Daniel Bernardes was born on August 26, 1986 in Alcobaca, Portugal. At five years old, he began piano lessons with Paulo Barbosa and then with Luis Batalha. He makes his debut with Hybrid Jazz Machine in 2002, a project of saxophone player Mario Marques. 2003: Attends the Composition Courses of Emmanuel Nunes in Fundacao A. C. Gulbenkian. Plays in the S. Luiz Theatre’s Jazz Fest with a band led by Carlos Barretto, bass player. He attends the Stockhausen Kurse fur Musik in Kurten, Germany as a composer. He also moves to Paris in the same year to continue his studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with Marian Rybicki. He continued his studies in Paris with Jean Fassina, pianist. He was awarded 2nd prize in the Marrocco National Piano Competition in 2005. Later this year, he is invited to perform at Salle Cortot in Paris. Filipe Melo, a teacher at Escola de Jazz do hot Club de Portugal, returns to Portugal in 2007 to study jazz and improvisation. He is admitted to the Escola Superior De Musica de Lisboa in 2008. His jazz trio is invited by Casa da Musica to perform at Casa da Musica in 2010. He also wins the Theatre S. Luiz Jazz Fest’s Best Soloist Award. He joins Lars Arens’ Sextet “L.A. New Mainstream”. Luis Madureira invites him to be the Musical Director for the project “Luis Madureira Sings F. Hollaender” at S. Luiz Theatre, Lisbon in 2011. His piece “Suite for Wind Orchestra”, which he composed in 2011, is performed by the Escola Superior Musica de Lisboa Wind Orchestra, directed by Maestro Alberto Roque. Graduates from Escola Superior de Musica de Lisboa. He attended Premio Jovens Musicos, where he was awarded Second Prize Exequo. He’s invited to perform his piece “Dali” as a soloist with the BigBand do Hot Club, directed by Pedro Moreira at Fundacao C. Gulbenkian. They present “Rondo da Carpideira”, an interactive concert featuring the recollections and music of Michel Giacometti. Bernardes’ versatility in music and composition earned him many concerts on the most important portuguese stages. He also received comissions for works for soloists like Sergio Carolino, for whom he wrote “Leviathan” for Piano and Trombone Ensemble. “Xel’Naga Towers”, for Saxophone and Tuba, and two Pianos. These were performed during Carolino’s residency at Centro Cultural e de Congressos de Caldas da Rainha. He attends Marc-Andre Dalbavie’s Composition Workshops in 2013, where he creates “…Musica para un poema de Mario Cesariny for Chamber Orchestra. Festival CisterMusica gives him a commission to compose a piece for clarinet, saxophone, trombbone, tuba, and two pianos. L.A. New Mainstream’s March CD is released to the public. It received very positive reviews from the portuguese Jazz press. In June 2013 Bernardes’ debut CD “Nascem da Terra”, TOAP/OJM Records, is presented at the Festival de Jazz de Valado dos Frades. From facebook
