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The Portuguese bass-baritone, Hugo Oliveira, studied at Lisbon's Escola Superior de Música with Helena Pina Manique and Luís Madureira, and later on at The Hague Royal Conservatory with Jill Feldman and Barbara Pearson, supported by a scholarship of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. In 2009, he won the first prize in the III Competition of the Portuguese Rotary Foundation. He was also finalist of the London Bach Society Competition.
Integrated in the Opera departments of both conservatories, Hugo Oliveira took part in several operatic performances: in Lisbon, he appeared in W.A. Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (as Figaro) and Don Giovanni (as Leporello) conducted by Nicholas McNair. In 2004, he performed John Blow’s Venus and Adonis (as Adonis), in The Hague, under the direction of Nigel North.
As part of the Ambronay European Baroque Academy (2004), Hugo Oliveira toured several venues in Spain and France (including Versailles, Rouen, Metz and Vichy, among others) playing La Discorde in Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s opera Les Arts Florissants, conducted by Christophe Rousset. Further operatic performances include D. Milhaud’s Les malheurs d’Orphée (as Orphée) with the Ebony Band at Paris’ Cité de la Musique, and Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge (as David) - a production of Opera Minora (The Netherlands); he toured the most prestigious concert halls in The Netherlands and Belgium with A. Banchieri's madrigalesque comedy La barca di Venetia per Padova, conducted by Gabriel Garrido and co-produced by Reisopera.
Hugo Oliveira's collaboration with the Estúdio de Ópera do Porto - Casa da Música had him appear in such productions as Benedetto Marcello’s Joaz (as Azaria in 2002 and Jojada in 20003) directed Richard Gwilt, Gluck’s L’Ivrogne Corrig (as Lucas) conducted by Jeff Cohen, and Heinz-Karl Gruber’s Frankenstein! (choreographed by Paulo Ribeiro), with the Remix Ensemble under the guidance of Pierre-André Valade. Later on, in 2006, Hugo performed Gruber’s opera once again at the Barbican Centre in London, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by François-Xavier Roth. Within the context of Rotterdam 2001 and Porto 2001 - European Cities of Culture, he performed António Chagas Rosa’s Melodias Estranhas in both cities, with the Remix Ensemble conducted by Stefan Asbury.
His flexible skills as a singer extend into the Classical/Romantic and Contemporary repertoire as well. He has collaborated with orchestras such as the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (The Netherlands), Il Fondamento, Ricercar Consort, Orquestra Divino Sospiro, L'Arpeggiata, Les Inventions and with conductors such as Laurence Cummings, Jaap van Zweden, Paul Dombrecht, Werner Herbers, Peter Van Heyghen, Christina Pluhar, Patrick Ayrton and Enrico Onofri.
Within the realm of oratorio, Hugo Oliveira's repertoire includes works such as J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244), Johannes-Passion (BWV 245), Markus-Passion (BWV 247) and Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248), Arvo Pärt’s Passio (as Jesus) with England’s Hilliard Ensemble, C. Monteverdi’s Vespro della beata vergine, Casanove’s Invitatórios e Responsórios with Le Concert des Nations conducted by Jordi Savall, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah and Nisi Dominus, Felix Mendelssohn’s Christus and Lauda Sion with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under the direction of Michel Corboz; he later collaborated once more with the Swiss conductor in W.A. Mozart’s Requiem. In 2007, again with the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky, he appeared in Franz Liszt's Die Legende von der Heiligen Elisabeth.
Hugo Oliveira has also performed Maurice Duruflé’s and Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, John Rutter’s Mass of the Children, Johannes Brahms’ Requiem (four-hand piano version) with Marcus Creed, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Remix Ensemble directed by Martin André, Sofia Gubaidulina’s Jetzt immer Schnee with the Schönberg Ensemble conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw, as well W.A. Mozart’s Mass in C major and Haydn’s Missa Nelson, under the guidance of Christopher Bochmann. He also performed the world première of Nuno Corte-Real’s Cantata Verbum Caro conducted by Paulo Lourenço. Further performances worthy of mention include that of G.F. Handel’s Dixit Dominus with the Holland Baroque Society under the direction of Peter Dijkstra in Amstedam’s Concertgebouw and, in the same prestigious venue, Haydn’s Stabat Mater with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta conducted by Klaas Stok. |
