Vítor Hugo Ferreira de Matos

Conductor | Clarinetist

Vítor Hugo Ferreira de Matos (b. 1977) began his musical studies at the Conservatories of Braga and Porto, studying with José Matos and Moreira Jorge, with whom he completed his clarinet training. In 2001, he graduated from the School of Music and Performing Arts (ESMAE). Between 2001 and 2007, he pursued advanced studies with the renowned clarinetist Alessandro Carbonare.

As a clarinetist, he has performed extensively, including a series of recitals in Rome at the invitation of the Portuguese Institute of St. Anthony, where he premiered several works, notably the Clarinet Concerto dedicated to him by composer Joaquim dos Santos. He has collaborated with leading ensembles such as Orquestra do Norte, Sinfonieta do Porto, Orquestra de Câmara Musicare, Filarmonia das Beiras, and the Gulbenkian Orchestra. He has appeared as both soloist and chamber musician at major international festivals, including Encontros de Primavera (Guimarães), Póvoa de Varzim, Gaia, Cascais, Mateus, Toulouse, and Música Viva. He performs on a Backun MoBa clarinet and is a Backun Artist.

He studied orchestral conducting with Maestro Cesário Costa and has since developed a distinguished conducting career. He has conducted numerous orchestras, including Orquestra do Norte, Orquestra Estúdio, Orquestra de Câmara do Minho, the University of Minho Academic Orchestra, the Kaiserslautern Conservatory and Theatre Orchestra, and the Southwest German Radio Orchestra, covering repertoire from the Baroque to the contemporary.

In the field of opera, he has conducted productions such as The Little Sweep and Noah’s Flood by Benjamin Britten, as well as Carmen by Georges Bizet. As part of Guimarães 2012 – European Capital of Culture, he conducted Maurice Ravel’s opera L’Enfant et les Sortilèges.

He has collaborated with distinguished soloists including Matthias Schorn, António Rosado, Dora Rodrigues, Patrizia Porgio, Peter Arnold, Ilya Grubert, Luís Pipa, Pavel Gomziakov, Samuel Bastos, Elisabete Matos, among others. He is the recipient of several prizes in international conducting competitions, notably in Barcelona and Rome, including the “Bachetta d’Oro” (Best Conductor) and the “Bachetta d’Argento” (Best Interpretation).

In 2007, he conducted the Madrid Symphonic School Orchestra as part of the Advanced Courses in Contemporary Music and Orchestral Conducting at the University of Alcalá de Henares, working with Arturo Tamayo and Jesús López Cobos.

He is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Minho, where he serves as Head of the Music Department and Director of the Bachelor’s Degree in Music at the School of Arts and Humanities.

He holds a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Katarina Gurska School of Music (Madrid) and a PhD in Music (Musicology – Performance) from the University of Évora.

Ângelo Martingo

Ângelo Martingo is an Associate Professor at the University of Minho (Portugal), where he teaches Piano and Performance Studies Research. He has performed extensively across Europe as both a soloist and chamber musician. Alongside his artistic career, he maintains a prolific scientific presence through the organization and coordination of international musicology conferences. His research focuses on music sociology and aesthetics, with key publications including Musica Instrumentalis (Co-editor, 2019), Musica Humana (Editor, 2020), and the book Razão, Cognição e Expressão nas Práticas Musicais [Reason, Cognition and Expression in Music Practices] (Author, 2018).

Danielle Lisboa, CCS Music Director and Conductor

Brazilian-Canadian conductor, pianist, and scholar Danielle Lisboa is a transformative force on the podium, redefining the boundaries of the modern symphony through bold, cross-cultural programming. Lisboa’s work is a bridge between rigorous Western tradition and a global future. 

She currently serves as an Associate Professor of Music at Concordia University of Edmonton in the areas of conducting and music theory. As conductor of the CSO, her seasons frequently integrate diverse soundscapes, from the Middle Eastern Oud, the Chinese guzheng, the Indian sitar, to the South American cavaquinho, into the classical canon, creating a fresh, inclusive concept of music-making.

Beyond the podium, Lisboa’s current research explores immersive and multisensory technologies to deliver multidimensional audio and visual experiences. These programs represent a revolution in how we consume, appreciate, and engage with the public in live music performances. Her rapid ascent in the Canadian music scene began with Orchestra Toronto, where she rose from apprentice to Music Director in a single season, later leading the inaugural tour of Bellus Barbari, the Toronto Women’s Symphony Orchestra. Lisboa’s 2024–2025 season reflects her international reach, with recent engagements including the Moravian Philharmonic (Czech Republic), the National Philharmonic of Trinidad and Tobago, and the UNIRIO Symphony Orchestra (Brazil). 

Lisboa holds a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the Eastman School of Music in New York. A committed educator and clinician, she continues to lead international workshops, recently serving as a visiting scholar at Southwest University in Chongqing, China, and the Université catholique de l'Ouest in Angers, France. Lisboa is a passionate speaker and advocate for pluralism in classical music, with appearances at the International Conductors Guild Conference in Valencia, Spain, and, more recently, at the Orchestras Canada National Conference in Edmonton last February.

PROGRAM NOTES 

Ludwig van Beethoven — Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 

“Ah how could I possibly admit such an infirmity in the one sense which should have been more perfect in me than in others, a sense which I once possessed in highest perfection, a perfection such as few surely in my profession enjoy or have enjoyed …what a humiliation when one stood beside me and heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone heard the shepherd singing and again I heard nothing, such incidents brought me to the verge of despair, but little more and I would have put an end to my life - only art it was that withheld me, ah it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon me to produce.” - from Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament, October 6, 1802. 

During the summer and autumn of 1802, Beethoven stayed in Heiligenstadt where he confronted the reality of his permanent deafness and wrote his agonizing Heiligenstadt Testament - a letter to his brothers that admits his increasing deafness and determination to live for his art. Ironically, despite this profound personal despair and isolation, the music he created during this period —such as his joyful and robust Symphony No. 2—was remarkably full of life and defiance. 

The symphony was first performed on April 5, 1803 at the Theatre an der Wien in Vienna, conducted by the composer himself. Set in the bright key of D major, the symphony is scattered with sforzandos and sudden, dramatic dynamic shifts. At the same time, moments of lyricism and quiet reflection suggest a more introspective side to the work, reflective of Beethoven’s stay in Heiligenstadt.

The first movement (Adagio molto - Allegro con brio) begins with a grand, sweeping introduction that leads into a spirited main theme. The second movement (Larghetto) offers a graceful and lyrical contrast to the energy of the outer movements. The third movement (Scherzo: Allegro -Trio) provides a playful dance-like movement that replaces the more typical gentle minuet of the time. With the fourth movement (Allegro molto), Beethoven brings the symphony to a fiery close with sudden dynamic shifts and bold energy.  

Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 

Before he became one of the most celebrated composers in Western music, Ludwig van Beethoven took Vienna by storm as a piano virtuoso. However, by the premiere of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 in December 1808, Beethoven’s encroaching deafness made public performing increasingly difficult. The concerto received a private performance in March 1807 at the palace of Prince Lobkowitz. Its public premiere came at Beethoven's monumental benefit concert on December 22, 1808, a four-hour musical marathon that also included the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the Choral Fantasy. The event is generally regarded as Beethoven's final public appearance as piano soloist with orchestra.

Composed between 1805 and 1806, the concerto introduces a new symphonic piano concerto form where the solo instrument and orchestra seem intertwined in a dramatic narrative. The concerto can be heard as an ongoing dialogue between soloist and orchestra, sometimes cooperative and sometimes seemingly oppositional.

The first movement (Allegro moderato) bypasses the customary long orchestral introduction and opens with the solo piano playing a quiet and serene chordal theme. When the orchestra enters, it is unexpectedly in the distant key of B major, which fundamentally alters the musical atmosphere. This sets up the tension between the soloist and orchestra that pervades the entire concerto. 

The second movement (Andante con moto) is often described as an operatic dialogue or confrontation. The orchestra plays sharply punctuated unison octaves with the piano responding with hushed lyrical phrases. As the movement progresses, the orchestra's harsh interruptions grow shorter and quieter, gradually tamed by the piano's sustained lyricism, dissolving into a final trill before vanishing into darkness.

The third movement (Rondo: Vivace) breaks the second movement’s solemn spell with a traditional Rondo form infused with intense rhythmic drive and bright orchestral fanfares. It features complex syncopations, dramatic shifts in dynamics, and a breathless, accelerating Presto coda that brings the concerto to a thrilling, triumphant close.

Capital City Symphony Musicians

Our Next Concert: AI Revolution

Conductor: Danielle Lisboa
Saturday, February 06, 2027 at 7 PM

Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre

capitalcitysymphony.ca

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