Carlos Damas


Carlos Damas is a leading Portuguese classical violinist and recording artist for Dux Records, Brilliant Classics, and Naxos. He is particularly known for his Fritz Kreisler interpretations and world premiere recordings of works by the Portuguese composers António Fragoso, Luís de Freitas Branco, Fernando Lopes-Graça and Sérgio Azevedo.

Life and career

Damas was born in Coimbra where he began his musical studies at the Coimbra Conservatory at the age of three. When he was six, his family moved to Lisbon where he continued his violin studies with Vasco Broco, Leonor Prado, and Alexandra Mendes. He made his solo concert debut when he was 15 in a performance with the Portuguese Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Joaquim da Silva Pereira. He then pursued further studies at the Paris Conservatory with Jacqueline Lefèvre and Ivry Gitlis. He premiered Luís de Freitas Branco's Concert for Violin in Paris in 1993. Sérgio Azevedo's Reflections on a Portuguese Lullaby for solo violin and string orchestra was written for and dedicated to Damas.
Damas is a regular soloist with the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa., Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata de St. Severin, Camerata da Madeira, Winnipeg Symphony, Guanzhou Symphony Orchestra, St. Luke's Orchestra, Mission Chamber Orchestra of San José. He has also performed in Macao with the Macao Chamber Orchestra several times since 1997 and has appeared as a soloist in concerts organized by the Melody for Dialogue Among Civilizations Association in conjunction with UNESCO, including a performance of the Bach Double Violin Concerto at Lincoln Center in 2007. Carlos Damas has a PhD in Education and Psychology of Music. Is instrument is one Giovanni Battista Gabrielli, the "ex-Isham", dated from 1763.

Recordings

Carlos Damas made the first world recordings of several Portuguese composers music, recorded for the labels Dux, Brilliant Classics, and Naxos: