Desde Bach hasta Queen. Vasco Dantas, Portugal. Festival Internacional de Piano Dénia 2025

Vasco Dantas, Portuguese pianist born in Porto is artist director of the Music Series Festivals,

Algarve Music Series, and The Piano Concerto Festival. He has been awarded over 50 prizes and

distinctions in international competitions, including: Grand Prix at Valletta International Piano

Competition (Malta), Prix Spécial at Concours International de Piano SAR La Princesse Lalla

Meryem (Morroco), GianClaudio Chiais International Prize (Rome), Münster Steinway & Sons

Piano Competition, Cidade de Vigo International Piano Competition (Spain), Porto Santa Cecília

and Estoril Lisbon Competition.

His performances have regularly taken him in a series of renowned auditoriums of 5 different

continents. Following his successful appearances at Hong Kong City Hall and at Grand Hall of

Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Vasco has recently made his debut at Carnegie Hall (NY),

at Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), and at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (Paris). He has also

performed solo with several other orchestras, such us Kremlin Chamber Orchestra (Moscow),

Hong Kong Symphonia, Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchestra Pforzheim (Germany), Gulbenkian

Orchestra (Lisbon), Porto Symphonie Orchestra, Filarmónica Portuguesa, Orquestra Sinfónica

Espírito Santo (Brazil) and giving him the opportunity to work with well-known conductors, such

us, Baldur Brönnimann, Choi Sown Le, Daniel Cohen, Dinis Sousa, Douglas Bostock, Günter

Neuhold, Jan Wierzba, Joshua dos Santos, Martim Sousa Tavares, Martin André, Misha Rachlevsky,

Nicholas Kok, Nikolay Lalov, Nuno Coelho, Osvaldo Ferreira, Pedro Carneiro, Pedro Neves, Peter

Sauerwein, Rui Pinheiro, Vassily Sinaisky and Victor Hugo Toro.

Vasco performed live for the first time on Portuguese National TV when he was six years old,

having started learning the piano at age of 4. In 2000 he was admitted with honours at Porto

Music Conservatory, where he studied with Rosgard Lingardson, concluding in 2010 his studies

with the highest mark. Since the age of 7, Vasco has also studied the violin. He obtained his

Bachelor in Music with ‘1st Class Distinction’ at the London Royal College of Music, studying piano

with Dmitri Alexeev and Niel Immelman, and conducting with Peter Stark and Natalia Luis-Bassa.

He concluded a Master in Performance with highest mark and the Doctoral study

“Konzertexamen” under the guidance of Heribert Koch, at the University of Münster.

Vasco has been invited as University Lecturer by Boston University, he has got a Master’s degree

in Music Teaching by Aveiro University and the diploma “Art of Teaching” by London RCM. He is

regularly invited to teach in masterclasses and festivals around the world, as well as, to take

part as a jury member in several international piano competitions.

He has been invited to record for KNS Classical, ARS Produktion, MPMP, Coviello Classics, and his

7 albums include: Promenade (2015), Golden Liszt (2016), Freitas Branco | Sonatas (2020,

nominated for “Best Classical Music Album” by Prémios Play 2021), Poetic Scenes (2020,

nominated for “Best Young Artist of the Year” by Opus Klassik 2021), Departure (2021), Préludes

| Prelúdios (2024) and Tomás Borba - Violin & Piano (2025). Vasco has been supported by AVA

Musical Editions and AMMFoundation.

Programme:

Johann Sebastian Bach - El arte de la fuga, Contrapunto IX (1742)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata para piano n.º 14, Op. 27 n.º 2 “Moonlight” (1801)

Franz Schubert (arr. Franz Liszt) - Marcha militar n.º 1, Op. 51 (1812)

Robert Schumann - Arabeske in C major, Op. 18 (1839)

Frédéric Chopin - Polonesa en la bemol mayor, Op. 53 (1842)

Franz Liszt - Liebestraum n.º 3 (1850)

Erik Satie - Gymnopédie n.º 1 (1888) 

Claude Debussy - Suite Bergamasque L. 75 III. Clair de Lune (1905)

Sergei Prokofiev - Romeo y Julieta: Montagues and Capulets (1935)

Queen - Don’t Stop Me Now (1978)