Isabel Pereira

"...it was poetic and vividly imagined, Pereira moving seamlessly from rough-edged percussive sounds to a voice of creamy, virtuosic intensity."(in The Strad July 2004)Isabel Pereira studied at the Royal Academy of Music where she was awarded a Dip Ram for an outstanding performance in her final recital and the Hilda Wyme Memorial Award for best recital of viola. She concluded there her B Mus (first class) and Postgraduate Degrees with Distinction, under the guidance of Paul Silverthorne. Her numerous prizes include the 1st. Prize in RTP’S Young Musicians Award - Portugal, the Moir Carnegie Prize, Theodore Holland Viola Prize and the Max Gilbert Prize (RAM). Isabel has performed recitals in England, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Japan and has played as a soloist with the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Artave Orchestra. She is in great demand as a chamber musician as well: she’s a member of a duo with classical guitarist Joao Loureiro, with whom she performs regularly, including venues such as Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon and more recently she has been invited to perform with the Neiro Piano Trio. Isabel is also the co-founder and the principal viola of the Schoenberg String Sextet with whom she recorded for the RDP – radio of Portugal and given various concerts in Portugal. Since her graduation Isabel has played with major orchestras in the UK: Philharmonia Orchestra (including tours of Mexico, Japan and Europe with Ricardo Mutti and Charles Dutoit), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, among many others. In 2003 she was invited to be the principal viola of the “World Youth Orchestra” and of the “Chamber Ensemble”, she has integrated the “Royal Academy Soloists” and has leaded and co-leaded the Academy Orchestras. She has participated in various master classes with prestigious professors such as: Jerzy Kosmala, Tatjana Masurenko, Mikael Kugel, Hartmut Rohde and was personally invited to work with Gerard Causse in the “Academie Musicale de Villecroze” France. Isabel Pereira participated in the Brahms and Friends Festival and the Lionel Tertis Viola Festival and in the Berio Festival “Omaggio” playing Berio’s Sequenza VI for viola solo.I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4