Musical Direction / Piano / Composition

Born in Vila Real in 1964, Carlos Azevedo studied piano in his childhood and entered Porto Music Conservatory in 1982, attending the degrees of Piano and Composition. He was the first student enrolled in Porto Superior School of Music (current ESMAE), in 1986, and there he completed the Composition degree. He moved on to a Master’s degree in Composition at the Sheffield University (1996), under the supervision of George Nicholson.

The interest for jazz emerges along the years at the Conservatory, ending up at the opening of the Porto Jazz School as a piano professor, in the mid-80s. In 2001, he created the first Jazz Degree in Portugal, at ESMAE. He shares with Pedro Guedes, since 1999, the Musical Direction of Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos.

The suite Lenda [Legend] for dectet was presented at the Jazz Festivals of Porto (1999), Nantes (2000) and Guimarães (2001), and gave origin to the first album under his own name. The larger part of his compositions and arrangements in the jazz field has been written for Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos, but he is also commissioned by other groups (European Youth Jazz Orchestra, Brussels Jazz Orchestra and David Linx). In 2003 he was shortlisted at the Brussels Jazz Orchestra International Composition Contest, winning the first prize the following year.

Of his more recent works, stand out 5 Movimentos sobre o Mar [5 Movements on the Sea] for string and piano quartet, Verazin for string quartet, and Crossfade for symphony orchestra, jazz orchestra and soloist. In 2012 he premiered the opera Mumadona with libretto by Carlos Tê.

Analysis Professor at ESMAE, school where he was Vice-President between 2002 and 2011, Carlos Azevedo still codirects OJM, for which he writes original compositions and arrangements and where he frequently performs as piano player.