José Domingos Brandão

Composer, poet, and instrument maker. He completed higher degrees in Composition and Cello at the Lisbon Conservatory. Passionate about the construction of bowed string instruments, he undertook internships to acquire this specialty in Bubenreuth, Germany, and in Brescia, Cremona, Florence, Genoa, Milan, and Rome. In this art, in which he achieved exceptional mastery, his masterpiece is a cello he built in 1948 which he named "Portugal". As a composer, he is the author of pieces for string instruments, orchestra, and choir, namely: cello suites, a cello concerto, a concertino for violin and orchestra, and a guitar and orchestra concerto, the Concerto Lusitano. He also composed the symphonic poem Alfama and the collection of songs for voice and piano Oração e Meditação. As a poet, he stood out for the high lyrical expression of the poems he wrote for his choral and solo vocal compositions, notably the songs making up the collection Oração e Meditação.