About Me
Clara de Sousa Gonçalves was born on September 5, 2001, in Portugal. From an early age, she showed a deep dedication to the saxophone. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Music (saxophone) from the Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas (ESART), under the guidance of Professor Carlos Canhoto, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Performance with a specialization in Contemporary Music at the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW) in Basel, under the mentorship of Professor Marcus Weiss.
Her academic and artistic journey is marked by numerous distinctions. In 2013, she won first prize at the Palmela International Saxophone Festival. In 2018, she was awarded the Maria do Carmo Gomes Prize, recognizing the best performer at the Conservatório Regional de Castelo Branco. She also earned second place in the chamber music category at the 13th and 14th editions of FOLEFEST, and third place at the 2021 National Contemporary Music Competition.
Clara has established herself as a versatile and innovative performer, appearing at international festivals such as the Impuls Festival in Graz, where her recording of Bug by Bruno Mantovani was broadcast on Radio Helsinki. She also premiered two works at the World Saxophone Congress in Harbin, China.
Currently, Clara is focused on her artistic and academic development, with a strong emphasis on contemporary music and performance. Throughout her career, she has participated in masterclasses with renowned musicians such as Claude Delangle, Vincent David, and Patrick Stadler, continuously expanding her technique and repertoire within the contemporary music landscape.
Her artistic work is deeply rooted in values of inclusion, sustainability, and social awareness. She collaborated with StuVe to develop sustainable concert formats and was recently selected for the FICA mentorship program, which supports young artists in areas such as self-management, programming, and mental health.
In parallel, Clara completed a Master’s degree in Music Education, which provided her with a solid foundation in pedagogy. She currently teaches private students in both Portugal and Basel.
Clara is a founding member of the Lontano Trio, which will premiere a concert in 2026 featuring five original works inspired by the visual art of painter and ceramicist Manuel Cargaleiro. She also founded Fragmentos Ensemble, a contemporary music group that has collaborated with composers such as Hugo Vasco Reis and Paulo Jorge Ferreira.
She is part of the Linden Trio, which blends Portuguese guitar, classical guitar, and saxophone to explore the ethno-jazz genre. Clara also performs with other ensembles, including the Banda Filarmónica de Castelo Branco and the Dão Saxophone Orchestra.
Beyond the stage, Clara nurtures a deep connection with nature, which she seeks to reflect in her performances through the creation of soundscapes that evoke the natural world. This sensitivity also manifests in her passion for photography—both analog and digital—which she sees as an extension of her creative process.
Clara continues to expand her artistic horizons by exploring electronic music, programming, and lighting design, integrating new technological tools into her creative workflow and paving the way for multidimensional and socially engaged performance experiences.