Composer, teacher and musicographer, Virgílio Melo (Lisbon, 1961) began his musical studies at Conservatório Nacional de Lisboa, in violin and composition, having been particularly impressed by the classes of Constança Capdeville and Santiago Kastner. He studied composition with Emmanuel Nunes in Paris and Cologne with a scholarship from the Fundação Gulbenkian. He unanimously obtained the Diploma of Composition at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, the First Prize in Aesthetics from the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Paris and Second Prize in Electronic Music at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Liège (Belgium). He attended the Sound Technician Course at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium).
As a composer, he had works performed in Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium and Hungary. He participated in Encontros de Música Contemporânea in Lisbon, Festival Música em Novembro, Ars Musica Festival in Brussels and Festival Música Viva. Some of his works have been commissioned by institutions such as Porto 2001, University of Aveiro, Escola Profissional de Viana do Castelo and Artave, including pedagogical works.
He has edited scores at Oficina Musical, Ediciones Cecilia Colien Honegger and at the Núcleo de Jornalismo Académico do Porto. He is currently represented by the Edições do Atelier de Composição, having several works in press. Records of his works on CD are also available.
As a musicographer, he collaborated with several texts both for specialized publications and others of a more general nature, namely in newspaper Público, in magazine Colóquio/Artes, Arte Musical, in various concert programs for Gulbenkian, TNSC, among others, and in the collection of Compositores Portugueses Contemporâneos. This aspect of his activity has received the attention of specialized critics. He regularly holds commented listening sessions, particularly in the north of the country, with the Associação Músicas e Músicos, where he is vice-president.
He also has experience directing music in various groups, having taken private orchestral conducting lessons with Luca Pfaff and Jean-Claude Harteman.
He has been teaching in several secondary and higher institutions, such as ESMAE and University of Aveiro.
(last updade: October 2014)