Famalicão gathers again young musicians from the county, as well as musical talents trained in Famalicão’s musical schools in the 3rd edition of JOF – Young Orchestra of Famalicão. The short-term internship takes place from 30th of August to 5th of September at Casa das Artes, and will culminate the realisation of three concerts at the grand auditorium on 3rd and 4th of September, at 21h30, and a concert on 5th of September, at 18h00, in Altice Fórum Braga.
For the 2021 edition of the JOF, 135 applications were received, which resulted in the selection of almost 80 musicians to string instruments (violins, violas, cellos, double basses and harps), wind instruments (flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, tenor trombones, bass trombones and tuba) and percussion instruments. The predominant age group in JOF is between 18 to 22 years old, which corresponds to approximately 75% of the group in stage. Also of note is the presence of young instrumentalists who have studied or are studying in schools abroad, in countries such as Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Scotland, England, Spain and Belgium.
The artistic direction of the Young Orchestra of Famalicão remains in the hands of José Eduardo Gomes, conductor from Famalicão, titular maestro of the Classical Orchestra of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and Professor at the Escola Superior de Música e das Artes do Espetáculo do Porto (ESMAE). A versatile musician and instrumentalist, José Eduardo Gomes began his musical studies in Famalicão and went on to ESMAE where he studied clarinet and graduated in the class of António Saiote. He went on to study orchestra conducting in the Haute École de Musique de Genève (Switzerland) in the class of Laurent Gay and choral conducting in the class of Celso Antunes. He has been awarded in national and international competitions, where stands out the Young Musicians Prize, the Marcos Romão Competition and the International Competition Villa de Montroy, Valencia. Recently, in 2020, he won 1st prize in the European Union Conducting Competition, as well as the Beethoven prize in the same competition.
This edition of JOF also counts with the presence of the Portuguese pianist Nuno Marques, currently living in New York where he develops its career, and the experienced composer Luís Tinoco, a lecturer at the Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon whose music is published by the University of York Press, who participate as soloist and guest composer, respectively.
I tis recalled that JOF is a short-term symphonic orchestra Internship aimed at young instrumentalists from and/or with pre-university training in Vila Nova de Famalicão, which has been held annually since 2019. This initiative, organised by the City Council, aims to praise the strong and dynamic cultural ecosystem associated with the specialised artistic education and professional music education existing in Vila Nova de Famalicão, composed by CCM - Centre for Musical Culture, ArtEduca - Vila Nova de Famalicão Music Conservatory and ARTAVE - Artistic Professional School of Vale do Ave.
All concerts are free of charge, but it is obligatory to pick up the ticket. The tickets for the concerts on September 3rd and 4th at Casa das Artes de Vila Nova de Famalicão can be obtained as of today, August 31st, at the box office of this space, and for the concert on September 5th, at Altice Fórum Braga, through the email ana.machado@investbraga.com . Please note that the capacity of the venues is limited, according to the restrictions in force due to the pandemic situation.