Carlos Canhoto Almeida

He holds a PhD in Music (Performance branch) from the University of Aveiro, making him the first Portuguese saxophonist to obtain this qualification. He earned a degree in Saxophone and Chamber Music from the Conservatoire de Cergy-Pontoise, France, in the class of Jean-Yves Fourmeau, with the classification of Médaille d’Or. He also holds a degree in Music Sciences from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He received the 1st Prize in the “UFAM” competition in Paris, in the “Supérieur” category, in 1995, and the 1st Prize in the “Île de France” competition, in Chamber

He performed as a soloist at the World Saxophone Congress, in the 14th (Ljubljana, 2006), 17th (Strasbourg, 2015), 18th (Zagreb, 2018), and 20th (Harbin, 2025) editions. He has collaborated with various composers in the creation of new music, having premiered over 80 works by composers such as Christopher Bochmann, Piet Swerts, Pedro Amaral, Antonin Servière, Amílcar Vasques Dias, Ângela da Ponte, Ângela Lopes, António Chagas Rosa, José Carlos Sousa, Eduardo Luís Patriarca, Sérgio Azevedo, Fernando C. Lapa, Sara Carvalho, and Hugo Vasco Reis, among many others. He has thus contributed to the growth of the contemporary repertoire for saxophone, particularly from Portuguese composers, with an emphasis on chamber music.

He played as a soloist with the PSP Symphonic Band, the Portuguese Symphonic Band, the MPMP Ensemble, and the Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras. He recorded four CDs: Soli (2018), featuring new music for solo saxophone by Portuguese composers; Shout (2016), with music for solo saxophone and for saxophone and piano (with pianist Natalia Riabova); and, with the Síntese – Contemporary Music Group, the albums 2010 (2010) and Poiesis (2019).

He was a member of the Organizing Committee of the 2nd European Saxophone Congress, which took place in Porto in 2017. He is the Chairman of the Audit Board of the Portuguese Saxophone Association. He is the founder and artistic director of Síntese – Contemporary Music Group, currently the most active Portuguese contemporary music group.

He is an integrated researcher at INET-md. He is a professor at the School of Applied Arts (ESART) of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco and at the Regional Conservatory of Castelo Branco.