The Coro de Câmara de Lisboa (Lisbon Chamber Choir) was founded in 1978, by Prof. Teresita Gutierrez Marques, as Lisbon National Conservatory’s chamber choir. The choir is formed by twenty young musicians who perform — a cappella or in collaboration with instrumental ensembles — portuguese and foreign works from the Renaissance to the 21st century. They have already performed several world premières.
The Choir has always been very active, maintaining an artistic level which is unanimously applauded by the public and the critics. They have performed all over Portugal and in the most important concert halls of Lisbon (Belém Cultural Centre, Gulbenkian Foundation, S. Luiz and Trindade Theatres, etc.), and has participated in the most significant cultural exhibitions (Capuchos and Sintra festivals, the Gulbenkian Festival of Ancient Music, Lisbon ’94 – European Capital of Culture, Expo ’98 – World Exposition of Lisbon, the International Festival of Organ in Lisbon, etc.).
Abroad, the Choir has also performed extensively. Invited by institutions such as the European Choir Federation, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Fundação Oriente or the Ministries of Culture of Portugal, Spain and Cape Verde, to give a few examples, the Choir has sung, among other places, in Madrid, Cuenca, León, Seville, Sória, Vitoria (Spain), Paris, Strasbourg, Rouen, Caen, Mont. St. Michel (France), Brussels, Malines (Belgium), Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Rome, Bergamo, Biella, Bolzano, Novara, Trento, Turin, Verona (Italy), Bonn (Germany), Vienna (Austria), London (UK), Montréal (Canada), New York, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San José (USA), Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis, New Hamburg, Porto Alegre (Brazil), Montevideu (Uruguay), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Puebla (Mexico), Santiago de Cuba (Cuba), Macao and Cape Verde. In July of 2009, the Choir travelled to Malaysia and Singapore, and performed in Malaka, Kuala Lumpur and Cameron Highlands, and in Singapore, at the Victoria Concert Hall.
In its three participations in the International Choir Competition of Tolosa (Spain), Coro de Câmara de Lisboa has obtained a 1st and a 3 rd prize in the Polyphony class and two 2nd prizes in the Folksong category.
The Choir has recorded several CDs (for the labels EMI, Milan, Movieplay, Numérica and Virgin). They have also participated in recordings, both in Portugal and abroad, for radio, television and cinema (Non ou a Vã Glória de Mandar, by Manuel de Oliveira). The Choir was invited by the Ministry of Culture of Cape Verde to participate in the “street opera” Crioulo, by Vasco Martins, which took place in Mindelo, S. Vicente to commemorate the “2002 Capital of Culture in the Portuguese-speaking world” and in Cidade de Praia in 2003 to commemorate the “National Heroes Day” of that country.
In December of 2009, the Choir launched the CD “Missa Grande”, of Marcos Portugal, which is the world première of this work.
In July of 2011, the Choir launched their CD “Asian Songs” and performed in Malaysia and Indonesia, for the celebration of the “500 Years of the Arrival of the Portuguese to Asia”.
As a result of a protocol signed with the Timor Lorosae Government, the Lisbon Chamber Choir has recorded two CDs in 2014, entitled “Timorese Choral Folk Songs” and “Music and Poetry”, with compositions of Simão Barreto, the foremost portuguese-timorese composer, recognized internationally.
In March of 2016, the Lisbon Chamber Choir recorded a CD entitled “Celebration of Philippine-Portuguese Friendship”, resulting from a joint project to celebrate the “70 Years of Diplomatic Relations between Philippines and Portugal.”