José Valente

José Valente is considered one of the most promising musicians in the classical accordion. He began his musical studies at the age of 10, under the guidance of Professor Paulo Jorge Ferreira, at the Conservatório Municipal D. Dinis, Odivelas. At 18, he was admitted at Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco (ESART), where he completed his Master in Music, in Accordion Specialization, in March 2013, under the guidance of teachers Paulo Jorge Ferreira and Maria Luísa Correia Castilho. In the academic year 2010/2011, the School awarded him a Scholarship Merit, for having obtained the best classification in Music’s area. In 2015, he was admitted at Royal Danish Academy of Music, where he completed his Advanced Postgraduate Diploma – soloist, in April 2018, under the guidance of the norwegian accordionist Geir Draugsvoll. He was the first portuguese to enter into the soloist class, in this academy.

José won several awards at national level: 1st prize at Concurso de Acordeão de Castelo Branco – Folefest (Portugal, 2008, junior category); 1st prize also at competition Folefest (Portugal, 2009, senior and chamber music category and 2012, chamber music category), 1st prize at 6º Concurso de Jovens Intérpretes de Caldas da Rainha (Portugal, 2009), 1st prize at competition Prémio Jovens Músicos 2014 (Portugal, concert accordion category, advanced level), 1st prize ex-aequo at 17º Concurso de Interpretação do Estoril | Prémio El Corte Inglés (Portugal, 2015) and 1st prize on PIF 2016 - 41st Castelfidardo International Accordion Prize (Italy, Premio category). Also in competition PJM 2014, he got the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth prize (EMCY) and one Bolsa Gulbenkian from Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian . He was the first soloist accordionist to receive the EMCY prize. He also won the 3rd prize at the international competition Accordion Coupe Mondiale, in Scotland (2008, chamber music category). He has performed with Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Orquestra de Cordas de "G.B. Pergolesi" Conservatório de Fermo, Orquestra de Câmara de Cascais e Oeiras, Orquestra Clássica da Madeira, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Orquestra Sinfónica Metropolitana, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música and Remix Ensemble Casa da Música, under the baton of the great conductors Cesário Costa, Daniele Giulio Moles, Misha Rachlevsky, Nikolay Lalov, Pedro Carneiro, Peter Rundel and Olari Elts. He attended master classes led by renowned accordionists, including Claudio Jacomucci, Friedrich Lips, Geir Draugsvoll, Matti Rantanen, Mika Väyrynen, Paulo Jorge Ferreira, Raimondas Sviackevičius, Veli Kujala, Vojin Vasovic and Yuri Shishkin. He has performed concerts abroad, particularly in Belgium, China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Serbia and Spain. He has also perfomed in many international music festivals, like Marvão International Music Festival (Marvão, Portugal), Dias da Música (Lisboa, Portugal), Akordeono Festivalis Vilnius (Vilnius, Lithuania), PIF Castelfidardo (Castelfidardo, Italy), among many other festivals.

In October 2014, his dissertation, Concert accordion in Portugal – perceptions and expectations, was edited by AvA Musical Editions. This study includes the participation of renowned portuguese musicians: António Victorino d'Almeida, Carlos Marecos, Cristóvão Silva, Fernando Ribeiro, Joaquim Raposo, Paulo Jorge Ferreira, Sérgio Azevedo and Vitorino Matono.