António Victorino D'Almeida was born in Lisbon on May 21st 1940. He was a student of Campos Coelho and graduated from the Superior Piano Course of the National Conservatory of Lisbon, obtaining a final mark of 19 out of 20. He then studied composition with Karl Schiske at the Superior School of Music of Vienna in Austria and obtained the highest classification possible. As a concert pianist, he had a successful international career and was considered one of the best Portuguese pianists at that time. He recorded all 19 Waltzes by Chopin for the ETE record label of Vienna and these recordings received critical acclaim and were praised by the highly regarded pianist Alfred Brendel. António Victorino D'Almeida is one of the most prolific Portuguese composers. He has written everything including: instrumental piano solos, chamber music, symphonic pieces and choral-symphonic music, "lied", opera, cinematic and theatre scores. His work has been appreciated by many illustrious figures in the music world including Hans Swarowski, Godfried von Einem, João de Freitas Branco and Dimitri Schostakovitch. In Portugal, five CDs of António Victorino D'Almeida's work are currently available from the label "Numérica" along with other CDs including the "Opus Ensemble" which has various pieces written by him. In Austria and Germany he has several CDs and records recorded with Erika Pluhar and he wrote and recorded the sound track of the film "Capitães de Abril" which was produced in Italy.