Nuno Aroso
Nuno Aroso - Portugal, 1978.
Widely recognized as one of the most creative and active percussionists of his generation, Nuno Aroso’s solo activity has taken on a fundamental role in his artistic life. Particularly focused on the percussion repertoire from the 20th and 21st centuries, Nuno Aroso actively collaborates with numerous composers from the most varied aesthetic fields and parts of the world.
The result of these collaborations is reflected in the growth of a personal and idiosyncratic repertoire that simultaneously contributes to the development of percussion literature. More than 100 world premieres have been performed by Nuno Aroso, who has also been the first to record a large part of this repertoire. Peter Ablinger, Oscar Bianchi, Peter Klatzow, João Pedro Oliveira, Kumiko Omura, Luís Antunes Pena and Matthew Burtner are among the many composers who have written for Nuno Aroso.
He performs, teaches and serves as a jury member alongside leading artists, conductors and composers of our time at renowned contemporary music festivals such as Musica Strasbourg, Maerz Musik, Festival Agora – IRCAM, Connect Festival, Ciclo de Música Contemporánea de Buenos Aires, and many others across Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Brazil, China, Thailand, South Africa, Argentina, Canada, Sweden, Greece, England, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Tunisia, South Korea and Chile.
Strongly motivated by the enrichment and renewal of the concert as a complete artistic experience, Nuno Aroso frequently establishes artistic relationships with other disciplines including dance, cinema, theatre and literature. His commitment to chamber music, both as a soloist and ensemble musician, has led him to collaborate with a wide range of ensembles, orchestras and artists around the world.
Over recent years, Nuno Aroso has created a series of thematic duos with other instrumentalists, aiming to highlight the chameleonic character of percussion when combined with other musical voices. From this project, a CD and book featuring selected scores and texts, as well as a CD collection and a filmed documentary, were scheduled for release later in 2017 under the label of the national television: 3'30'', Limine, Timpan et alia, Viscera, Magnet and Lignum.
“
Nuno Aroso tells Stories that make up a stunning, interrogative, aural and visual poetic narrative, about what it means to be here, now. Isn't that, after all, the great aim of art?
— Jorge Castro Ribeiro
Having completed the percussion course at the Escola Profissional de Música de Espinho at the age of 18, Nuno Aroso pursued his university level studies at the Escola Superior de Música do Porto (20/20 in final recital), and later on at the Conservatoire National de Strasbourg, obtaining the Soloist Diploma. In Paris, he approached the repertoire of the contemporary musical theatre for percussion under Jean Pierre Drouet. During the academic studies, Nuno Aroso was an active participant in numerous masterclasses and seminars, looking for the references in the percussion and contemporary music field. Nuno Aroso is Doctor in Music after concluding his Phd thesis: The Gesture's narrative - Contemporary Music for Percussion, at Catholic University, Portugal. In 2001 he was awarded with the Academic Merit Prize of the Anto´nio de Almeida Foundation and in 2008 he was given a Creators Prize by The National Centre for Culture for the solo cd, Technicolor.
Passionate by percussion education, Nuno Aroso carries out a solid teaching activity. After gathering a solid experience in teaching at higher education level, he is at the present Head of the Percussion Department at Minho University in Portugal. Nuno Aroso extends his pedagogical activity ministering masterclasses and seminars in universities, conservatoires and percussion events in Europe, South America, North America, Asia.
He is researcher at CITAR (Research Centre in Science and Technology of the Arts) - Catholic University and focuses his attention on the research of the Percussive Gesture ´s Narrative. Nuno Aroso appears as speaker, and as scientific committee member in international conferences in Portugal and abroad.
Nuno Aroso Plays Adams Percussion Intruments.
“
Nuno Aroso teaches matter the privilege of sound and places himself between Man and His great relationship with art in its most inscrutable form, that abstract and thrilling race for music. The result is the emergence of an unforgettable soundtrack for our lives, like a film which we can, thus, also imbue with colour.
— Valter Hugo Mae
