in the Horn Class “La Caixa” Foundation, with the teachers Radovan Vlatkovic and Rodolfo Epelde. Luis received from the hands of the Spanish Queen Sofia the prize of the most outstanding student of the Horn Class. Luis obtained his Master Degree in 2015 at the “Zurich Hochschule der Kunste”, with Prof. Radovan Vlatkovic. In 2014 Luis won a place at the Karajan Akademy of the Berliner Philharmoniker, being taught by members of the orchestra and participating in numerous concerts under the baton of famous conductors.
As a freelance and guest, Luis collaborated with different orchestras like Orquesta Nacional de Espana, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, among others. Since 2015 Luís is Principal Horn at the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa.
Luís teaches Horn at the Universities in Lisbon (ESML) and Castelo Branco (ESART).

Nelson Braga [Trompa]

Nelson Braga began his musical studies at the age of eleven at Artave, where he worked with teachers: Bohdan Sebestik, Mirco Kapra and Philip Maguire. He graduated from the Superior School of Music in Lisbon, in the class of Professor Jonathan Luxton.
He participated in Courses and Masterclasses under the guidance of Professors Hermann Baumann, Froydis Ree Wekre, Philip Meyers, Radovan Vlatkovic, Stephan Dohr, Jacques Deleplanque, Fergus Mcwilliam, Javier Bonet, among others.
He was one of the founding members of the Woodwind Quintet Diaphonia, having obtained first place in 2003 in Chamber Music, Higher Level, in the Young Musicians Prize Contest.
He collaborated with several orchestras and ensembles, including the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Porto Symphony Orchestra Casa da Música, the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra and the Remix Ensemble.
He performed solo with Orquestra Clássica do Centro, with the Orchestra of the Superior Music School of Lisbon and at the Norrkoping Contemporary Music Festival (Sweden).
He was a member of the Cascais and Oeiras Orchestra between 2001 and 2003.
He has been an effective member of the Orquestra Clássica do Centro since 2003.
He is a member of the Portuguese Brass Group.
As a teacher, he taught at the Music Academies of Santa Maria da Feira, Paços de Brandão, Pousos (Leiria), Music Conservatory of Barcelos and at the Music Conservatory of Vila Real.
He is currently teacher of Horn at the Calouste Gulbenkian Music Conservatory in Braga and at the Bomfim Conservatory.