Ensemble Darcos

Ensemble Darcos is one of the most prestigious Portuguese chamber groups working today. It was created in 2002 by composer and conductor Nuno Côrte-Real for the interpretation of the great European composers of chamber music, such as Beethoven, Brahms and Debussy, as well as the music of Côrte-Real. The ensemble’s instrumental formation varies according to the programme being presented, from duos to quintets, to the typical 19th century formation of 15 musicians. Core members of the group include Filipe Quaresma (cello), Gaël Rassaert (violin), Hélder Marques (piano) and Reyes Gallardo (viola). The group regularly invites collaborations with leading musicians from various parts of the world, such as cellist Mats Lidström, violinists Massimo Spadano, Giulio Plotino and Junko Naito, pianist António Rosado, violist Ana Bela Chaves, and the percussionist Miquel Bernat. Ensemble Darcos regularly performs vocal programmes with some of the most important Portuguese singers such as Eduarda Melo, Luís Rodrigues, Dora Rodrigues, Lara Martins and Job Tomé.

Since 2006, Ensemble Darcos has had an artistic residence in Torres Vedras, and from 2008 the group established the Temporada Darcos, a series of chamber music and symphonic concerts. This series has included concerts in the Magnus Hall in Berlin, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in St. John’s Smith Square, London, and regular participation in Dias da Música Festival (CCB Lisbon), all with musical direction by Nuno Côrte-Real. In January 2010, Ensemble Darcos recorded a series of songs by Cole Porter with singers Sónia Alcobaça and Rui Baeta, presented in Lyon, France, in partnership with the Camerata du Rhône.

The CD Volupia, entirely dedicated to Nuno Côrte-Real’s chamber music, was released in October 2012 by Numérica, and, in 2016, Ensemble Darcos recorded with Odradek Records, Mirror of the Soul, with music by Portuguese composers E.Carrapatoso, S.Azevedo, N.Côrte-Real and D. Davis. In March 2019 the last CD of the group was released by Odradek Records – Agora Muda Tudo with the Ensemble Darcos accompanying the Portuguese jazz singer Maria João in a song cycle by Nuno Côrte-Real and novelist José Luís Peixoto. This song cycle won the prize for best work at the Premio Autores 2018 awards, given by the Portuguese Society of Authors.