Castra Leuca Trio

Nicolas Ramirez Celis - violin

Joaquim Pires - guitar

Henrique Andrade - double bass

The Castra Leuca Trio draws on melodies from the Portuguese hymnal, transforming them into compositions whose richness transcends purely traditional music and places them more squarely in the chamber music category. They have performed at festivals in Portugal, Spain, and France. In 2019, they released their first CD, Primeiro Andamento, which received excellent reviews from the specialized press and was regularly broadcast on the radio in Portugal (Antena 1 and Antena 2), Spain, the Czech Republic, the United States, Australia, Brazil, and Colombia. The Castra Leuca Trio's second CD was released in December 2023.

Nicolas Ramirez Celis was born in Colombia. He holds a Master's degree in Music Performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and a Master's degree in Violin and Ensemble Teaching from the Castelo Branco School of Applied Arts. His teachers have included Amparo Botero, Krassimira Vasseva, Susanne Stanzeleit, and Dona Lee Croft. From the beginning of his career, he has had a passion for teaching, as several students from his class have gone on to study at higher education institutions in Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland. He has taught for several years at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, St. John's College Cardiff, Monmouth School, and Christ College Brecon. Since 2010, he has taught violin and ensemble at the Castelo Branco Conservatory.

Joaquim Santos Pires, born in Frankfurt, began his music studies with clarinet at the age of six at the Philharmonic Orchestra of Ladoeiro, Portugal. At sixteen, he began studying classical guitar at the Castelo Branco Regional Conservatory with Jorge Pires. Later, he attended the Amateur Music Academy of Lisbon, in the guitar class of Ana Sofia Cerqueira. He continued his studies at the Vocational School of Music and Art of Almada, in the class of Júlio Guerreiro, and completed his secondary education with vocational training in classical guitar at the Technical School of Image and Communication, in the class of Walter Lopes. He later attended the Universidade Nova de Lisbon, studying musicology in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities. He then attended the Lisbon School of Music, where he earned a degree in Instrument/Classical Guitar with António Jorge Gonçalves. He later applied to the Castelo Branco School of Applied Arts, after completing a Master's degree in Education, specializing in guitar and ensemble classes. He is currently a master's student in ethnomusicology and folk music at the University of Aveiro. Since 2008, Joaquim Santos Pires has been teaching classical guitar and ensemble at the Castelo Branco Regional Conservatory. Artistically, he has developed various projects throughout his career. Highlights include works for short film soundtracks as a composer of musical themes. He is also the artistic director of the Castelo Branco Guitar Festival and a member—as guitarist and arranger—of the Castra Leuca Trio.

Henrique Fernão Santos Andrade was born in Madeira and lives in Castelo Branco. He graduated in Music, majoring in Instrument (Double Bass). In 2015, he began his studies at the Madeira Conservatory of Arts and Crafts with Marcello Romagnuolo. He is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Music Education (Double Bass) at the School of Applied Arts of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, with Adriano Aguiar. He has participated in masterclasses with Yury Aksenov, Lode Leire, and Pedro Vares, among others. He teaches at the Music School of the Pedro Álvares Cabral Cultural Centre in Belmonte, the Castelo Branco Regional Conservatory, and the Covilhã Regional Conservatory.

More information: Castra Leuca Trio

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