Heloisa Amaral

Brazilian-born pianist Heloisa Amaral has studied piano, historical keyboards and conducting in Freiburg, Germany and at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.

Her early interest for contemporary music has led to collaborations with composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, Matthias Spahlinger, Simon Steen Andersen, Marina Rosenfeld and Natasha Barrett. Member of ensemble asamisimasa between 2003 and 2009, Heloisa works currently as a freelance pianist and harpsichordist, performing mainly as a soloist, with violinist Karin Hellqvist or with Ensemble neoN as well as with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and the Norwegian Soloist´s Choir. Recent projects include concerts with Duo Hellqvist/Amaral at Villa Romana (ITA) and Pan Festival (KO) as well at the Festival Internacional de la Imagen (COL), performance of works for voice and piano by Trond Reinholdtsen and Helmut Lachenmann with Ingeborg Dalheim at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, solo and chamber concerts at Darmstadt Summer Course 2014; performances of Bach's Christmas Oratory with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and the Norwegian Soloist´s Choir under Peter Dijkstra and a release on experimental label Hubro/GRAPPA: Håkon Stene's Lush Laments for Lazy Mammals.

In addition to her career as a performer, Heloisa is active as curator and researcher, with special interest for the political and philosophical aspects of contemporary music practice. She is now Head of Education at Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival and curator of Ultima Academy.

Her docARTES doctoral defense took place on November 17, 2022 at Leiden University.