Ricardo Alves Pereira

 

Ricardo Alves Pereira is a guitarist who leads his audience to imagine stories through his musical narratives. During his solo performances and ensemble concerts, the repertoires are presented with a unique parallel content in spoken word form, guiding the listener to experience a new interpretation of the story that his music represents.

He has received several prizes in international classical guitar competitions and has been invited to give solo concerts, with ensembles, and in front of orchestras on various festivals in Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Turkey. He travelled through Europe to receive his education from most of the most renowned classical guitar players. His main teachers were Ilda Coelho, Margarita Escarpa, Duo Melis and Zoran Dukic.

Although he is a classical guitarist by heart, he performs in a variety of genres and the instruments he uses during his performances expand from Turkish oud to Irish bouzouki.

Aside from being a performer, he also is behind the scenes in most music he produces.

Ricardo is a co-founder of the TWB Ensemble and the founder of the Leyriath Assemblage. He makes innovative arrangements of Early music for the ensemble, as well as creating musical narratives that blend historical facts with a touch of fantasy. His latest reserach contains gathering local myths, legends and historical facts to complete the Leyriath manuscrpits which he combines with Cantigas de Santa Maria during the presentations.

Ricardo performs on an instrument made by the Spanish guitar luthier, Ana Espinosa.

 

Solo works

The Myth of Arion

The Myth of Arion

The Myth of Arion is a musical narrative written by Ricardo. The pieces were composed for renaissance vihuela by Luis de Narvaez (1526-49) & Alonso Mudarra (1510-80), and transcribed directly from the historical tablature prints into the classical guitar by Ricardo.

This video was recorded on 22 May 2018, directed, shot, and edited by Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira.

Ricardo and Esin traveled to a Portuguese forest (called “Pinhal de Leiria”, nearby Ricardo’s hometown) that had had a large fire a year before. This video was shot the Spring after, and as you can see, the contrast between the long lost burned trees and the newly born bushes and flowers was really impressive.

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Releases

Leyriath, Of Music and Legends: Cantigas de Santa Maria (Alfonso X) 

TWB Ensemble’s 4th album, released on the 800th year celebration of the birth of King Alfonso X El Sabio, has already reached to more than 10.000 listeners on the first month of release.

The album brings the audience to medieval times with the Cantigas de Santa Maria accompanied by the musical narrative written by Ricardo Alves Pereira.

Ciclos – Solo Classical Guitar Album

“Ciclos” is the first album released by Ricardo dedicated to solo classical guitar repertoire.

Recorded in 2015, “Ciclos” was a result of receiving the first prize on the competition “Premios Mans Futuro”, in À Coruña (Spain).

Ciclos consists of compositions from Tárrega, Regondi, Llobet, Debussy, Sor, Brocá, Dowland, and also a composition from Ricardo himself. The album explores his original concept of musical narratives for classical guitar and expresses various cycles in the life of a person. “In the great intercicle network, the end of a cycle is simply the time when one stops and dazzles the infinite”.