Rita Matos Alves

"Treasure trove: Rita Matos Alves in Gluck's Paride ed Elena", Opera Now

"Una Contessa dall'innata eleganza e dal bel colore pervaso da una luminosa malinconia", Operaclick

"The sparkling Rita Matos Alves, of refined bel canto", M. Dumont-Mergeay, La Libre

"A very rich voice: almost coloratura in the high register, while fleshy in the low-middle range", Olyrix

A native of Lisbon, Rita Matos Alves lives in Brussels, where she studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music with Marcel Vanaud (Master with High Distinction).

She continued her training as a resident of the Opera Studio of Pisa (Laboratorio Toscano per la Lirica), under stage director Andrea Cigni and conductors Federico Maria Sardelli, Filippo Maria Bressan, Elio Boncompagni and Guy Condette. She perfected her art in various masterclasses given by Nadine Denize, Mya Besselink, Stephan Taylor, Valérie Guillorit, George Emil Crasnaru, Ileana Cotrubaș and Montserrat Caballé.

Rita is a laureate of the International Singing Competition of Marmande (France), of the Armel Opera Festival Competition (Hungary) and of the International Montserrat Caballé Competition (Spain).

Recently, Rita sang at the Opéra de Rouen in Henri Sauguet's Tistou les Pouces Verts (the role of Mme Mère) under Paul-Emmanuel Thomas. She also performed the role of Clorinda (Rossini's La Cenerentola) at the Teatro Verdi of Trieste under George Petrou.

She has also sung the role of Mimì in the show Bohème (a lyric huis clos after Puccini's work), staged by Daniel Donies and given in Brussels at the Théâtre Mercelis and the Théâtre Poème, as well as at the Château de Waroux (Belgium).

In concert she has performed notably in Lisbon at the Teatro da Trindade in recital, and in Brussels (at the Église des Minimes, the Royal Palace and the Salons de la Mélodie).

Accompanied by theorbist Jean-Luc Impe, she performed at La Vénerie (Brussels) in a programme dedicated to Monteverdi, in the cycle "Echos: Musique & Pensées".

This season, Rita also sang Musetta in Puccini's La Bohème, on tour in Belgium, and created the role of Antigone in the world première of the opera "Antigone in the Dark", a lyric monologue for soprano and orchestral ensemble by the composer Stéphane Orlando, libretto by Lorenzo Carola, under the composer's direction and with the Ensemble Fractals.

In concert she has sung Mozart's Requiem in Braine-l'Alleud and Waterloo, and various Bach cantatas with the Chapelle des Minimes in Brussels.

Rita made her operatic debut within the Junge Oper Schloss Weikersheim (Germany), in the role of Clorinda (Rossini's La Cenerentola), under Alessandro De Marchi.

A vibrant interpreter of Mozart roles, she has portrayed La Contessa d'Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Teatro Verdi di Pisa, Zerlina (Don Giovanni) at the Château de Seneffe (Belgium), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at the Abbaye de Neumünster (Luxembourg) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Academiezaal of Sint-Truiden and the Cultural Centre of Lommel (Belgium).

Among her roles are Elena (Gluck's Paride ed Elena) at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie (Belgium) and the Teatro del Giglio of Lucca (Italy), Isabelle (Grétry's L'Amant Jaloux) at the Théâtre Jean-Vilar and the Festival Royal de Théâtre de Spa (Belgium), and Atamira (Alessandro Melani's L'Empio Punito) at the Teatro Verdi of Pisa (Italy), accompanied by the Ensemble Auser Musici under Carlo Ipata.

She sang the role of the French Daughter (Britten's Death in Venice), under Paul Daniel, at the Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie (Brussels), the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam (Netherlands).

In the field of opéra-comique, Rita has sung the title role of La Belle Hélène (Offenbach) at the Colisée de Roubaix and the Théâtre des Sablons in Neuilly (France), as well as Diane (Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers) and Simone (Varney's Les Mousquetaires au couvent) in Belgium and France.

In concert she has performed various sacred works (Bach, Zelenka, Caldara, Vivaldi, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Rossini, Fauré, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Brahms, Rutter, Pärt), notably at Bozar, the Chapelle des Minimes, the Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula, and the Grand Hall of the Royal Conservatory (Brussels), as well as at Tournai Cathedral (Belgium).

A great lover of chamber music, Rita has performed in various programmes with strings or small ensemble, notably at La Vénerie in "Proust révisé par la musique" in the cycle "Echos: Musique & Pensées", at the Musical Instruments Museum, and at the Festival Midi-Minimes, among others.

In recital, Rita has performed in Italy (Teatro Verdi di Pisa, Festival Musica sotto la Torre in Pisa, Festival Pianistico della città di Carrara), in Portugal (Festival ao Largo de Lisboa, Festival Estoril Lisboa, Recreios da Amadora, Teatro da Trindade…), in Luxembourg (Foyer Européen, Arca-Bertrange), and in Belgium (Festival de Lasne, Festival Été Mosan, Festival Midi-Minimes, Zomer van Sint-Pieter, Aula Magna of Louvain-la-Neuve, Ferme du Biéreau, ArtBase, Rencontres Musicales Internationales d'Enghien, Théâtre Poème, Les Salons de la Mélodie…).

Within the Concertini of the Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie (Brussels), Rita performed the role of The Little Cloud in the world première of the cantata Book of Thel by Piers Maxim, under the composer's direction.