Ricardo Alves Pereira

Ricardo Alves Pereira leads his audience to imagine stories through his Musical Narratives. During his solo classical guitar performances and TWB 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 he holds a master degree from the Royal Conservatory The Hague where he had his thesis on “The Dream World, Artistic Research: Creation of a Musical Narrative Based on Classical Guitar Repertoire; Search for a Shared Fulfilling Experience Between Performer and Audience.”

He 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 primary teachers were Ilda Coelho, Margarita Escarpa, Jose Luis Fernandez, Duo Melis and Zoran Dukic.

Ricardo Alves Pereira performs in a variety of genres and the instruments he uses during his performances expand from Turkish oud to Iberian Vihuela to Irish bouzouki.

Aside from being a performer, he also is behind the scenes in all music he produces from arrangement and sound engineering to visual design.

He is the 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 collecting local myths, legends and historical facts from Leiria and its neighboring regions to present in the Leyriath Assemblage.

Two of his instruments have been specially made for him. His classical guitar was made by Spanish luthier Ana Espinosa in 2009, and his renaissance vihuela was made by Portuguese luthier Orlando Trindade in 2022.

LATEST RELEASE

The Foundation

“The Foundation” is the second solo guitar album of Ricardo Alves Pereira. It is a complete collection of works first published in 1836, known as the Introduction à l’Étude de la Guitare, Op.60, written by composer and virtuoso guitarist Fernando Sor, one of the most famous musicians of the classical and romantic era.

With this album Ricardo Alves Pereira recalls the beginning of his classical guitar journey, shares his connection to the learning process of his instrument and adds a personal touch to the repertory by titling them with the essential emotions and thoughts that can be sparked with each piece that builds the very foundation of any classical guitar player’s musical language.

ALbum news

Coming Soon:
Streams of Tranquility

In his third solo classical guitar album Streams of Tranquility, Ricardo Alves Pereira explores the still and the beautiful. The immersive and modern melodies weave the album’s soundscape into the depths of calmness within the contemporary music scene. Aside from presenting his skills as a classical guitar player, in this album Ricardo Alves Pereira also shares his composer side with the audience; and it is fresh, intimate and inviting.

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Ricardo’s musical works orbit around early music, classical and romantic era classical guitar music and contemporary music.

Leyriath, The Song of Lumino: Vihuela Works by L. Narvaez & A. Mudarra

With their 5th album, The Wandering Bard presents yet another legend from the “Manuscripts of Leyriath”. In this collection, the eternal works of Claudio Monteverdi, Luis de Narvaez and Alonso Mudarra can be enjoyed in a way that was never heard before.

Both composers’ solo vihuela works are presented in an ensemble format in the album; the intertwine, share, unity and echo between the musical lines of the the vielle and the vihuela are to represent the friendship, connection, and separation of the two characters the narrative focuses on; while percussion is present to lay ground in the sonority to narrate the oceanic, the cyclic and the magic.

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”.

Gallery

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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.

The footage was shot during Spring 2018 in Pinhal de Leiria that had had a large fire a year before; the contrast between the long lost burned trees and the newly born bushes and flowers were the nature’s way of manifesting loss, hope and rebirth, connected to the musical narrative told in the presentation in a number of ways.

Video was directed, shot, and edited by Esin Yardimli Alves Pereira on 2018.