(b. 18 May 1961, Torres Novas).
Portuguese composer of mostly chamber works that have been performed throughout Europe.
Mr. Rocha studied piano with Gilberta Paiva at the Conservatório de Lisboa from 1981–86 and studied geological sciences at the Universidade de Lisboa at the same time. He then studied composition with Christopher Bochmann at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa from 1982–90 and with Alain Bancquart at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris from 1990–93, on a scholarship from the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. He also attended masterclasses with Emmanuel Nunes at the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon from 1982–90, the Ferienkurse in Darmstadt in 1986 and the Cursus Annuel de Composition et Informatique Musicale at IRCAM in 1992, as well as numerous other seminars and workshops on choral conducting, electronic music, piano, and vocal techniques.
Among his honours are First Prize in the Fernando Lopes-Graça young composers competition (1987, for Duo), a scholarship from the Juventude Musical Portuguesa for a workshop in Cuenca (1988) and an honorary prize in the competition of the Festival por Músicos Juventudes in Lisbon (1990, for Pedra [withdrawn]).
He is also active in other positions. He served as director of the magazine Gazeta Musical in Lisbon in 1997–98.
He taught analysis, choral conducting, composition, and solfège at both the Conservatório Regional de Coimbra and the Escola de Música de Santarém from 1988–90 and at the Juventude Musical Portuguesa in 1994–95. He also taught the same subjects at the Conservatório Nacional de Coimbra and the Sociedade Filarmónica Gualdim País in 1997–98 and the Escola Profissional de Música e Artes de Almada from 1998–2000. He has taught these subjects at the Academia de Amadores de Música since 1994 and the same subjects, as well as chamber music, chorus, improvisation, and orchestration at the Escola de Música do Orfeão de Leiria since 1997. In addition, he lectured in Estoril in 2000–01.
COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS
ORCHESTRAL:
Cri, 4 ensembles of flutes (32 total flutes), 1992
Peça para Cordas, string orchestra, 1996
Homage to Luigi Nono, string orchestra, 1998–2003
CHAMBER MUSIC:
Duo, violin, cello, 1987
Dual, piano, 4 samplers, 1988 (also version for piano, fixed media)
Soneto, harp, violin, viola, cello, double bass, 4 percussion, 1988
Vórtice, flute, oboe, bass clarinet, string quartet, 2 percussion, 1990
Trio, violin, viola, cello, 1991
Pièce pour Vibraphone MIDI et Live Electronics, MIDI-vibraphone, live electronics, 1993
Caminho, flute, French horn, live electronics, 1993–94
Paráfrase I, guitar (with scordatura), cello, 1996
Homage to Boulez (Study for an Open Work), clarinet, alto saxophone, B-flat trumpet, guitar, violin, piano 4 hands, 1998
Homage to Ligeti, flute, clarinet, alto saxophone (winds tuned a quarter-tone lower), violin, piano, 1998
Homage to Bancquart, 2 guitars (tuned a third-tone lower, higher), piano 4 hands, 1998
Improvisação I (Pássaro), tenor recorder/flute, guitar (with scordatura), 1998
Duo, any 2 equal instruments (tuned a quarter-tone apart), 1999
Quarteto, 4 clarinets (3rd, 4th tuned a quarter-tone apart), 1999
Study, 4 quarter-tone alto saxophones, 2000
Welcome, 4 saxophones, 2000
Esboço I, 3 flutes, clarinet, alto saxophone, 4 guitars, piano, 2001
Quintet, piano, string quartet, 2001
Esboço II, flute, 2 clarinets, 2 alto saxophones, French horn, trombone, tuba, 2002
Paráfrase e variações, 2 guitars (tuned a quarter-tone apart), 2002
Improvisação II, guitar (with scordatura in quarter-tones), 2002–03
CHORAL:
Homage to Pérotin (Viderunt omnes), children's chorus/female chorus, 1998
Psalm 148, mezzo-soprano/alto, tenor/baritone, mixed chorus, organ, fixed media, 1998–2001, revised 2003
Spiritus ubi vult spirat (text from the Bible), 6 ensembles (2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 2 alto saxophones, tuba, string orchestra; 2 guitars [tuned a quarter-tone apart]; 2 guitars [tuned a quarter-tone apart]; 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 2 alto saxophones [each set of instruments tuned a quarter-tone apart]; 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 2 alto saxophones [each set of instruments tuned a quarter-tone apart]; quarter-tone mixed chorus, 3 alto saxophones, baritone saxophone), 2000–01
Mandatum novum do vobis (text from the Bible), mixed chorus, 2003
VOCAL:
Algarve (text by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen), soprano, flute (+ piccolo), clarinet, harp, violin, viola, cello, piano, fixed media, 2002
PIANO:
Intersections, 1987
Réminiscences rêves, 2 quarter-tone pianos, 1991
Dual, piano, fixed media, 1995 (version of work for piano, 4 samplers)
ELECTROACOUSTIC:
Composição I, fixed media, 2001
MULTIMEDIA/PERFORMANCE:
To a world free from religions, fixed media, film (by André Sier), 2002
To a world free from countries, fixed media, film (by André Sier), 2002
Simbioses, fixed media, film (by Ana Carvalho), 2004–
DIDACTIC MUSIC:
Little Trio, 3 violins, viola ad libitum, 2000