João Cunha

Born in 1993, he began his musical studies at the age of six in his hometown, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Conservatory of Music in Braga. In 2011, he continued his music studies at the University of Minho, under the guidance of Professor Pavel Gomziakov. After completing his degree, he continued his artistic and interpretative development under the guidance of international cellist David Cohen at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons (Belgium). He was subsequently accepted onto an orchestral specialisation programme between the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the London Symphony Orchestra, where he was mentored by cellist Rebecca Gilliver. He has also taken part in various masterclasses with some of the best current performers, such as Claudio Bohórquez, Rafael Figueroa, Rebecca Gilliver and Robert Nagy.

An enthusiastic chamber musician, João Cunha has performed in several countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Japan. He was invited to perform at the Festival Les Sons Intensifs2017 (Belgium) and at the Pacific Music Festival in 2018 and 2019. Most recently, he was guest soloist for the Braga Sinfonietta’s 2021/2022 season.

Since 2015, he has been establishing extensive orchestral experience. He was a member of the Britten Pears Orchestra2017 and the Pacific Music FestivalAcademy during the 2018 and 2019 seasons where he had the opportunity to be principal cellist. Together, he is a regular guest of several professional orchestras, including Orchestre Royal de Chambre de la Wallonie, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Austalian Chamber Orchestra, in which he has had the opportunity to work with internationally renowned conductors such as Michael Sanderling, Kirill Karabits, Thomas Sondergard, John Storgards, Mikhail Jurowski, Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, among others. 

João Cunha is currently a cellist with the Porto Casa da Música Symphony Orchestra and, at the same time, takes part in and develops various educational and chamber music projects in his home country.