Helena Caspurro

helena caspurro piano/voice/composition

beginning

She started her musical practice at ten in the Juventude Musical Portuguesa, Oporto. Marília Vaz e Viana, Helena Sá e Costa, Lina Reis Porto and Lino Gaspar were a decisive contribution to her classical training.

academic degrees

With a graduation in Philosophy by the Oporto University she finished her Degree in Piano by the Oporto Music Conservatory and the Mastership in Musical Sciences at the Coimbra University. At the Aveiro University she defended, in 2006, her Doctorship thesis, Efeitos da aprendizagem da audição da sintaxe harmónica no desenvolvimento da improvisação – Learning procedures in harmonic syntax audiation and related effects in improvisation skills, a work resulting from an experimental study with 9th grade students from the Artistic Professional School ARTAVE.

in the jazz as a pianist and author

It’s with Paulo Gomes that in 1996 she starts her Jazz studies as a pianist in the Oporto Jazz School. Her first public performance was at the 7th Oporto Jazz Festival with the Quartet of that same school. Being one of the few Portuguese women’s pianists connected with the Jazz she later presents herself with the Isabel Ventura Quartet and directs several formations as the Trio/4, the Helena Caspurro Quartet and the Helena Caspurro & José Fidaldo from which will result several public performances: Oporto (Café Concerto of Rivoli, BFlat, Heritage, Maus Hábitos, ESMAE), Maia (Municipal Auditorium) Tondela (ACERT Festival), Soure (Cultural Week of Soure); Gaia, Coimbra (Auditorium of The Music Conservatory and ESEC), Aveiro (FIMA – International Music Festival of Aveiro) Lisbon (Tardes do CCB). From these performances we should highlight the ones where the saxophonist Mário Santos, the vibraphonist Brendan Hemsworth and the percussionist Andrés Tarabia (Pancho), participated as guest soloists, it’s with the concert Impressões Íntimas and later Falas da Pele that she deepens and develops her work of originals to the Quintet she is meanwhiledirecting, and she still presents her own voice for the first time “annexing” it to the pianistic interpretation.

edited and to edit CDs

Colapsopira is her most recent work of originals which she hopes to edit soon, after Mulher Avestruz – CD where the piano-voice solo appears for the first time, presented in 2003 in all the FNAC stores in the country and had a special edition to celebrate the 30 years of the Aveiro University. There was a release concert in that same institution (Rectory Auditorium). Colapsopira, where her several artistic ways are, even more maturely, mixed up – the Jazz, the improvisation, the Bossa, the “Classical” the Pop... – includes the participation of percussionist Elizabeth Davis.
With Mulher Avestruz she performed in several national showrooms namely – Vila Real Theatre, Almeida Garret Auditorium (Palácio de Cristal, Oporto), Helena Sá e Costa Theatre (Oporto) Art and Culture House of Pasredes (Encontrartes Festival), Alçude (Évora) she received flattering reviews from the press (Mil Folhas, Público; Se7e; Primeiro de Janeiro; Diário de AveiroMagazine Artes; JN, etc) and was interviewed by the some media (Aveiro Radio Station, NTV, Se7e).

teaching and musical animation with children

She is also involved in music teaching. From her peculiar attraction by music pedagogy resulted some educative works involving children from 5 to 10, namely in Coimbra (Technology and art Academy) and in St. Tirso (Musical Culture Centre – ARTAVE).
She’s also the author of musical animation projects for numerous groups of children such as Era uma Vez um Somputador..., a workshop presented with great success at the Aveiro University, for students of some Portuguese Elementary Schools. At the same time she’s been developing activities as a pedagogue in the training of music teachers, being frequently invited to direct some seminars for educators in the ambit of national continuous training programs as the FOCO, the PEPT among others.

training and investigation

The learning improvisation subject has been deserving special attention leading her to the direction of seminars in several schools, universities and music conservatories in Portugal and abroad – Aveiro, Coimbra, Leiria, Viseu, S. Miguel –Azores, Manchester University (England), Prince Claus Conservatoire Groningen (Holland) – as well as to the publishing of some articles (Revista da Associação Portuguesa de Educação Musical – APEM; Comunicarte – José Duarte’s Jazz site).

education and university teaching

She was invited by the Department of Secondary Education of the Education Ministry to participate in the Commission for the Curricular Review of the Vocational Music Teaching, work she carried out between September 1999 and April 2000, in Lisbon.
She’s an Auxiliary Teacher in the Art and Communication Department in the Aveiro University where she has been participating in some artistic projects, namely th