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Luís Tinoco wins the DSCH – Shostakovich Ensemble 2019 Prize for Composers
Composer Luís Tinoco has been awarded the DSCH - Shostakovich Ensemble 2019 Prize for Composers. Tinoco (b. 1969, Lisbon) is recognized nationally and internationally as one of the most relevant Portuguese composers of today. He graduated in Composition from the Superior School of Music of Lisbon and completed a master's degree in composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He gained his PhD in Music Research at the University of York. Since 1999, he has lectured in Composition at the Escola Superior de Musica de Lisboa, where he also held the post of Vice Principal from 2011 to 2015. In 2016 Luís Tinoco was appointed Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM). Since 2005 his music has been published by the University of York Music Press.
This is the award’s first year and it is the only award in Portugal which honours the career of a composer. The prize includes the commission of a piece for the ensemble and Luís has chosen to write a work for clarinet, violin and piano entitled ‘Aleppo’. The pianist Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, director of DSCH – Shostakovich Ensemble told the Portuguese news agency Lusa that the DSCH intends ‘to highlight the great Portuguese composers over the next few years and to create a repertoire of excellent concert programmes both in Portugal and beyond’. The award also aims to ‘recognize, encourage and disseminate contemporary Portuguese musical composition’, the pianist said. The award will be presented at the world premiere of ‘Aleppo’, at the Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, on 28th November.
Tinoco explained that ‘Aleppo’ is a composition which ‘traverses various musical sources, and the composer has focussed on Middle Eastern music - not only on Arabic melodies, but also on colours and sounds which he seeks to bring to classical instruments’.
‘Crossings is, by the way, the theme of the prize-giving concert, entitled ‘Crossings’, which seeks precisely to blend classical music and other languages such as jazz and popular music’, says Pinto-Ribeiro.
‘Luís Tinoco also thought of the idea of the crossing itself, in this case the Mediterranean Sea - people fleeing conflict and adversity. He began to imagine their anguish and created a musical lament which is certainly experienced by all those who seek solid ground and peace’, continued the pianist.
‘They often leave with nothing but their memories, and in a poetic way they can remember the songs of their lands that are behind them.’
The full announcement is available to read here, at RTP Notícias https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/cultura/compositor-luis-tinoco-distinguido-com-premio-dsch-schostakovich-ensemble_n1185815 and details of the concert are here at the CCB https://www.ccb.pt/Default/pt/Programacao/Musica?a=1824.