Ilidio Massacote

He was born in Montijo (Portugal) in 1965. He began playing the Tuba at the age of 17 and a year later he was admitted into Portugal’s Republican Nation Guard Wind Band (Banda da Guarda Nacional Republicana). He studied at the Lisbon National Conservatory of Music with Professors António Lages and José Augusto Carneiro. In 1993 he successfully applied for a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which permitted him to study in Paris for 2 years under Professors Gérard Buquet and Philippe Légris, with the latter in the Hector Berlioz Conservatory. He attended in 1993 a Master Class at the ESMD in Paris with Professors Gérard Buquet and Benny Sluchin; in 1994 a Summer Course in Montpellier with Professors Jacques Dropsy and Gérard Buquet; in 1996 a Master Class with Professor Michael Lind; in 1997 and 1998 a Master Class with Professor Phillippe Légris; in 2002 a Master Class with Professor Eugene Pokorni; in 2003 a Master Class with Professor Walter Hilgers. In 2009 he completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Tuba in the Piaget Institute. In 2010 he did a Master’s Degree in Historic Musicology at the New University of Lisbon (Universidade Nova de Lisboa). In 2013 he attained the title of Specialist, which is equivalent to the title of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). He played at the Portuguese Youth Orchestra (Orquestra Portuguesa da Juventude), after winning the competition for admission, and also was a reserve for the EEC Orchestra.

Since 1984 has been collaborating with the following orchestras: the RDP Orchestra, the Nova Filarmonia Portuguesa; the Régie Sinfonia (which have since ceased to exist); the Silésia Orchestra; Sinfonia Varsóvia (the two latter are Polish); the National Orchestra of Porto; the Sinfonieta of Lisbon; the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra; the Portuguese Symphonic Orchestra; the Gulbenkian Orchestra (where he was the lead Tuba player from 1987 to 2000 and with which he recorded many CDs and made many tours to cities like: Paris, Vienna, Cologne, Munich, Dusseldorf, Newark and Washington D.C.). In the orchestras where he worked, he has always received public praise form conductors, colleagues and soloists like Michael Zilm, R. Fruhbeck de Burgos, Eliahu Inbal, Max Rabinovitsj, Boris Belkin, Max Valdés, Silva Pereira, Pinchas Steinberg, Muhai Tang, Richard Hicoks, José Ramon Encinar, Gérard Buquet, Zoltán Peskó, Fernando Eldoro, Emiliano Pomárico, Johannes Stert, Alejandro Oliva, Vitorino de Almeida, Emanuel Nunes, Donato Renzeti, Julia Jones, etc. He recorded a work composed and conducted by Vitorino de Almeida for Tuba and Piccolo solo, which was edited in CD. In 1992 he performed the Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams (the first in Portugal) in Lisbon’s Aula Magna. In 1995 he played it again with the Republican National Guard Wind Band. In 1998 he played the Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra by Edward Gregson with the latter Ensemble. In 2008 he also performed the integral work of Hindemith in Culturgest. In 2009 he performed solo again playing the Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra by R. V. Williams. In June 2009, he performed solo Variations in Olden Style by Thomas Stevens with the Portuguese Symphonic Orchestra. In 2010 he played in the Biannual Festival in Munich and in S. Paulo’s Ópera Amazónica, with the Lisbon Modern Ensemble. He was a founding member of Portugal’s Hot Brass Metal Quintet, the Portuguese Metal Dectet and of the Portuguese Association for Percussionists and Wind Instrument Players. With these groups he has been throughout Portugal, since the S. Carlos Theatre to the Caloust Gulbenkian Foundation Auditorium (the big one and the small one), the CCB, many music festivals, the Algarve, Leiria, Capuchos, etc.. In the period of time in which he studied in Paris, he has worked with the University City Orchestra and closely supported the work carried out by the Frankfurt Modern Ensemble and the Intercontemporary Ensemble where he had the privilege of attending many rehearsals by the great conductor Pierre Boulez and Silvain Crambreling. He is a founding member of the Lisbon Brass (previously the Portuguese Brass Quintet). In a 1993 international competition for the Portuguese Symphonic Orchestra he was offered the seat of first soloist, which he declined in order to proceed with his studies in Paris. In a 1999 international competition he was temporarily given the seat of first soloist in the same orchestra. Finally in 2001 he was offered the seat by unanimity, which he still occupies today.

From 1996 to 2001 he lectured at the Lisbon National Music Conservatory. Between 1996 and 1997 he taught at the High Metropolitan Academy for Orchestra in the first course that was equivalent to a Bachelor’s Degree. From 1997 to 2007 he taught in the Espinho Professional School of Music. Between 1998 and 2002 he taught the Tuba and a chamber music class in the Almada Professional School of Music and the Arts. Between 2001 and 2002 in the Evora Professional School of Music. Between 2003 and 2006 and between 2009 and 2011 he taught the Tuba and a chamber music class at the Almada Piaget Institute. Since 2011 he has been teaching the Tuba and a chamber music class at the University of Evora. Since 2010 he has been the Pedagogic Director of the Montijo Regional Conservatory of the Arts. Since 2011 he has been an Assistant Professor at the ESART at the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco. And since of this year he is a professor at the University of Aveiro. He has also been invited to conduct Masterclasses and to be a judge at some music competitions, of which the most notable being the Prémio Jovens Músicos (organised by Antena 2).

Ilidio Massacote is a Buffet Crampon Group artist.