The II VilaNova Chamber Music Festival is set to take place in Monchique on November 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2023, at the Main Church, with free admission. Reservations (optional) can be made via SMS to the number +351 925130231.

At the Festival’s opening, original compositions by Svetlana Bakushina and Seibas Gamboa will be presented. They will perform their own pieces, accompanied by the special guest soprano, Michele Tomaz, alongside a selection of favorite classical works by Beethoven, Villa-Lobos, Piatti, and Massenet.

November 3rd, 8:30 PM Composers from Monchique. Concert of contemporary classical music. Composers: Svetlana Bakushina – piano and Seibas Gamboa – cello Special guest: Michele Tomaz – Soprano

Biographies:

SEIBAS GAMBOA – Cello As a principal cellist, Seibas participated in various youth orchestras before advancing his studies under Prof. Schulz in Mainz, Germany. In 2014, he assumed the role of conductor for the Mainz Symphony Orchestra, which he held for two years. During his orchestral journey, Seibas embarked on a musical odyssey across Europe and China, which led to the creation of his debut album, “Odisea Gorila,” and a collection of compositions for eight cellos, all performed solo by himself. In the previous year, Seibas made a significant mark as a soloist, recording “Espejos en la Arena” with the University Orchestra of Puebla, Mexico. https://www.seibas.com

SVETLANA BAKUSHINA – Pianist, Composer, and Artistic Director of the VilaNova Chamber Music Festival in Monchique. A Siberian native, she obtained her Master’s degree in Music Education – Pedagogy for Piano in 2001 at the Novosibirsk College of Arts and a Master’s degree in Cinematography at the State Technical University of Novosibirsk in 2006. After moving to Portugal, she established her private piano studio. Bakushina’s music has been featured in the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival. She has directed and acted in short fiction films and produced over three hundred television commercials worldwide. Furthermore, as an award-winning digital video art installation artist and photographer, she has participated in over a hundred exhibitions and has her works featured in the collections of the State Museum of Art in Novosibirsk, the Museum of Fine Arts in Omsk, and various private collections. Svetlana is involved in several active musical projects, with regular performances including an Original Repertoire Fusion Quartet, a six-hand Piano Trio, and solo classical and original piano and harpsichord performances. Her first solo album, “Sun and Frost,” was released in 2021. https://svetlanabakushina.com/

MICHELE TOMAZ – Soprano. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Singing and Lyrical Art at the University of São Paulo in 2011. She then lived in Italy, where she was a vocal coach for the choir of the Church of San Pietro Apostolo in Verona. In 2016 and 2019, she completed her Masters in Music Performance and Teaching, both specializing in Singing, at the School of Applied Arts of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco. She joined the Wiener Singkademie choir of the Konzerthaus in Vienna for the performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, conducted by Ton Koopman, and in 2016, she participated in the choir for J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion, directed by Ketil Haugsand, at the Co-Cathedral of Castelo Branco. In January 2022, she portrayed the character of Bastienne in W. A. Mozart’s opera Bastien und Bastienne, in a production directed by João de Brito at the Carlos do Carmo Auditorium in Lagoa. She currently maintains her concert activity mainly in the Algarve, where she resides, performing with the Dualistas (voice and piano) and the Duo Atlanticus (voice and harpsichord). She also works as a Singing and Vocal Practice teacher at the Conservatório de Música de Loulé – Francisco Rosado.