Born in Ponta Delgada on the island of S. Miguel of the Azores, on December 17, 1908, the composer and pianist Eurico Thomaz de Lima is heir to a remarkable pianistic tradition, transmitted by Alexandre Rey Colaco and especially by Vianna da Motta, with whom he studied at the National Conservatory of Lisbon. Son of the violinist and composer António Tomás de Lima, he was also a disciple of Luis de Freitas Branco and Herminio do Nascimento at the conservatory, graduating in 1929 cum laude.
As a pianist he developed notable activity, both in Portugal and Brazil, combining the interpretation of his own works with those of other composers. He also excelled in the performance of chamber music, having in this context collaborated with some of the most remarkable figures of Portuguese music, such as Madalena Sá e Costa and Leonor Vianna da Motta.
He wrote orchestral works, chamber music and songs, but its main production as a composer lies in the piano works that reveal, on the one hand, a particular appreciation for his own national roots, but also incorporate a language where pianistic traces of a quasi lisztian virtuosity can be envisioned, features that will surely not be unrelated to the influence of Vianna da Motta. Thomaz de Lima also exercised a remarkable pedagogical activity, having in particular for several years held piano courses in Guimarães and been appointed Artistic Director of the Music and Fine Arts Courses in the city of Funchal. He would end his pedagogical career as a teacher at the Conservatory of Music Calouste Gulbenkian, in Braga, where he served between 1972 and 1979. He died in Maia on June 8, 1989, the city where he lived his last twenty years.