Composer João Antunes was born in 1975 in Lisboa. He began studying music at the Academia de Amadores de Música de Lisboa, where he studied techniques of composition and musical analysis with Pedro Rocha and Eurico Carrapatoso. He graduated in composition in 2006 at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, having studied with Sergio Azevedo, Luís Tinoco and Christopher Bochmann.
He is currently working on his masters thesis in composition at the Universidade de Évora under the guidance of Professor Christopher Bochmann. In 2005, his work, Ecos destorcidos was presented in the Música Viva Festival.
He participates in seminars in composition driven by Emmanuel Nunes, in the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, since 2006. Following these seminars, he wrote Sphinx (2006) and Paisagens Reveladas (December 2008) for the Gulbenkian Orchestra.
In 2007 he participated in the I Reading Panel of the Algarve Orchestra, presenting his piece Sopro de Inquietação. This piece was selected for the 2007/2008 season of the Orchestra.
He also received an order for another piece for two sopranos and orchestra (Minha Partilha de Mim), for the same institution.
In 2008, his piece for flute solo Hesitante - Confiante was incorporated as a compulsory piece work Young Musicians Prize in 2008 (antena 2/RDP).
He is currently working on a set of four songs for chorus and piano (Elementos Elementares), commissioned by the Academia de Música de St. Cecilia de Lisboa. João Antunes is currently teaching techniques of composition and musical analysis in the Fundação Musical dos Amigos das Crianças and Conservatório Regional Silva Marques.
Lisboa, 2 de Março de 2009
João Antunes