"Ambassador of Portuguese music"

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Biography

Portuguese cellist and conductor Bruno Borralhinho is a member of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Ensemble Mediterrain.

He appears regularly as a soloist with orchestra or in recitals with piano in Portugal, Spain, Germany and Brazil. Among his highlights are the unanimously acclaimed interpretations of Bach's 6 Suites with the Montagnana Suggia (2008), Beethoven's complete works for cello and piano with the Stradivari King of Portugal (2012) and Haydn's complete cello concertos (2014, soloist and conductor). Borralhinho led until now Masterclasses in Brazil, Portugal and Spain.

The diversified artistic activity of Bruno Borralhinho includes orchestral conducting, in which he received important impulses through Christian Kluttig, Jorma Panula and Juanjo Mena. Along with regular appearences leading his Ensemble Mediterain (DE), he conducted the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa (PT), the Orquestra Clássica do Sul (PT), the Orquestra Clássica do Centro (PT), the Orquestra Clássica da Madeira (PT), the Orquestra de Câmara Portuguesa (PT), the Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinu (CZ), the Orquestra Sinfônica do Paraná (BR), the Orquestra Sinfônica de Campinas (BR), the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin (DE) and the Berliner Symphoniker (DE), and worked along with internationally renowned soloists such as Camilla Nylund, Tara Erraught and Lothar Odinius.

In 2009 he launches the CD Página Esquecida (Forgotten Page) with pianist Luísa Tender, completely dedicated to Portuguese music. This production has received the best reviews in the national and international press. In 2016, his next recording dedicated to Portuguese music appeared on NAXOS, this time for cello and orchestra accompanied by the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Pedro Neves. This album was considered the best of 2016 by voters from over 65 countries across the 5 continents of the planet after an international public vote promoted by The Violoncello Foundation (New York / USA). More recently, in 2018, Borralhinho recorded R. Strauss and Zemlinsky's sonatas and Mahler's songs with pianist Christoph Berner for the German record label ARS.

He was born in 1982 in Covilhã and began his music studies at the age of 12 years old in his hometown, where he studied with prof. Luis Sá Pessoa. Between 2000-2006, he studied with prof. Markus Nyikos at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, concluding the Graduate and Postgraduate studies with the highest distinctions. Afterwards, he also studied with the prestigious Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk. He attended several Masterclasses with Natalia Gutman, Antonio Meneses, Pieter Wispelwey, Anner Bylsma, Jian Wang, Martin Ostertag, Martin Löhr, Márcio Carneiro and Thomas Demenga, among others.

Borralhinho holds a Master's Degree in Culture Management from the UOC - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Barcelona). In October 2011 he was one of the participants of the Atelier for Young Festival Managers in Izmir (Turkey), organized by the EFA - European Festivals Association). Bruno Borralhinho received his PhD in Humanities - History, Geography and Art - from the Universidad Carlos III (Madrid) in 2020. His research and thesis focused on the relations between power and the field of classical music in Portugal throughout the 20th century.

He won the 1. Prize in the competitions Julio Cardona (1999) and Prémio Jovens Músicos (2001), this last organized by RDP (Portuguese National Radio). As a soloist, he performed with the Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon (PT), Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa (PT), Orquestra do Norte (PT), Orquestra Clássica da Madeira (PT), Orquestra XXI (PT), Orquestra Clássica do Sul (PT), Orquestra de Câmara Portuguesa (PT), Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (PT), Orquestra Sinfônica de Campinas (BR) and Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional Cláudio Santoro de Brasília (BR).

Bruno Borralhinho has been a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and Solo-Cellist of the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra. He was also a member of the Academy of the Staatskapelle Berlin, resident orchestra of the Berlin State Opera, and of the DSO - Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin.

During all these years he performed in leading concert halls throughout all Europe, Asia, USA, Canada, Russia and South America and worked with important conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Franz Welser-Möst, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo Järvi or Andris Nelsons.

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Agenda

Concert schedule as a soloist, conductor and chamber musician. The concert agenda of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra can be followed HERE.