Marco Oliveira

Marco Oliveira was born on January 24, 1988, in Lisbon.

Fado has always been heard and sung in his father's house and, at just 9 years old, Marco Oliveira accompanied his parents for the first time to a Fado house, “O Dragão de Alfama”, an experience that definitely aroused his passion for Fado. Discussing the songs that he listened to at home without ceasing, soon he would want to sing live. That happened in 1997, in a program of Rádio Renascença, “Lugar aos Novos”, recorded live at Teatro Maria Matos, which granted him several invitations to sing in groups. The following year, at the age of 10, he won the first prize for Juveniles at the Grande Noite de Fado at Coliseu dos Recreios, and in 2004 he repeated the feat, winning the first prize in the Seniors category at the Grande Noite de Fado at Teatro São Luiz, confirming the many victories in various Fado contests.

Meanwhile, Marco Oliveira had felt the need to deepen his connection to Fado, beginning to study classical guitar at the age of 13, at Instituto Vitorino Matono, in Lisbon. At the age of 15, he entered the National Conservatory, where he continued his studies of classical guitar, from which he extracted and transposed precious teachings for Fado. In addition to his academic training, he does not forget, however, the relevance of Fado houses in his learning, through daily contact with experienced artists.

Rooted in the culture and experience of fado, Marco Oliveira's talent stands out right away, and invitations to concerts abroad emerge, of which he recalls with emotion the first, only 15 years old, in Holland, with the fado singer Ana Moura.

In 2008, he released his first album, "Retrato". The album features poems such as “Retrato do poeta quando jovem” by José Saramago and “Noite de saudade” by Florbela Espanca. In addition to the original theme “Tu sabes lá”, he also interprets some traditional fados by Alfredo Marceneiro.

Still this year, he receives the Francisco Carvalhinho Award from Casa da Imprensa, at Teatro São Luiz.

In September 2009, he was invited to perform at a meeting of cultures in Turkey and another in Warsaw. A year later, he joined the project “Com que voz”, a tribute to the great Portuguese poets produced by guitarist Ricardo Parreira, from which appeared different invitations to some of the most important festivals in European cities such as Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, Vilnius and Prague.

In January 2013, the cycle “Fado no Cais” opens with his concert at the Centro Cultural de Belém, produced by the Museu do Fado and EGEAC.

He also inaugurated the fado restaurant “Maria da Mouraria”, the former home of the mythical figure of the history of fado Maria Severa, where he became a resident artist.

After many international concerts, he edits, in 2016, his second album, “Amor é água que corre”. This proves to be an author album, in which Marco Oliveira also presents himself as an interpreter and musician, and has distinguished guests such as the fado singer António Rocha in "Disfarce", Ciro Bertini on the piano, José Elmiro Nunes on the classical guitar, Otto Pereira on the violin, João Penedo on contrabass and the great guitarist Ricardo Rocha, who also signs the melody of Fado da Madre de Deus on the theme “The good of evil”.

Still in 2016, he received an invitation to join the project “Fado Barroco” with the group Os Músicos do Tejo in the large auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation alongside Ana Quintans, Ricardo Ribeiro, Marcos Magalhães and Miguel Amaral.

2017 was an intense year with visits to Latvia on a trip to the Riga Jazz Stage, two concerts in Poland and two performances at the Theater de l’Alliance Française at the Festival de L’Imaginaire, in Paris.

In February 2018, he performed in the cycle “Songlines Fado Series” in London and, in the following month, he presented the show "A Alma Encantadora das Ruas", in Lisbon at Teatro São Luiz, with Ricardo Parreira on Portuguese guitar, Carlos Barretto on double bass, Diogo Duque in the woodwinds and Ana Sofia Paiva in the narration.

Source:

HM Música

http://marcooliveira.pt/pt/biografia/