Powell Flutes USA in Lisbon! Sunday, October 16th!

I have exciting news: Representatives Daniel Sharp and Rebecca Eckles of Powell Flutes in Boston, USA, will be in LISBON on Sunday, October 16th, to show an amazing array of flutes, piccolos and head joints!! They are popping over from Spain for a long day of "flute talk" with anyone who would like to try out these amazing instruments. 

Daniel and Rebecca will be on hand, along with myself, with a selection of Handmade Custom flutes made in platinum, grenadilla, sterling silver, and the new Ruby Aurumite Custom Flute. In addition, there will be a selection of Custom headjoints and piccolos, Conservatory flutes, Signature flutes and piccolos, and Powell Sonaré flutes.

Take this first-time-ever opportunity to join us by sending me an email to receive details about time and location. See you then!

The flute-testing room at Powell's Boston factory—coming SOON to LISBON!

TONIGHT: Mafalda Carvalho at the Winners' Concert!!

Calling all Lisbon-area flutists! Let's show up in record numbers for the Winners' Concert of the Young Musicians Prizes (Prémios Jovens Músicos) TONIGHT, at 9.30pm at the Gulbenkian Foundation. It has been SIX YEARS (!) since the last Sr. Division Flute Competition, so NOW is our chance to hear a flute concerto front and center! Those not in Lisbon can listen live on Antena 2 radio.

I exchanged emails with Mafalda, and let's just say she's had a BIG YEAR: finishing her Masters Thesis and training, touring with the Galiza Symphony Orchestra to Abu Dhabi, teaching, entering the Classic Orchestra of Madeira as 1st Flute—and winning this competition! As you might imagine, she's pretty much a master of organizing her work and her time! So exciting to see someone aim high and achieve their goals! Click here to read an interview with Mafalda on Da Capo Magazine.

Mafalda says that she feels a special affinity for the Nielsen Concerto, which explores many different moods. For the free-choice repertoire for the rest of the competition she relied, intelligently, on works that she loves and had previously played, bringing a new maturity to them this time around. That sounds like an excellent "recipe" for success! Don't forget that to arrive at this new maturity, there always has to be a first time around, too; all stages of development are important!

Now I just look forward to being there and hearing Mafalda perform the Nielsen with the Gulbenkian Orchestra! Tickets are free but get there early before the hall fills up! And to Mafalda, as we say in the US: "Break a leg"!! Or simply: "GO GIRL!"

Flutist Mafalda Carvalho 

Bruckner - an unexpected pleasure

The season begins! First concert features Bruckner Symphony #4, "The Romantic" (1878-80), which is an indulgently long, warm work that grows on you! While it may lack the fire and wildness of Mahler or Strauss, you just have to sit back a little and enjoy the "landscape" slowly passing by, the wonderful evolution of the harmonies, the occasional asides into Viennese tenderness, and of course the remarkable glow of the big brass writing. Sublime. And a good excuse to use my Powell Grenadilla flute; just the right colors!

The concert will be Sunday, Sept. 18th, at 5pm at the C.C.B. in Lisbon, and features the much more modern Lutoslawski Cello Concerto (1970) with Johannes Moser as soloist on the first half of the concert. I'm looking forward to working on that tomorrow—playing the piece, and hearing some wonderful cello playing! Two very complimentary/contrasting works to make a very balanced program—a great start to the season! Lutoslawski in black and white; Bruckner in color—

Syrinx : XXII - It's a wrap! (HOT!!)

Global warming has arrived, in case there were any doubt! After ten days of Syrinx : XXII rehearsals in the sweltering heat of Lisbon, we escaped to…more heat in the north! Not all was lost; the rehearsals were fantastic—fun and creative as always, and the north was beautiful beyond our (already very) high expectations!

At the end of the last day of rehearsals, we relaxed for a photo shoot in the elegant Lisbon Opera House. Like the rehearsals, the shoot was entertaining, entirely due to my patient and cheerful colleagues, Raj Bhimani, piano and António Carrilho, recorders. We extend our most grateful appreciation to the Opera House for their support, and to photographer Rita Delille, for her talent and good humor!

Syrinx : XXII, with Raj Bhimani and António Carrilho