RICARDO TOSCANO QUARTETO + ENSEMBLE AH direcção/direction Pedro Moreira

Charlie Parker with Strings is the name of two albums by saxophonist Charlie Parker, released in 1949 and 1950 by Mercury Records. The sessions pair Parker with a string orchestra and a jazz rhythm section, instead of the traditional bebop quintet. These albums were hugely successful at the time.

Charlie Parker, also known as Bird, thus fulfilled an old dream, which consisted of bringing together the sound universes of jazz and classical music that he admired so much, in particular the work of composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Edgar Varèse. The repertoire, based on standards from the American songbook, thus gained a different sound, inspiring Parker to the point of leaving us some of his best performances.

The opportunity to recreate this program at the Angrajazz Festival is very exciting, with the participation of the young saxophonist Ricardo Toscano and his quartet of young lions, accompanied by a beautiful chamber orchestra – Ensemble AH – formed by some of the best elements of the Angra Regional Conservatory, thus opening a door of collaboration between Angrajazz and this institution that we hope can develop in the future.

Ricardo Toscano Quartet . Formed in 2013, this Quartet is one of the most exciting national groups. Its leader, alto saxophonist Ricardo Toscano, has as companions João Pedro Coelho on piano, Romeu Tristão on double bass and João Pereira on drums. He performed for the first time at an international jazz festival in 2014, at the 16th Angrajazz.

In 2018 he released the homonymous album “Ricardo Toscano Quartet” (Clean Feed Records), considered the most important of the year in Portugal, then taking the group to the main venues and festivals in the country. In 2022, Toscano released his second album “Chasing Contradictions” (Clean Feed), also voted as one of the albums of the year by critics, and recognized by the Prémios Play as the best album of the year.

The jazz practiced is spiritual and loaded with the bop tradition, with clear influences from Charlie Parker, but it is such the freshness, energy and personality that it cannot be confused with the original matrix. It’s no longer just about good jazz, it’s about brilliance.

Pedro Moreira . . Saxophonist, composer and conductor, born in 1969 in Lisbon. He studied music in New York. He has performed with his group at major national festivals as well as in several countries in Europe, Africa and the USA. He is a lecturer at Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa.

Conductor of the Hot Clube Jazz Orchestra and the Angrajazz Orchestra, he has worked with the European Youth Jazz Orchestra, the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, the Orchestra, the Algarve Orchestra and the Portuguese Chamber Orchestra.

He composes for various jazz and classical music groups, as well as for theater. As an arranger and/or music producer he has worked with artists such as Camané, Pedro Abrunhosa, Cristina Branco, Milton Nascimento, António Zambujo among others.

Elena Kharambura . Violinist born in Lviv, Ukraine, performs regularly in various chamber music formations, in orchestral projects, and in music seasons of DRAC and the Municipality of Angra do Heroísmo. Since 1995 she has been a violin teacher at the Regional Conservatory of Angra do Heroísmo (EBSTB). Her students have been laureates of competitions such as the RDP Young Musicians Award, selected for orchestral internships at Oj.com, and have pursued studies abroad.