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Lia Rafaela de Marcos e Melo


Lia Rafaela de Marcos e Melo (Born 2001) has been playing viola and studying for the past ten years at Vila Real Regional Music Conservatory and at the London Royal College of Music with the professor Nathan Braude.

She has played in master classes with well-established artists including, among others, Sophie Arbuckle (Juilliard School), Isabel Villanueva, Danuta Grossmannová, Joana Pereira, Ryszard Wóycicki, David Wyn Lloyd, António Pereira; Mateusz Stasto and Jorge Alves.

She was awarded, several times, in Portugal and throughout Europe and America. In the past two years, as a soloist, Lia Melo has won six 2nd prizes in the ENKOR INT'l Music Competition (Strings - 3rd Edition), the Quebec Music Competition (Online International) 2018, in the VI Musical Show of the Atlantic Axis, the New Stars International Music Competition, the GLORY Int'l Strings, Winds & Percussion Competition (1st edition) and in the Grand Prize Virtuoso London 2016, England (Intermediate Category); and forty one others 1st prizes from national and international competitions, including the Grand Prize Virtuoso Salzburg (Intermediate Category) and Vienna (Advanced Category), Austria; the 2nd Rising Stars Grand Prix 2017 in Berlin, Germany (Intermediate Category); the Concours International de Musique et des Beaux Arts - Quebec Music Competition (Online International) 2017; twice in the New York Golden Classic Music Awards, United States of America (Intermediate Category in 2017 & Advanced Category in 2018) and in the 5th & the 6th Contest City of Vigo of Violin, Viola and Cello, Spain (B Category in 2016 & C Category in 2017); the 3rd Vasco Barbosa National Strings Competition, Lisbon (Viola Juvenil); the 2017 and 2018 IMKA - International Music Competition in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (Advanced Category); the 2nd Ilda Moura Competiton, Oporto, Portugal (E Category); the 2017 eMuse International Online Music Competition, Greece (D Category); the 1st International String Competition Artur Fernandes Fão, Vila Praia de Âncora, Portugal (C Category); Great Composers Competition - The Art of Instrumental Performance - The Art of Strings (Group IV – 2017 & Group V - 2018); the 1st and the 2nd North International Music Competition (2017 & 2018), Stockholm, Sweden (VI Category); The Great Composers Competition Series: The Music of Europe - The Music of Northern Europe; The Music of the Centuries - The Music of 19th Century; Rising Talents of the World - Rising Talents of Europe (Group IV - 2018); Great Composers Competition - Artist of the Year (Group V - 2018), The Music of the Centuries - The Music of 17th Century (Group V - 2019), among many others.

With a rich artistic activity consisting of more than a hundred recitals and concerts, Lia Melo, in the last two years, played as a soloist with Portuguese Ensemble Symphony Orchestra (Max Bruch Concerto for viola and clarinet – 2017-18 & Cecil Forsyth Viola Concerto 2018-19), with the Spanish Vigo Superior Music Conservatory Orchestra (Cecil Forsyth viola Concerto), with “Camerata Atlântica” (Stamitz viola Concerto) and with Vila Real Music Conservatory String Orchestra (Telemann Concert for 2 violas).
Lia Melo has not only held the position of concertmaster in multiple orchestras including Ensemble Symphonic Orchestra and the 1st Portuguese-German Youth Orchestra but she has also been a member of JOP (Youth Portuguese Orchestra) and Atlantic Coast Orchestra.

In 2018 she was selected for the Berliner Philharmoniker’s BE PHIL Orchestra to perform the Brahms’ 1st symphony under Stanley Dodds (rehearsals) and Sir Simon Rattle.
She was also selected to the 2018 European Union Youth Orchestra Summer Tour in Grafenegg (Austria) with EUYO Rehearsal Director Peter Stark and the Conductors Manfred Honeck and Gianandrea Noseda. The 40 days tour began in Bolzano (Italy) followed by concerts in Vienna (Austria), Warsaw (Poland), Berlin (Germany), Amsterdam (Netherlands), at the BBC Proms in London (England), at Grafenegg Festival (Austria), Stresa and Ferrara (Italy).

Recently she was invited to perform, next November 11th at the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris as part of an international 100th anniversary commemoration of Armistice Day conducted by Vasily Petrenko.

In 2019 she was selected, once again, for the European Union Youth Orchestra 2019 (EUYO – Spring Tour), in Ferrara (Italy), with EUYO Rehearsal Director Peter Stark and the Conductor Vasily Petrenko. The 30 days tour began in Ferrara followed by concerts in Reggio Emilia, Udine and Milano (Italy), at the Royal Opera House Muscat, in Oman, Grafenegg Auditorium (Austria), Grand Auditorium Philharmonie (Luxembourg), Congresshalle Saarbrücken (Germany).

As a chamber musician Lia Melo has performed extensively with the Vila Real String Quartet and the Vila Real String Trio (founding member of both) with multiple concerts, and awards, in Portugal and Spain.

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