Rui de Luna

Rui de Luna

Rui de Luna came to international attention in 2003, after his great success in Budapest with the local Symphony Orchestra, conducted by László Kovács; the following year he signed with the renowned agency AIM in New York. He has worked with conductors including Yuang Fang, Larry Vote, Gunther Arglebe and Rafael Lopez Montez and, in recital, with pianists such as Patrizia Quarta, Catherine Chu and Stefano Gibelatto. He was the first Portuguese lyric singer to record for BMG/RCA, on the RCA Gold label.

He studied in Italy at the Morello Foundation (Venice) with Claude Thiolas, and in Savona with Renata Scotto; he later continued his studies in London, at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, with Thomas Allen and Sherrill Milnes. His honours include the High Patronage of the President of the Republic (2019), the Artistic Merit Diploma of Brasília and the Young Musicians of Rome Prize (Pope John Paul II).

A composer, with a particular focus on piano writing, he presented the Carta de Pêro Vaz de Caminha at the Teatro da Paz in Belém do Pará and in the grand auditorium of the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. Do Amor e da Glória em Camões, his work combining music and poetry, premiered at the Jerónimos Monastery on 10 June 2023, with actress Natália Luiza and violinist Marcos Lázaro.

He is ‘The Voice’ of Joana Vasconcelos’s Tree of Life: at the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes in Paris (opening, 27 April 2023), at MAAT in Lisbon, and at the opening of MICAS in Malta (October 2024).

He also premiered ‘Alma Latina’ (2014, cloister of the Jerónimos Monastery) and, at the Casa de Bragança Foundation Music Festival in Vila Viçosa, the Camonianas (2015) and the Amelianas (2016).