"Variations on love"

Jorge Calado | Expresso, 07.11.15

"(...) Opera was born in Florence, at the end of the XVI, but quickly became global. Currently, the hopes (and several certainties) lie in composers such as the americans John Adams and Philip Glass (e, perhaps, Nico Muhly), the british George Benjamin and Thomas Adès, the italian Luca Francesconi (...). It is not simple patriotism that leads me to also bet in Vasco Mendonça. (...)”

"First portuguese ever chosen by ROLEX"

Myriam Gaspar | Sábado, 17.05.15

It was with surprise that Vasco Mendonça received the news that he had been selected for the Rolex Mentor & Protegé program, which allows a restricted group of seven artists from around the world to spend a year with renowned names from various fields. The 38-year-old composer confessed he had never heard of the initiative before that, which has existed since 2002 and brings together emerging artists with the world's leading artists. (...)

It was with renewed surprise that he realised he had been selected for the second round, in which three finalists are chosen for each area - visual arts; cinema; literature; dance; theater; architecture; and music. The last step was to have a personal conversation with the mentor, Kaija Saariaho, with whom he met in Lyon. "The funniest thing is that we talked about everything but music," says Vasco Mendonça, which turned out in the end to be chosen by the Finnish composer. Kaija Saariaho (...) made a point of coming to Portugal to see the environment in which Vasco Mendonça works. The empathy between the two is clear. Vasco Mendonça, who began studying music at age 13, likes to quote Stravinsky when asked about his source of inspiration. After taking his two children to school he goes every day to his office, where he works until 19h. "If inspiration comes, she´ll know where to find me," he jokes. (...)

"Thrilling opera takes over the Grand Théâtre"

Cordula Schnuer | Wort.lu, 02.02.14

Contemporary opera THE HOUSE TAKEN OVER by Portuguese composer Vasco Mendonça is coming to Luxembourg's Grand Théâtre. Wort.lu/en spoke with the artist (...) THE HOUSE TAKEN OVER is based on a 1946 novella of the same name by Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar. It explores the lives of a brother and sister, both adults, who live together in the same house. When they start hearing strange noises in the house they are forced to leave one room after the other behind and confine themselves to an ever smaller space in their home. Composer Vasco Mendonça first stated developing the opera in 2011 in a series of workshops held at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Last year, the opera premiered at the festival. “I knew the novella for quite a while,” explained Mendonça, explaining that the strangeness of the story attracted him to the project. With a narrator who cannot always be judged reliable, the story is both an “intimate drama” and a “thriller,” according to the composer. It also asks some pertinent questions. If the house is indeed haunted, why don't its inhabitants simply leave. Something even more terrifying must be waiting for them outside, Mendonça said. With the original text ambiguous on what it actually is that takes the house over, there is a lot of room for psychological drama. It could be a “projection of their own anxieties,” Mendonça argued. At the same time, for a stage production, the audience needs to be able to see something, he added. However, “there are no closed answers.”

Relentless opera in English

With a libretto by British playwright Sam Holcroft, whose Edgar and Annabel was produced by the National Theatre in London in 2011, the opera is in English, an unusual language for the genre. “I wanted it to be in English,” Mendonça explained, adding that he needed to compose for a language he is fluent in. “Portugese is a very tricky language to put into music,” he added, saying that he had struggled with his mother-tongue before. English with its ability to “say a lot in a few words” and the possibility for “fast, direct” exchanges fitted perfectly, Mendonça said. “There is a drive going through the piece, a certain relentlessness.” The hour-long show is, however, not only suitable for opera connoisseurs. Its different layers offer different points of entry for the audience, Mendonça said, whether it is the story itself or the musical language. “We've had wonderful responses from people of all ages and backgrounds who were touched by different things,” he said of the opera, which travels to Bruges and Lisbon after its Luxembourg run.

"European Opera"

Jorge Calado | Expresso, 19.10.13

(...) Although opera houses figures, companies and audiences have been increasing in the last 50 years - even in countries with no operatic tradition - the current economic climate and ongoing financial crisis are constant threats. It was with the intention of fighting this state of affairs that enOa was born. (...) Since 2011 enOa has made four productions, two of them - "Elena" (1659) by Francesco Cavalli and Mendonça´s opera - premiered this summer at Aix-en-Provence Festival. (...) Based on a short story by Julio Cortazar ("Casa Tomada, 1944), THE HOUSE TAKEN OVER, premiered this July, has started its european tour in Antwerp (seen on September 12); Luxembourg, Bruges and Lisbon will follow. In its scale, it is a small masterpiece, tense as the tightening of the screw, valued by Katie Mitchell´s brilliant staging. (...)

"Multimedia opera by Vasco Mendonça and Sandro Aguilar premieres in the UK"

Lusa | iOnline, 20.03.13

PING, a multimedia piece - the result of a collaboration between composer Vasco Mendonça and director Sandro Aguilar - will have its international premiere on 26 March in Wales.

Produced by Music Theatre Wales and staged by Michael McCarthy, PING will have its premiere at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, followed by two more performances: on April 17 at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre and on April 18 at Clwyd Theatre Cymru in Mold.

This piece is a setting off a text by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, and was premiered in 2011 at the Teatro São Luis in Lisbon, within Temps d'Images Festival.

The opportunity to perform it abroad originated from a meeting in France with the british director, where they found " compatible visions of theater and a shared admiration for Beckett", said Vasco Mendonça to Lusa.

In the new production of this rather hermetic text - that talks about spatial constraint and claustrophobia - McCarthy has chosen to to separate the spoken and the sung parts, by using an actress and a soprano.

"There is a kind of transposition of the various levels of consciousness that are present throughout the text, thus being made visible throughout the show," the composer has said.

Unlike what happened two years ago - when director Sandro Aguilar was operating the video in real-time - this production will display previously recorded sequences.

Still, it will use the same "abstract images, sometimes with an organic component, almost eschatological."

Vasco Mendonça and Aguilar have collaborated before, in a piece also based on a text by Samuel Beckett - a sign of interest in multidisciplinary productions.

However, working with video "is difficult and risky" because it can become a distraction.

"It is difficult for the energy on stage not to be dissipated, because video is a media that sucks our attention in a rather brutal way," he admits. (...)

"Il BING multimediale di Mendonça"

Frederico Platania | www.samuelbeckett.it, 08.03.13

''Martedì 26 marzo, al Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (Cardiff), si terrà la prima di Ping, la nuova opera multimediale di Vasco Mendonça. Le videoscenografie sono state realizzate da Sandro Aguilar e, nella produzione del Music Theatre Wales, in scena ci saranno l’attrice Nia Roberts e il soprano Helen-Jane Howells.

L’opera di Mendonça si basa sulla prosa breve Bing. Il compositore portoghese ha rispettato l’originale beckettiano, sfruttando però le ripetizioni e il ritmo già presenti nel testo di Beckett per costruire qualcosa di nuovo e personale.''

"40 talents you´ll be hearing from"

Luciana Leiderfarb | Expresso, 03.01.13

"Having studied in Amsterdam with Klaas de Vries and in London with George Benjamin, Vasco Mendonça won in 2004 the Lopes-Graça Composition Award. Several commissions in Portugal (Casa da Música, Teatro S Luiz and Culturgest) and abroad (Aix-en-Provence, Aldeburgh, etc) make him one of the promising names within his field. In October, his piece GROUP TOGETHER, AVOID SPEECH was premiered at Gulbenkian Orchestra 50th anniversary concert. Projects in 2013 include the premiere of an opera at Aix-en-Provence Festival."