Ana Seara

Born in 1985, Ana Seara is one of the most prominent Portuguese composers of her generation. She holds the Secondary Composition Course from the Calouste Gulbenkian Conservatory of Music in Braga; a Bachelor’s degree in Composition from the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (ESML); a Master’s degree in Composition from the University of Évora; and a Master’s degree in Music Teaching – Composition from ESML. She is currently a PhD candidate in Music Analysis and Theory at the University of Aveiro. She was a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation grantee, winner of several international composition competitions in Portugal, nominated for the 1st Prize for Young Composers at the Verbier Festival 2013, and appointed “Young Composer in Residence” at Casa da Música-Porto in 2014. She has had the opportunity to work with composers such as Luca Francesconi, Péter Eötvös, George Benjamin, Moritz Eggert, Luís Tinoco, Carlos Caires, and António Pinho Vargas, among others. Her works have been commissioned and premiered by the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Casa da Música Symphony Orchestra, Remix Ensemble, Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, Teatro Nacional de S. Carlos, Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, Fundación Albéniz, Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg, LOD Theatre, Theaterakademie August Everding, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, among others. She has a particular interest in music theatre, opera, and the creation of music for children and young musicians. She teaches at ESML in the Bachelor in Music – Composition, the Bachelor in Music Technologies, and the Master in Music Teaching – Composition.

Doctoral Project

Título
De L’Amour de Loin (2000) a Innocence (2018): O uso da Palavra e da Voz na Música de Kaija Saariaho

Advisor
Sara Carvalho and Vasco Mendonça

Abstract
Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023), one of the most influential and prominent composers of our time, made an indelible contribution to the development of opera and contemporary classical music staged works. My research aims to study and analyze the development of her musical language, particularly the use of words and voice—both sung and in other forms of vocalization—in the period between her first opera, L’Amour de Loin (2000) and Innocence (2018), the latter, which summarizes her vocal approaches. I intend to compare the vocal approach between works for the stage and concert and understand the changes, or lack thereof, in compositional strategies and processes.

Keywords
Words; Voice; Music; Opera; Kaija Saariaho; Composition; Analysis.