Henrique Portovedo has found his place in contemporary music by working with composers such as R. Barret, P. Ferreira Lopes, C. Barlow, C. Roads, P. Ablinger, P. Niblock, M. Edwards, I. Silva, S. Carvalho, L. Carvalho, R. Ribeiro, M. Azguime among many others.
Portovedo has premiered more than 40 works for saxophone dedicated to him. Was soloist with several orchestras and ensembles including Cantus Ensemble, Chronos Contemporary Music Ensemble, L’Orchestre d’Harmonie de la Garde Republican, Trinity College of Music Wind Orchestra, Orquestra de Sopros da Universidade de Aveiro, Sond’Art Electric Ensemble, Orquestra de Sopros da Armada Portuguesa, Orquestra de Sopros da PSP, Orquestra de Viento Marcos Redondo, Orquestra de Jovens de Santa Maria da Feira etc. Co-founder of QuadQuartet and Artistic Director of Aveiro SaxFest, he recorded for several labels including Naxos, Universal, PadRecords, R’RootsProductions etc.
Recent collaborations include, Fundação Orquestra Estúdio – European Capital of Culture, Symphony Orquestra of Casa da Musica, Camerata Nov’Arte, Fadomorse, Filarmonia da Beiras, Black Coyote etc. At the moment is member of the ArtClang Ensemble alongside Ricardo Ribeiro, Nuno Aroso, Filipe Quaresma and João Barradas.
As intermedia artist was the creator of SoundofShadows, Don’t Shoot at the Saxophone Player, SoundGrounds and Distorction. Was awarded with Prémio de Mérito da Fundação António Pascoal, Prémio de Mérito Artístico Fundação Eng. António de Almeida, 1st Prize of the International Youth Soloist Contest Purmerend. Received in 2007 and 2008 several Trinity Music Awards in London including The Montague Cleeve Scholarship, The Bratton Scholarship and Trinity College London Scholarship. In 2002 was awarded with Prémio Jovens Criadores by the Portuguese Institute of Arts and Ideas. In 2004 was awarded with the Prize of The National Centre of Culture, Portugal. Recently has been awarded by the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research, United Kingdom for his presentation at the International Performance Science Symposium 2019.
He has been artist in residency at ZKM, Karlsruhe, visiting researcher at Edinburgh University and Fulbright visiting researcher at MAT University of Califonia Santa Barbara.
Henrique is founding member of the European Saxophone Comité, Tenor Sax Collective, President of the Portuguese Saxophone Association and was the artistic director of the European Saxophone Congress 2017. PhD and researcher in the field of Augmented Performance at CITAR, Portuguese Catholic University, was awarded by FCT, Foundation for Science and Technology, Fulbright and Erasmus +. Currently Henrique is professor of Electronic Music at University of Aveiro, Guest Professor at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Madrid and Guest PhD supervisor at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
Portovedo is regularly invited to give concerts and masterclasses at some of the most prestigious festivals and conservatoires as Real Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Madrid, Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, Conservatori Superior de Música de les Illes Balears, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, Hochschule fur Musik Karlsruhe, Conservatori Giuseppe Verdi di Milano and more.
