Patrícia Costa

Born in Guimarães, Patrícia Costa grew up listening to traditional Portuguese music.

Since a very young age Fado took a hold of her voice. She sang for the first time in public when she was eight years old in the already extinct Teatro Jordão, in her hometown, participating from then on in several radio programs and live performances.

Amália Rodrigues is her biggest reference.

She began her musical studies when she was nine years old at the Conservatório Regional de Vila Nova de Famalicão/Caldas da Saúde, where she concluded the Complementary Course of Musical Training, with the instruments: Classical Guitar/Marked Strings Guitar (Prof. Óscar Flecha’s class); and Singing (professors Cecília Fontes and Ana Paula Matos’ class).

Of her classical training route one can emphasize the participation, as a soloist, on the concert “Música no Coração” with the Youth Orchestra of ARTAVE, in June of 2000 in the already extinct Cinema Terço, in Oporto; and the operetta “A Viúva Alegre” by Franz Léhar, with the Orchestra ARTAVE directed by the maestro Manuel Ivo Cruz, staged on the Fórum da Maia in May of 2001 and in the Casa das Artes of V. N. Famalicão in October of the same year, a coproduction of the Companhia de Ópera do Real Teatro de Queluz as well as of the Centro de Cultura Musical.
She concluded the Complementary Course of Musical Training in 2001.

Since 1994, she has performed regularly in shows abroad, namely in Switzerland – Genéve; Germany – Feiburg and Groβ-Umstadt; Spain – Madrid and on several locations in Galicia; Finland – Helsinki; and South Africa – Johannesburg. Amongst these performances one can highlight 5 concerts in November of 2007, in Corsica, within the context of the famous “Rencontres Musicales de la Méditerranée” festival where she was part of the Portuguese representation at the invitation of ESMAE (Escola Superior de Música do Porto), performing with her Saxophone Quartet.

She has a degree in Nursing since 2007.

Since 2009 she is part of the residing Fado singers cast at the Fado house “O Fado”, in Oporto, the city where she lives since 2001.

In 2010, she released her first original album, “Um cantar velado e lento”. Composed of thirteen songs, she presents several originals, four of which were especially composed for Patrícia Costa: “Balada de Lisboa” by Fontes Rocha with lyrics by Manuel Alegre; “Fado das Ondas” by André Teixeira with the words of José Carlos Vasconcelos; “Guitarras do meu País” and “Em Todos os Jardins” composed by Miguel Amaral for the poems of Manuel Alegre and Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, respectively.

In Portugal, there are already several acclaimed concert halls where Patrícia Costa performed: Casa da Música, Coliseu do Porto, Palácio da Bolsa, Palácio do Freixo, Teatro Rivoli, Teatro Sá da Bandeira, and Casa das Artes of V. N. Famalicão.

Recently, she held three concerts on the “Cais de Fado” festival promoted by Casa da Música as well as Gaia’s City Hall (July of 2014), and a concert held within the third edition of the cycle “Fado no Museu” (August of 2014) at the Museu do Vinho do Porto, promoted by Oporto’s City Hall; both being praised by critics and sold out.

Patrícia Costa has confirmed her presence on the Festival Caixa Ribeira, which shall take place on Oporto’s riverfront on the 12th and 13th of June of 2015, where she will perform on an unusual as well as special setting: a Rabelo boat on the Douro river.

She is currently preparing her second album: a live record where the Fado singer shall present the new original repertoire; a few songs concerning rural folklore; and where she will also recover the Fado legacy of the Cidade Invicta (Unvanquished City) of the last decades.

Patrícia Costa was also invited to take part on the next edition of “Porto timeless a photo album as well as poetic text of the co-authorship of Eugénia Soares Lopes and Markus Zuber (Edições Afrontamento), where in this volume the focus is on the portraits of Oporto city’s individualities.