João Vaz

Graduated in Organ by the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa and by the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón in Zaragoza, João Vaz also holds a doctorate in Music and Musicology by the University of Évora, having defended a thesis on late-eighteenth-century Portuguese organ music. He has maintained an intense activity at an international level, either as a concert player or as a teacher in performance courses, or as a member of the jury of organ competitions. He made more than a dozen solo recordings, notably those made in Portuguese historic organs. As performer and musicologist he has paid particular attention to Portuguese sacred music, founding in 2006 the ensemble Capella Patriarchal, which he directs. He teaches Organ at Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon and is the artistic director of the Madeira Organ Festival and of the series of concerts that take place in the historic organ of São Vicente de Fora, in Lisbon (instrument whose titularity he assumed in 1997) and in six organs of the Basilica of the National Palace of Mafra (of which restoration he was a permanent adviser). For the inauguration of this restoration, he wrote the work Ave maris stella for soloists, male choir and six organs, being responsible for more than twenty works arrangements for two, three, four or six organs, which have been performed throughout the regular concert series in the Basilica. In 2017, he was awarded the Medal of Honour from the Municipality of Mafra.