João Santos

João Pereira Santos began learning the piano with Rita Ferreira and started studying music at the age of 12 at the Nossa Senhora do Cabo Music School in Linda-a-Velha, where he studied piano with Marina Dellalyan. In 2019, he enrolled at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel in Belgium, completing his bachelor’s degree in piano in 2022 and his master’s degree in piano in 2024 under the supervision of Professor Jan Michiels. In 2024, he also obtained a diploma in music writing and composition with high distinction, under the supervision of Professor Ann Kuppens.

He has attended masterclasses with Amy Lin, António Rosado, Bertrand Chamayou, Constantin Sandu, Daniel Bento, Fausto Neves, Grigory Gruzman, Henry Kramer, Jeffrey Swann, Jorge Moyano, Lucas Debargue, Luís Filipe Sá, Manuela Gouveia, Mariam Batsashvili, Olga Kern, Paulo Oliveira, Teresa da Palma Pereira, Yan Mikirtumov and Yulianna Avdeeva. He has also taken lessons with Aleksandar Madzar, Bart Bouckaert, Boyan Vodenitcharov, Hans Ryckelynck, Inge Spinette, Jill Lawson, Katia Veekmans, Marco Mantovani, Nuno Cernadas, Piet Kuijken and Thomas Dieltjens. In the field of chamber music, he has attended masterclasses with Carlo Bertola, Carmen M. González, Dinara Galeeva, Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro, Katarzyna Jankowska, Lars Anders Tomter, Marje Lohuaru and Natalia Sakkos. In 2025, he enrolled in the Doctoral Programme in Music, specialising in Performance, at the University of Aveiro, under the supervision of Professor Paulo Oliveira.

Doctoral Project

Title
O Mito de Fausto aos olhos de Liszt

Advisor

Paulo Oliveira (UA/INET-md)

Abstract

This research project proposes the creation of a piano recital that presents the Faust myth as a narrative journey, centred on the piano works of Franz Liszt. Drawing on the myth’s enduring presence and aesthetic significance in European cultural tradition since the sixteenth century, as well as its widespread reception in music and the arts, the project explores how selected works by Liszt engage with episodes, scenes, characters and central tensions of the Faustian universe, particularly as portrayed in the literary versions by Lenau and Goethe.

The main objective is to develop a series of recitals that function both as musical performances and as forms of critical interpretation, offering a coherent reading of the Faust myth through Liszt’s piano repertoire. The programme will include works with established connections to the Faustian universe, as well as pieces that reveal dramaturgical and expressive affinities. The research draws primarily on the concepts of intertextuality and dialogism as applied to musicology, approaching the musical work as a space of interaction between texts, discourses and aesthetic traditions. Particular attention will be given to thematic metamorphosis as a principle of musical construction and a potential means of narrative articulation, exploring how the transformation of musical elements may reflect the emotions, conflicts and dramatic moments of the myth. The project aims to contribute to the study of the relationship between literature and music and to a deeper understanding of the dramaturgical and intertextual dimensions of Liszt’s piano works through a recital that explores the Faust myth as a whole.

Keywords
Franz Liszt; Faust Myth; Piano; Artistic Research; Intertextuality; Lenau; Goethe.