In this workshop, Ana Maria Santos and Rui Maia – musicians who are teachers in the Notas de Contacto project – share the artistic results they have achieved through their weekly direct work with people with intellectual disabilities. These results are based on research, creation, and experimentation with an innovative symbology which, by transforming and simplifying musical concepts, favours inclusion, concentration and autonomy for those involved in the project. Participants in this workshop will be able to learn about and experiment with this new symbology, create musical textures, and handle several of the adapted instruments that have already been built in the Notas de Contacto dedicated space at the headquarters of the Portuguese Chamber Orchestra.

With: Ana Maria Santos (clarinet and coordination) and Rui Maia (flute and instrument making).

Target: teachers and therapists working in Private Institutions of Social Solidarity, music therapy students, instrument makers.

Capacity: 25 people

Language: Portuguese

Price: €15; 50% discount for MAAT Card holders

Buy tickets on the day at the MAAT ticket office

Programme

10.30 Presentation of the Notas de Contacto project
11.00 Introduction and explanation of the developed methodologies
11.45 Break
12.00 Experimentation with instruments and the project's methodologies - creation of sound textures 
13.00 Lunch
14.30 Instrument making 
15.30 General rehearsal – with the assistance of the workshop participants 
16.15 Conclusion of the workshop and preparation for the concert 
17.00 Concert

Ana Maria Santos holds a Doctorate with Distinction and Honours from the University of Évora. During her studies, she worked with Etienne Lamaison, Harry Sparnaay, and Michel Arrignon, on grants from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Carolina Foundation. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Évora, collaborates with the Portuguese Chamber Orchestra under the direction of conductor Pedro Carneiro, and also works on different projects that are part of the orchestra's artistic universe. In 2021 and 2022, she collaborated on musical theatre projects led by violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and was also invited to take part in the first Lucerne Festival Forward. The award Ana is most proud of is the honour she received at the hands of Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain when she was honoured by Michel Arrignon as the best student in her class in 2012.

Rui Borges was a student of Jacques Zoon at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía (2008-2013), on a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Carolina Foundation. At this school, he received the diploma for best student in the flute class - in 2009 and 2010 - from Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain. Rui is a member of the Portuguese Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Pedro Carneiro, and his collaboration in the project Notas de Contacto: OCPsolidária at CERCIOEIRAS stands out. He was a member of the Cascais and Oeiras Chamber Orchestra (2003-2006), the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra (2011), and the Plural Ensemble (2013-2019). Since 2013, he has collaborated with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra (Switzerland) under the direction of Cláudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Andris Nelsons, Riccardo Chailly, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jakub Hrusa, and Paavo Järvi. As a guest musician, he has collaborated with various orchestras, including the Saito Kinen Orchestra (Japan), Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Norway), Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Mozart (Italy), Orquestra Gulbenkian, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa (Portugal), and Ensemble MidVest (Denmark), which have given him the opportunity to work with prestigious conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, Peter Eötvos, Fabio Luisi, and Zsolt Nagy.

Notas de Contacto, an inclusive ensemble of people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities, is part of the solidarity programme of the Portuguese Chamber Orchestra - Musical Association. The partnership established with CERCIOEIRAS in 2009 develops a strategic vision of active citizenship in artistic and social inclusion and empowerment.