Betting on the regeneration of the avant-garde didactics of the co-founder of the Lisbon Contemporary Music Group, Jorge Peixinho, Filho Único has established the Encontros de Música Nova program since the 2022 edition of the Summer Nights. The program invites four national composers of audacious music, whose musical education is guided by self-education, and whose artistic practice is guided by their research and aesthetic intuition, for an artistic residency with the Group and subsequent public presentation in concert.
During a period of work in residence at the Casa da Música Jorge Peixinho, in Montijo, the composers will work with the Group and its Artistic Director to write the orchestration for their live performance by GMCL.
In 2025 the guest composers are:
Calhau! – a duo of João Alves and Marta Ângela, born in Porto more than a decade and a half ago, whose burlesque work in linguistics, semiotic piracy and performances with superlative DIY solutions, has continuously strengthened itself in multiple ramifications and various crossings, manifesting itself in concerts and performances, record publishing, film and video making, publications and a profuse production of drawings and graphic work.
usof – João Rochinha is the co-founder of the Rotten \ Fresh label, cultural agitator in the Living Room collective and its connection with Cosmos Campolide, transmitter of Tugacore in the GABBEROLAS duo. Above all known as usof – whose 5th album “stay longer” came out in 2025 – thanks to the persistence and iridescent maturation of his creative work in composing and producing electronic music in the field of ambient, a projectionist without borders between inner, virtual worlds and outer reality.
Mariana Dionísio – Mariana Dionísio is a singer, improviser and composer who has questioned the role of the voice in musical tradition and explored its technical, timbral and poetic potential as a sound expression of the word. With a classical piano degree from the National Conservatory of Lisbon and a degree in jazz voice from the Lisbon School of Music, Mariana is mainly involved in the jazz, experimental and contemporary scene. She has collaborated with various artists from different disciplines and directs the vocal ensemble LEIDA.
Niagara – A trio formed in Pinheiro de Loures by the brothers Alberto and António Arruda and Sara Eckerson. Since their debut “Ouro Oeste” on Príncipe, they have consistently advanced their art of hydrodynamics and sound hypnosis, perfected over dozens of releases since 2013. Niagara’s leftfield approach to dance music guarantees an outsider’s perspective, and the group is free from any kind of pressure to deliver “expected” results.
https://voncalhau.bandcamp.com/
https://www.usofusofusofusof.com/