Born in 1944 in Lisbon, Maria João Pires gave her first public performance at the age of 4 and began her studies of music and piano with Campos Coelho and Francine Benoît, continuing later in Germany, with Rosl Schmid and Karl Engel. In addition to her concerts, she has made recordings for Erato for 15 years and Deutsche Grammophon for 20 years.
Since the 1970s, she has devoted herself to reflecting the influence of art in life, community and education, trying to discover new ways of establishing this way of thinking in society. She has searched for new ways, which, respecting the development of individuals and cultures, encourage the sharing of ideas.
In 1999, she created the Belgais Centre for the Study of the Arts in Portugal. Pires regularly offers interdisciplinary workshops for professional musicians and music lovers. In the Belgais concert hall, concerts and recordings regularly take place. In future, these will be shared with the international digital community.
In 2012, in Belgium, she initiated two complementary projects: the Partitura Choirs, a project that creates and develops choirs for children from disadvantaged backgrounds as in Belgium, and the Hesperos Choir and the Partitura workshops. All of the Partitura projects have the aim to create an altruistic dynamic between artists of different generations by proposing an alternative in a world too often focused on competitiveness. This philosophy is being spread worldwide at Partitura projects and workshops.
Fall 2022
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSOA by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
