Amílcar Vasques-Dias was born in Badim (north of Portugal). He completed his advanced Piano and Composition studies at the Oporto and Braga Conservatories.
At the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (Holand) he studied instrumental and electroacoustic composition on Gulbenkian Foundation and Portuguese Ministry of Culture scholarships. In Holland, where he lived for fourteen years, developed his artistic talent as a pianist and composer. During that time he received commissions from the Dutch Ministry of Culture, the Amsterdam’s Foundation for Art and The Foundation for Musical Creation, the “De Volharding” Foundation, of Amsterdam, and from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in Lisbon.
He has composed pieces covering instrumental/vocal chamber music and electroacoustic music, brass-and accordeon-orchestra music, a cappella and accompanied choir music, multimedia works, music for film and theater, traditional portuguese music arrangements and arrangements for songs by José Afonso.
As a pianist he interprets his own music and also uses improvisation as a means of expression.
His music is been played regularly in Europe and America, namely at Contemporary Music Meetings.
Doze Nocturnos Em Teu Nome was performed and recorded in CD (Numérica, 2005) by the pianist Álvaro Teixeira Lopes. Since returning to Portugal in 1988, he has continued his activity as a composer, and has performed many concerts in Portugal. Simultaneously, he developed an intensive activity as a Professor of Music at the University of Évora (Portugal) until 2010.
He was the artistic director of the festival Encontro do Alentejo de Música do séc. XX.I, held since 1998 until 2009 at the city of Évora (Portugal).