Clara de Sousa Gonçalves

07.02.2026

On February 7, Lontano Trio premiered the project From Clay to Sound – Homage to Cargaleiro at Centro de Cultura Contemporânea de Castelo Branco. This concert marked the beginning of the public presentations of this programme, which has been in preparation over the past year.

The concert was preceded by an open rehearsal for the community, aimed at providing the audience with a more informal context about the project and the connection between the music and the work of the artist Manuel Cargaleiro. This open rehearsal took place at the Manuel Cargaleiro Museum in Castelo Branco.

The project will have seven more performances throughout the year.

14-16.11.2025

I had the privilege of taking part in a performance improvisation workshop with Lorena Izquierda. The workshop lasted three days and concluded with a short presentation featuring different improvised scenes developed during the sessions. These days were truly enriching, with exercises from the very beginning that fostered a wonderful atmosphere for creation. Lorena provided us with valuable guidance on how to explore and build consistent performances that remain authentic to ourselves.

19.10.2025

Musik Akademie Basel offers 12 students the chance to participate in the Next Generation program at the Donaueschinger Musiktage Festival. Over four intensive days, I had the opportunity to listen to new works by renowned composers, attend performances by top-level musicians in concerts and open rehearsals, and explore the technical and inspirational aspects of compositions and artistic installations directly with the creators. The program encourages critical exchange of ideas, but above all, it fosters learning how to do so in a more precise and constructive way.

03.10.2025

In this improvisation workshop, we had the opportunity to hear artist Mark Fell share insights into his musical journey and introduce the goal of the exercise we were about to undertake: a collective improvisation based on the slow and almost imperceptible transformation of patterns. It was an experience of deep listening and attention to detail, where time and repetition became central elements of creation. The exercise was followed by a talk and reflection about the outcome of the session.

12.09.2025

Lontano trio's project From clay to sound  is a hommage to the portuguese artist Manuel Cargaleiro. The project consists of five pieces composed by portuguese composers (Ana Roque, Carlos Marecos, Gonçalo Lourenço, Sara Carvalho and Tiago Derriça). The project was funded by the portuguese Directorate General for the Arts and it will be premiered on the 7th of February 2026 and presented across the country afterwards.

28.08.2025

From 26 to 31 of July I attended the world saxophone congress in Harbin, China. On the 30th of July I premiered, along side the saxophonist Carlos Canhoto, two duo's written by the portuguese composers Christopher Bochmann and Eduardo Patriarca.

This was a great experience with two good and challenging pieces for saxophone duo.

20.07.2025

In July I had some concerts with Linden Trio.

This is a concert formulated to be diverse with music from bossa nova, to jazz to portuguese traditional music.

22.11.2025

I had the opportunity to perform Dreamwork by Mirela Ivičević in the iconic Basel's theatre Don Bosco. This is a really interesting piece written for Peter Tscherkassky's film with the same title.

The piece was written for Nikel ensemble and was premiered in Impuls festival in 2019.

13.03.2025

Impuls' festival took place between the 17th and 28th of February. It was a really intense experience with a lot of rehearsals, workshops, lessons and concerts. It was two weeks full of music and new people that inspired me to continue working on solo and chamber music projects. It was really extraordinary to meet so many young composers, to work with a lot of great performers and have a lot of inputs to process.

Two weeks, 3 concerts played and a good few dozen of concerts experienced. Truly greatful.✨

09.02.2025

The recording of Bug has been selected for the Helsinki radio program, in collaboration with the festival. It will be broadcasted on February 12 between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM (Austrian time).

You can now listen the broadcast with this link.

The month begins with preparations for the Impuls Festival, particularly for the performances on the 22nd. In the morning, I will present Bug by Bruno Mantovani, and at the end of the day El olor de la guayaba #1b by Fran Barajas.

31.01.2025

At the end of the first month of the year, I had the opportunity to work on Ash – Music for the Hermozoic with composer Liza Lim. This piece, written for a tenor saxophone quartet, has a distinctive sound and aesthetic typical of her style. It was fascinating to learn more about the creative process and the philosophy behind the composition.

03.01.2025

To start the year on a high note, I took part in the audio and video recordings of Bug by Bruno Mantovani. The video will be released soon!