On this page, you will find information about original projects presented in recent seasons. For information about the pianist's repertoire, click here, or leave a message in the "contact" section
Discover Portuguese Music
Marta Menezes has stood out for her dedication to promoting the music of Portuguese composers, performing their works in concerts both in Portugal and abroad.
Given the growing public interest in discovering these compositions, which remain little known and rarely performed, Marta has decided to launch a new project: the professional video recording of four piano pieces by composers António Fragoso, Alfredo Napoleão, and José Vianna da Motta.
The videos are available on youtube.
A Portuguese Piano (on tour)
A Portuguese Piano is a recital that explores the richness of Portuguese music and introduces audiences to some of the country’s foremost composers for piano. The program includes works by composers such as Luiz Costa, Francisco de Lacerda, Óscar da Silva, Alfredo Napoleão, and José Vianna da Motta.
It is an opportunity to discover and enjoy some of the finest pages of Portuguese music, part of a musical heritage that Marta Menezes seeks to preserve and promote, recognising it as a fundamental part of the country’s intangible cultural heritage.
Bagatelles
Bagatelles is a newsletter created by Marta with the aim of sharing ideas about music and art that inspire her and make her think. It includes interviews, documentaries, articles, books, recordings, and other materials that help her look at music in a broader way and that inspire her artistic practice.
The newsletter is sent every two weeks and is open to anyone interested in music and artistic thinking.
You can subscribe it here.
Saint-Saëns e Oswald - A reencounter (2021)
Je suis enchanté. C'est une œuvre de maître et surtout très personnelle. Vous êtes un artiste, monsieur.
These were Saint-Saëns' words when he heard Henrique Oswald's Piano Quartet for the first time in São Paulo. During Saint-Saëns' trip to Brazil, they both played together on a two-piano setting, an experience that they repeated a few years later.
This program proposes a reunion between these two pianists and composers, marking the 100th anniversary of Saint-Saëns' death and the 90th of Oswald's, in a rare opportunity to hear in the same concert significant works from the composers' chamber music repertoire.
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5 Encores for Beethoven (2020)
The project 5 Encores for Beethoven was created to celebrate the composer's 250th birthday, establishing a bridge with our days and with music by Portuguese composers.
In 2020/21, Marta Menezes performed the 5 Piano Concertos by Beethoven and did the world premiere of 5 Encores (one for each concerto) commissioned to Nuno da Rocha, Tiago Cabrita, Luís Soldado, Gonçalo Gato, and Tiago Derriça, specifically for this celebration. The concerts took place in Viana do Castelo, Lisboa, Torres Novas, Tomar, Coimbra, Caldas da Rainha, Arganil, Mealhada, Alcanena and Palmela.
The scores are available here.
Tribute to Vianna da Motta (2018)
On the occasion of Vianna da Motta’s 150th birthday, Marta Menezes presents a recital as a tribute to one of the figures that most influenced pianism in Portugal. As one of Franz Liszt’s last pupils, Vianna da Motta had contact with the great artists of his time during the years he spent living in Germany. Throughout his life, he performed extensively around the world. Apart from being a great pianist, he was also a composer, a pedagogue, a music critic and the author of several articles about piano technique and musical interpretation.
On this recital, Marta Menezes will perform works by composers that frequently appeared on his recital programs and with which he was associated as being a great interpreter: Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt. The program also includes works by Vianna da Motta himself.
Das Terras d'Além-mar (2017)
“My homeland is the Portuguese language,” wrote Fernando Pessoa. This is the starting point for a recital that takes the listener on a journey through the poets and musicians of Portugal and Brazil, from different periods, cities and cultural backgrounds, yet united by the richness of a shared language.
Brazilian baritone Bruno Sandes and Portuguese pianist Marta Menezes presented the programme on a tour of Portugal, exploring their shared cultural heritage and bringing the art, history and traditions of their two countries to audiences abroad.
The programme also featured a new song cycle by Portuguese composer Tiago Derriça, commissioned and premiered by the duo.
Duo Pianíssimo - Portuguese music for two pianos and four-hands (2013)
The Duo Pianíssimo was founded by Inês Andrade and Marta Menezes with the aim of promoting Portuguese chamber music written for two pianos and piano four-hands. Through extensive research, they have uncovered a wealth of works of remarkable quality and diversity that have remained largely unknown. Some were performed only at their premieres and have no subsequent performance history, while others have only recently been published.
The duo’s work has also attracted the attention of contemporary composers, who have written and dedicated works to Inês Andrade and Marta Menezes.
