“With the Chopin Etude op.25 no.7, Nuno Ventura de Sousa filled the hall with a beauty that cannot be expressed with words. Listening to this quality of performance in a competition is nothing short of a miracle.”
– in Chopin Magazine, Japan.
Nuno Ventura de Sousa was born in July 1996. He started his piano studies with professor Maria José Guedes, in Porto Music Conservatoire. He was admitted in Hannover Music University and and in University of North Texas, having chosen the later to continue his studies with Maestro Vladimir Viardo, Gold Medal in Van Cliburn Competition and disciple of Lev Naumof. After graduating from this school in 2017, he is currently (2019) enrolled in Masters studies in Performance in the University of Music and Performing Arts in Viena with the acclaimed Professor Jiracek von Arnim.
Nuno Ventura de Sousa obtained almost fifty prizes (around 40 first place prizes) in national and international competitions in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro and USA, including 1st prize in Santa Cecilia Competition (Porto), 1st prize in Antón García Abril Competition (Teruel) and 1st prize in “Manja” Competition (Montenegro), and also 2nd prize in “César Franck” Competition (Belgium) and 2nd prize ex-aequo in “Manhattan” Competition (New York),
He performed in many recitals in several halls in Portugal, remaining Europe, USA and Japan. Highlights include the opening of 2016 and 2019 EDP Piano Cycle at Casa da Música in Porto and the Recitals in António de Almeida Foundation. He participated in Masterclasses with worldclass musicians such as Dmitri Bashkirov, Arie Vardi, Andrei Diev, Logan Skelton, Gabriel Sanches, Artur Pizarro, Lovro Pogorelich and Boris Kraljevic.
Ventura de Sousa started composing when he was 11. He has been actively doing that ever since, having completed so far four piano Sonatas (the latest being the first one published), other sets (like “Notes in a Diary” in e flat minor), several preludes, transcriptions, etc. His influences include Medtner and Rachmaninoff, orthodox choral music and folk Slavic songs.