Jorge Prendas was born in Oporto in 1968. He started his musical studies at the age of 10 at the Conservatory of Porto finishing the intermediate course in Composition. After graduating in Computer Science by the University of Porto, Jorge went on with his musical studies at the University of Aveiro, on the Composition course. He started to work composition and electronic music with teachers such as João Pedro Oliveira and Evgueny Zouldilkine.
Two of his electronic works were acclaimed at the Musica Viva International Festival. In 2002, “A aparente ilusão de um som” won an Encouragement Award and was selected to be performed at the Seoul International Computer Music Festival 2002. In 2003, “Uma leitura possível para um poema de Eugénio de Andrade” received an Honorable Mention and was performed at the Festival Synthèse 2004 in Bourges. In 2011, his piece “Qualche Respiro” was one of the three finalists at the Harvey G. Phillips Awards for Excelence in Composition. Jorge Prendas writes for different instruments and ensembles, and some of his works have already been published and recorded. Among his compositions, there are also soundtracks composed for awarded Portuguese films.
He taught Composition, History of Music and Acoustics at the Academy of Music Óscar da Silva in Matosinhos, at the Academy and Professional School of Music in Espinho, at the Conservatory of Porto, among other schools and institutions. In September 2007, Jorge Prendas started to work at the Casa da Música as a workshop leader, in the Education Service. At the Casa da Música, he developed a great number of musical projects. He was also music director in some productions Casa da Música presented and was invited to be the Head of Education of Casa da Música in 2010. From 2013 to 2015, Jorge Prendas was a member of the steering committee of Reseo (Réseau Européen de sensibilisation à l’opéra, la musique et la danse). He is responsible for a training program at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan since the end of 2013, preparing more than 200 Japanese musicians to become workshop leaders. He was also invited to teach at L’accademia La Scala in Milan at the Master of Arts Management since 2016.
Jorge Prendas is also the founder of the most well known Portuguese “A cappella” group “Vozes da Rádio”, with whom he has already recorded several CDs and DVDs. This singing quartet has performed more than 500 concerts since 1991, not only in Portugal, but also in Spain, England and China.
WORKS
¿Por qué no me tuteas? | flute & electronics
solo arenoso | marimba