Bernardo Cruz started his musical education when he had 10 years old in his hometown, Reguengos de Monsaraz (Alentejo, Évora) at the local Conservatory where he studied Piano and Music Theory for 5 years.

- Later, started playing percussion at the local philharmonic Band (Sociedade Filarmónica Harmonia Reguenguense), where he still plays to this day.

- In 2015, Bernardo started with formal percussion classes at the Conservatório Regional do Alto Alentejo with the teachers Vasco Ramalho and Rui Quintas. There, he studied percussion until the end of his High School (2019). Simultaneously, he studied Socio-Economic Sciences at the local High-School.

- In 2019, Bernardo was accepted at Universidade do Minho for Bachelor studies (2019-2022) in Percussion with Dr.Nuno Aroso as principal teacher. He finished his Bachelor with an evaluation of 19/20 in his final recital.

- Later in 2020, he started having lessons of jazz vibraphone with Eduardo Cardinho, a Portuguese jazz artist at CLAMAT (Centro para Pesquisa, Difusão e Desenvolvimento da Percussão), in Porto, Portugal.

- In 2022, he started his Master Degree in the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln in Cologne/Wuppertal, Germany in Percussion with the teachers Dirk Rothbrust, Mathias Haus and Lukas Böhm.

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Prizes and Notable Events

Bernardo Cruz has won several prizes at music competitions, including:

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2nd Prize in Category C 2020 at the Online Competition “Online Soloists”, organized by Banda Municipal Alterense.
1st Prize at CNIC (4th National Competition for Contemporary Interpretation) organized by Sintese Grupo de Música Contemporânea

2nd Prize at CRAA (Conservatório Regional do Alto Alentejo) Interpretation Contest (2013).

Besides competitions, Bernardo has also premiered several works for Percussion Solo and Ensemble, such as:

• -  KAFKA//&$C by Ruben Borges (2022), for performer and amplified canvas/objects, premiered in 2022 in Braga, Portugal.

• -  Distentio (2004-2021) by Valerio Sannicandro, version for Solo Vibraphone with Live Electronics, premiered in June 2021 at Lisboa Incomum, Lisbon, Portugal.

• -  Concertino (2019) by Luis Carvalho, for Percussion ensemble, premiered in FIP 2019 (Festival Itinerante de Percussão) in Theatro Garcia de Rezende in Évora, Portugal.

• -  Beginning of Origin by Zhou Tiang, for Percussion ensemble, premiered in Festival de Outono 2019 with Grupo de Percussão da Universidade do Minho.

• -  de Muitas (2021) by Gonçalo Lopes, for Vibraphone and Double Bass, premiered in Braga, Portugal (2022).

  Orchestral/Ensemble Experience

  Bernardo has worked with some ensembles of interest especially in Contemporary Music/Percussion Music:

  - CLAMAT Colétivo Variável (Dir. by Dr. Nuno Aroso); Percussion Orchestra Cologne and Grupo de Percussão da Universidade do Minho, Minho University Orchestra,

• -  One must say that the work made with these ensembles and others involved working directly with living composers such as: Álvaro Salazar, Georgia Koumará, João Pedro Oliveira, Cândido Lima, Andrew Ford, Pedro Junqueira Maia, Valerio Sannicandro and Gonçalo Cravinho Lopes.

• -  Bernardo has played in several important halls and festivals such as

  Casa da Música (Porto, PT), MusikFabrik (Köln, DE), Theatro Garcia de Rezende (Évora, PT), Lisboa Incomum (Lisbon, PT), Festival Mihl Sons (Lugo, ES).

  Projects
  One must refer that Bernardo is cofounder of two projects:

• -  |klang.data|, a Duo with improviser Paulo Amendoeira with the objective to create experimental improvised music with influences that come from Radiohead or Super Silent to the cinema of David Lynch.

• -  The Duo Gonçalo Lopes/Bernardo Cruz that explores the unconvencional relation of percussion with double bass and limits of notated music, improvisation and creating new repertoire for this formation.

  Bernardo as also worked directly with several important Percussion players in class or masterclass context, such as:

- Christian Dierstein, Sisco Aparici, Casey Cangelosi, Dirk Rothbrust, Pedro Carneiro, Nick Woud, Anders Astrand, She e Wu, Theodor Milkov, Rui Sul Gomes, Eduardo Cardinho, Nancy Zeltsman, Kai Strobel, Pedro Segundo.

Curriculum Vitae