“Rodrigues’ guitar work is really outstanding throughout!”
— Classical Guitar Magazine
Winner of the Artists International Auditions (New York), the Concorso Sor (Rome), the Prémio Jovens Músicos, and a prizewinner in more than two dozen competitions including Salieri-Zinetti, Paris, Montélimar, Valencia, and Sernancelhe, Pedro Rodrigues began his musical journey at the age of 5, studying with José Mesquita Lopes at the Escola de Música do Orfeão de Leiria, where he completed his studies with the highest distinction as a scholarship holder of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He went on to study with Alberto Ponce at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, where he received the Advanced Concert Diplomas in Chamber Music and Guitar, the latter with the highest distinction, unanimity, and congratulations from the jury. He has taken part in masterclasses with David Russell, Leo Brouwer, Joaquín Clerch, and Darko Petrinjak.
Under the guidance of Paulo Vaz de Carvalho and Alberto Ponce, he completed his PhD at the University of Aveiro in 2011, as a scholarship holder of the Foundation for Science and Technology. He has performed as a soloist in internationally renowned venues such as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Salle Cortot in Paris, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, the Ateneo de Madrid, Sala Manuel de Falla in Madrid, Endler Hall in Cape Town, the India International Centre in New Delhi, Sala Raúl Juliá in San Juan, the Centro Cultural de Belém, Casa da Música, and the Grand Auditorium of the Gulbenkian Foundation, as well as at the Mikulov, Paris, Santo Tirso, Música Viva, Sernancelhe, Caruso Festival, Miguel Llobet, Forfest Kroměříž, and Vital Medeiros festivals, among others. He has premiered more than 60 works by leading Portuguese composers such as João Pedro Oliveira, Cândido Lima, Isabel Soveral, Sara Carvalho, Sérgio Azevedo, José Luís Ferreira, António Sousa Dias, and Carlos Caires, among others. Many of these works were dedicated to him.
He has made recordings for RTP, RDP, RTM, SABC, Český Rozhlas, and WIPR, and has recorded albums with the labels Numérica, Nuova Venezia, Portugaler, Slovart Music, DME, and JNS Music. He has performed as a soloist with the Orquestra Gulbenkian, Filarmonia das Beiras, Orquestra do Algarve, and Orquestra de Câmara de Cascais e Oeiras, among others. He is also regularly invited to teach masterclasses at conservatories and universities across Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia. His transcriptions and editions are published by Mel Bay Publications, Bergmann Editions, AVA Editions, and Notação XXI. As a researcher, he has given lectures in the United States, England, Brazil, and Portugal, and his articles have been published in journals such as Soundboard Scholar (USA) and Vortex (Brazil). He recently created and hosted the program “Seis Cordas Para Um País,” broadcast on Antena 2, and has published the books “O Jogo das Seis Cordas” (Notação XXI) and “The Breathing Hand” (Bergmann Edition). He is currently an Integrated Researcher at INET-md and Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Art at the University of Aveiro, where he serves as Director of the Master’s program in Music, Artistic Director of the University of Aveiro’s Autumn Festivals, and a member of the University’s General Council.
