29 OCT | Sunday 11.00 am
Funchal Cathedral

Sunday mass
André Ferreira, organ
Ensemble São Tomás de Aquino
João Andrade Nunes, direction

Sunday Mass

Pe. Ignácio Rodrigues celebrant

The vast majority of works for solo organ or choir and organ were originally intended to be used in the liturgy. The new organ of Funchal’s Cathedral and the repertoire of Manuel Rodrigues Coelho and other Portuguese composers and musicians accomplishes the first mission for which they both were conceived: Liturgy. Along with the liturgic music of our days, the Mannerist Lusitanian sacred repertoire underlines, in this special day, the Sunday Eucharistic celebration of the local cathedral.

André Ferreira

André Ferreira graduated in organ from the Royal Conservatory of Amsterdam, where he studied with Jacques van Oortmerssen, and also Pieter van Dijk. He took his masters in organ at the Higher School of Music on Lisbon (ESML) under the supervision of João Vaz. He began his organ studies with António Esteireiro at the Gregorian Institute of Lisbon, continuing thereafter with Jos van der Kooy at the Conservatory of The Hague. His interest in early music led him to study the baroque oboe, with Maria Petrescu, and he is currently a bachelors student on the course run by Pedro Castro at ESML. As both soloist and member of various ensembles, he has already given recitals in Portugal, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. As an organist he collaborates with the Parish of St Thomas Aquinas and the Parish of St Mary in Belém (Mosteiro dos Jerónimos) in Lisbon. During the academic year 2016-17 he taught at the Regional Conservatoire of Ponta Delgada, in the Azores. He is professor of organ at the Diocesan School of Sacred Music of the Lisbon Patriarchate. He graduated in applied mathematics and computing at the Higher Technical Institute.

Ensemble São Tomás de Aquino

Resident at the Church of St Thomas Aquinas in Lisbon, the Ensemble São Tomás de Aquino is a group of variable dimensions, made up of young professional musicians. Founded in 2015 by por João Andrade Nunes, the Ensemble São Tomás de Aquino has sought to present, in a liturgical context – the setting par excellence for the performance of sacred repertoire – various works by Marc Antoine Charpentier, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn and others. The repertoire performed ranges from Gregorian chant to the 21st century. The Ensemble, in parallel with its liturgical function, gives regular concerts, having recently performed Bach’s Mass in B minor, BWV 232.

João Andrade Nunes

Born in Sabugal in 1990, he began his studies in saxophone at the Pedro Álvares Cabral Music Conservatoire in Belmonte in 1999, at only nine years of age, in the class of Carlos Canhoto. He graduated from the supplementary course in saxophone at the São José Conservatoire, in Guarda, with a note of 19. As a saxophonist and chamber musician he has attended master classes with Mario Marzzi, Claude Delangle, Christian Lauba, Richard Ducros, Marialena Fernandes, João Vaz, Nuno Inácio, Pavel Gomziakov, Olga Prats and others. He was awarded the Third Prize in the Youth Category of the Palmela International Saxophone Competition in 2005. He has taken part in various projects for the dissemination of contemporary music, such as the Peças Frescas project and the S. Luiz Music Festival. He is a founding member of the Entre Madeiras Trio, a contemporary music group already recorded. Since January 2008 he has been a permanent member of the Band of the Portuguese Navy. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in music – saxophone – at the Higher School of Music of Lisbon in 2011. He was the first saxophone teacher of the “Orquestra Geração” project at the Music School of the National Conservatory. As a composer, he has worked principally on sacred music. As conductor, he works at the Church of St Thomas Aquinas in Lisbon, where he founded the Ensemble São Tomás de Aquino in 2015.