Jorge Sousa

Jorge Sousa (1990) graduated in 2011, in Music – variant of instrument – Saxophone, at Oporto School of Music and Performing Arts (ESMAE, Oporto), under the guidance of Fernando Ramos and Henk van Twillert. At the time, he won the award Prémio Rotary Club Porto – Foz/Veloso & Troca, Lda. In 2016, he concluded his MA degree in Music Education, at University of Aveiro, by developing the dissertation "The Extended Techniques as a Didactic Resource and a Tool of Technical Development of the Repertoire for Saxophone Tenor in Basic Education".

At the same time, Jorge Sousa took part of several masterclasses with prestigious international saxophonists, such as: James Houlik, Claude Delangle, Arno Bornkamp, Antonio Felipe Belijar, Ties Mellema, and Mario Marzi. He was awarded in various national and international competitions, such as the National Competition of Wind Instruments Terras de La Salette, in Oliveira de Azeméis, and the Concorso Internazionale di Musica per Giovani Interpreti "Città di Chieri”, in Turin. 

Jorge Sousa played with the Oporto Symphonic Orchestra-Casa da Música, with the Flux Ensemble, with the Portuguese Saxophone Orchestra, with the Saxophone Quartet QUARTONES, with the Ensemble Vento do Norte, among others, performing in important national and international concert halls (Spain, The Netherlands, Italy, Austria, China, France and Venezuela). He performed as a soloist with several wind bands, namely: Portuguese Symphonic Wind Band, Symphonic Wind Band of the Aveiro Music Conservatory, Symphonic Wind Band ARMAB, Youth Symphonic Wind Band of Stª Maria da Feira, Oporto Military Wind Band and Symphonic Band of PSP.

Jorge Sousa actively works on the creation of new repertoire, and collaborated with composers such as Daniel Martinho, Ricardo Matosinhos, Nuno Costa, Tjako van Schie, Alexandre Almeida, André Ramos, and Chiel Meijering. He performs regularly in important saxophone festivals and events, from which stand out the presentations at the World Saxophone Congress (Zagreb, 2018), at the European Saxophone Congress EurSax (Oporto, 2017), at FISP (Palmela, 2019), and at the SaxoPorto Festival (Oporto, 2013). Additionally, he has been involved in different interdisciplinary projects, such as Banda Móvel (production of Radar 360º company), and was part of the production and organization of the Festival BSP Júnior and SaxoPorto 2013.

Currently, Jorge Sousa teaches at Academia de Música de Costa Cabral, in Oporto, and at Espinho Professional School of Music. Moreover, he is frequently invited to guide masterclasses all over the country. Besides, he is a member of the Portuguese Symphonic Wind Band and of the Symphonic Wind Band ARMAB.