GUITAR: THE GROUPS WITH WHOM I PLAY
Throughout the years I have fortunately had the opportunity to play in a lot of groups with many different musicians. Each group, some more than others, has contributed to my language as a guitar player. Nowadays, despite causal performances in other artists projects and my work as a freelancer, I regularly play with my own groups. You can learn about each one of them in it’s own webpage.
COMPOSING: MY APPROACH
My experience as a guitar player, together with the study of the work of different composers I admire, bring a very own language to my musical speech (as expected in every composer). Each piece is born with the willing of experimenting something new and it is mainly written to specific musicians. This explains the choice of different instrumentations, some of them are very atypical. To those who are interested in taking a look at my scores, please contact me. I hope you’ll enjoy them!
- “A ponte dos Lamentos” (Solo guitar; 2009) · Buy Score
- “Ponta de S. Lourenço” (Solo guitar; 2010) · Score
- “Salgueiro da Sombra de um Sonho” (Solo guitar; 2011)
- “Valsa Matina” (Solo guitar; 2012)
- “Lethes” (Solo doublebass and real-time electronic; 2013) · Listen
- “Insiste, persiste e não desiste!” (Solo accordion; 2013) · Listen · Buy Score
- “Fantasias” (Solo guitar, 2014) · Buy Score
- “O Motivo da menina Laite” (Solo flute; 2015) · Listen · Buy Score
- “Seis Canções” (Female choir; 2009) · Score
- “Joana D`Arc” (Clarinet in Bb Quartet; 2010) · Score
- “Lima” (Clarinet, Oboe and Piano; 2011) · Listen
- “Meditações sobre uma terra despida” (8 Guitars; 2011) · Score
- “Quadrazais” (Guitar Duo; 2011) · Score
- “Eypida” (Violin and Cello; 2012) · Buy Score
- “What´s up, Doc?” (Clarinet, Accordion and Doublebass; 2012) · Listen
- “De violetas se cobre” (Soprano, Clarinet and Piano; 2012, Poem: José Saramago) · Listen · Score
- “Prisma” (4 Guitars; 2012)
- “Elegia a um poeta andarilho” (4 Guitars; 2012) · Listen
- “As canções possíveis” (5 song for Soprano and 2 Guitars; 2012, Poem: José Saramago) · Listen
- “Sounds of an annoyed person” (Marimba, Vibraphone e electronic; 2013) · Listen · Buy Score
- “The Frog that swallowed the Dog” (4 Accordions; 2013) · Score · Listen
- “A Skeleton in the closet” (Flute, Oboe and Piano; 2015) · Listen · Buy Score
- “Word study: Manipulation” (Clarinet and Accordion; 2015) · Score · Buy Score
- “A roldana” (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Trombone, Tuba, Electric Guitar, Violin, Viola, Cello and Electronic; 2012)
- “O Sr. Yin e o Sr. Yang não se falam” (2 Guitars and String Orchestra; 2012) · Listen
- “Viagem ao Sol” (Sax soprano, Piano, Classical Guitar, Soprano, Accordion, String Quartet and Doublebass; 2013, Poem: José Saramago) · Listen
- “Quadrazais” (2 Guitars and String Orchestra; 2014) · Listen
- “Llanto a un maestro” (Concert for Bb Clarinet and Orchestra; 2014) · Score
- “Akasha” (Concert for 4 guitars and orchestra, 2015) · Score · Listen
- “Absent” (Directed by Miguel Veríssimo; 2016) · Watch Movie
ARRANGEMENTS: MY WORK AS A MUSIC DIRECTOR / PRODUCER
As a musician I have always had the will to play original repertoire in my groups. The lack of repertoire or arrangements for the instruments in these groups have led me to dedicate time to make arrangements and original compositions and, consequently, to assume the role of musical director. Since then I have created several projects and made arrangements for a variety of artists.
DISCOGRAPHY
AS A GUITARRIST
DISCOGRAPHY
AS A COMPOSER
DISCOGRAPHY
AS AN ARRANGER / MUSIC DIRECTOR
7 Sóis 7 Luas
Mythos Orkestra, 2013
Spotify · iTunes
BIOGRAPHY
My passion for Flamenco drove me to start learning flamenco guitar, firstly with Pedro Jóia (Lisbon) and later with Oscar Herrero (Madrid). In 2011, already a graduated Classic Guitar student, I started my post-graduation in Composition at ESML, where I studied with composers António Pinho Vargas, Carlos Caires and Luís Tinoco, with I finished in June 2015.
I took my first steps in music in Almada and I am extremely thankfull to the Municipality of Almada for their constant support during my career. I am a regular member of the resident jury panel for the Almada’s Intervention Music National Contest since 2007, and I am executive producer of Almada’s Fado Meetings since 2012. In 2011 I was distinguished with the Young Talent award by the Municipality of Almada.
Throughout my career I had the fortune to play with several artists across the globe: Teresa Salgueiro, with whom I played in the “Voltarei à minha terra” tour (2010-2012); as the musical director of the Mythos Orquestra from the “Festival 7 Sóis 7 Luas” (2013-2014) and of the Quórum Ballet in the show “Correr o Fado” (since 2011); as a soloist guitar in Christans concert of the Gulbenkian Choir in December 2014; I played with Orquestra Sinfonietta de Lisboa in the opening concert of Festa do Avante 2015; regular collaborations with some of the critically acclaimed artists of the Portuguese culture such as Mariza, Ricardo Ribeiro, Mísia, Cuca Roseta, Ana Laíns, Carla Pires, Teresa Lopes Alves, Joana Melo, amongst others.
As a composer I wrote the piece for the Young Musicians Award 2014 in the category of Accordion (commissioned by Antena 2 – RTP). I have written for different projects and music styles, ranging from small chamber music groups to full-sized orchestras. The music I have composed has been performed by some of the most notorious Portuguese music interpreters and in several countries from the USA to China.
Even though I have participated in many different projects I was always keen to make my own groups where I could explore ideas and music languages that I like while working both as a guitar player and as a composer. Hence, in that double role of guitar player and composer, I am a founding member of Melech Mechaya, Lisbon Guitar Quartet, Mano Quartet and André Santos & MOB Ensemble. As a Fado Viola (guitarist), I am currently a resident musician at the Fado House “Mascote da Atalaia” in Bairro Alto (Lisbon).
In 2016 I was honored with the Newly Published Music Competition Award by the National Flute Assotiation (EUA) with the work “O motivo da menina Laite” for solo flute.
+351 964 389 756 · aryasoto@gmail.com