Bruno Vicente is a Portuguese composer, born in Figueira da Foz, and currently living in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Most of his recent work has delved into the dichotomy of program and absolute music, and how extramusical material can be used to structure and formalize the musical material itself. He has participated in a range of different projects, from radiophonic theater broadcast on Antena 2, to premieres in several concert halls in Portugal and in the Netherlands. Other than composition, he is also active in the areas of orchestral conducting and choir singing.
Bruno studies at Codarts Rotterdam – Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, where he’s currently attending his 2nd year of Master’s in Composition under the guidance of Hans Koolmees and René Uijlenhoet, with thesis coaching by Federico Mosquera. Before that, in 2021, he concluded his Bachelor’s in Music – Composition Variant at Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo (ESMAE), in Porto, under the guidance of Dimitris Andrikopoulos, Carlos Azevedo and Pedro Santos. He has participated in masterclasses with composers such as Wim Hendrickx and João Pedro Oliveira, he wrote music for two radiophonic pieces, “A Oito Mãos” by Laura Avelar Ferreira and “Uma Praia ao Sul” by Luísa Ramos Ferreira, both broadcast on Antena 2 in 2020, and participated in several multidisciplinary projects such as “A Blind Date” in 2021, a performative and collaborative project between music and dance students from Codarts, and plastic arts students from Willem de Kooning Academy (WDKA). Recent premieres include the piece “Stoicheion” for chamber orchestra, commissioned by Codarts and premiered by the Opus 111 Ensemble at the Jurriaanse Zaal in De Doelen, Rotterdam in December of 2021, and “Diaspora” for string quartet, commissioned by Stichting Melopee and premiered by the Amici Della Musica Quartet at Amstelkerk, Amsterdam in July of 2022. Also in 2022, Bruno wins the 2nd edition of the composition prize ABC…Compositores! by Teatro Nacional de São Carlos with his piece for orchestra “Harmony of the Spheres”, set to be premiered in 2023 by the Portuguese Symphonic Orchestra. Along with that, his piece “Fantasia” for solo piano also won an honorable mention at the Concurso de Composição do Conservatório de Música de Coimbra (CMC) in 2017.
He has also studied Orchestral Conducting under Luís Miguel Clemente at the Academia de Direção de Orquestra da Costa Atlântica (OCA) in 2019/2020, and took an internship with the Jovem Orquestra da Costa Atlântica, conducting, among other pieces, Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and Dvorak’s 8th Symphony. He has studied with Baldur Brönnimann in a masterclass organized by Banda Sinfónica Portuguesa (BSP) in 2019, and Johan de Meij, in a masterclass with Metropolitana’s Wind Orchestra in 2018. In choral singing, he’s currently active with the Laurenscantorij and Laurens Symfonisch choirs, in Rotterdam, having performed pieces such as Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion and Verdi’s Requiem. He was also part of ESMAE’s Chamber Choir, was selected to be part of the European Youth Choir (ECA – Europa Cantat) in 2020, and took an internship with Coro Casa da Música, in Porto, in 2019, having performed Dvorak’s Stabat Mater conducted by Baldur Brönnimann. Bruno was also a saxophonist at the wind bands of Sociedade Filarmónica Paionense (SFP), where he first started his studies in this instrument in 2016, and of Sociedade de Instrução e Recreio de Lares (SIRL), both in Figueira da Foz. He has a high school level diploma in composition, having studied with Leonor Abrunheiro and Paulo Loureiro, and in saxophone, studying with César Ramos and Jorge Graça, and a middle school level diploma in violin, having studied with Pedro Henriques, all at the Conservatório de Música David de Sousa (CMDS), in Figueira da Foz.