Biography

Helder Sousa (harpsichordist, researcher and teacher) was born on Madeira Island and began studying harpsichord and organ at Conservatório - Escola Profissional das Artes da Madeira, completing the Course in Harpsichord in 2006 under Giancarlo Mongelli. That same year, he enrolled at the Porto School of Music and Performing Arts (ESMAE), studying under Ana Mafalda Castro. As part of the ERASMUS programme, he studied at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica Dall’Abaco, in Verona, taking harpsichord lessons with Marco Vincenzi and chamber music lessons with Franco Pavan and Enrico Parizzi. In 2012, he completed his Master’s degree in Music at the Lisbon School of Music (ESML) with an artistic project dedicated to the keyboard works of Pedro de Araújo (c.1630–1707). 

As part of his musical research, he took part as a performer in the projects ‘La obra musical renascentista’ (University of Valladolid, Spain) and ‘Ver o que o Passado (Ou)viu’ (University of Coimbra). As a harpsichordist and organist, he has collaborated with various national orchestras and ensembles, including O Bando de Surunyo and Quarto Tom Ensemble, and is a founding member and co-artistic director of Musurgia Ensemble, the group that is now the focus of his artistic activity. He also took part in the recording of the album “Telemann: Recorder Sonatas” by João Francisco Távora, released by Coviello Classics.

He currently teaches at the Conservatório de Música Calouste Gulbenkian de Aveiro, is co-artistic director of Cáster Antiqua – Ovar Early Music Festival, and is a researcher on the ‘Mundos e Fundos’ project at the Centre for Classical and Humanistic Studies at the University of Coimbra, where he conducts research into 16th- and 17th-century Iberian keyboard music.