Ana Maria Santos was born in Lisbon in 1984.
Graduated at Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra with Etienne Lamaison, Ana leaves Portugal in 2007 to do a post-graduation in bass clarinet with Harry Sparnaay, at Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (Barcelona). In 2008 she was admitted on Michel Arrignon’s class at Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia (Madrid), with scholarships from Fundação Gulbenkian and Fundación Carolina. In parallel, she studied at Madrid’s International Chamber Music Institute, where she had opportunity to learn from Ralf Gothoni, Jacques Zoon, Radovan Vlatkovic, Klaus Thunemann and Hansjörg Shellenberger.
After finishing her studies in 2013, Ana was invited to be clarinet professor at Universidade de Évora and also, to form part of the Ensemble of the Lucerne Festival Alumni, having a tour with concerts in Zurich, London, New York, Beijing and Lucerne. In June of the same year, performed at ManiFeste Festival, organized by IRCAM, in Paris, under the direction of Heinz Holliger.
In 2011, she was selected to participate on the prestigious Lucerne Festival Academy directed by Pierre Boulez. In 2012, Ana was again admitted in the same Academy and she was selected to play as a soloist “Shadows” by Peter Eötvos. The concert took place at KKL’s Lucerne Concert Hall and was conducted by Peter Eötvos himself.
Also in 2011 and 2012 she was invited to participate at Encuentro y Academia de Música de Santander, where she had the opportunity to share the stage with important musicians such as Klaus Thunemann, Felix Renggli or Hansjörg Schellenberger.
In 2006, Ana did her debut as a soloist playing Debussy’s First Rapsody with the Orquestra Académica Metropolitana. This experience happened again in 2007 playing Concertino from Carl Maria von Weber and in 2013, she played Mozart’s clarinet Concerto with Orquesta Sony from Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia.
In 2008, Ana was in Paris with Etienne Lamaison recording a CD with music for children, composed by Thierry Pécou, for Éditeurs Gallimard (France). In 2011, in Madrid, she recorded the Brahms clarinet Quintet sponsored by BP and Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia.
Always with the need to improve her knowledge and experience, she did many master-classes with professores like Sabine Meyer, Paul Meyer, Tadahoshi Takeda, Yehuda Gilad, Philippe Cuper or Romain Guyot.
Ana worked with many orchestras like Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, Orquesta Sony and Sinfonietta Contemporánea from Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia, Orquestra de Câmara de Cascais e Oeiras, Zoltan Kodaly World Youth Orchestra (Hungary), Euro Asia Festival Orchestra (South Korea), giving her the opportunity to work with many conductors like David Robertson, Pablo Heras-Casado, Zsolt Nagy, Peter Eötvos, Michael Zilm, Alejandro Posada, Tamás Vásáry or Ian Cober.
Since 2006, she work’s as Etienne Lamaison’s assistant, at Fundação Gulbenkian educacional project, that consists in many musical exploration and improvisation workshops headed for children, about composers like Ligeti, Chostakovich, Messiaen or Stravinsky.
In 2010, she won the first prize of the International Clarinet Competition “José Alegria”, in Évora. In June of 2011, Ana received the prize as most outstanding student of Michel Arrignon’s class from the hands of Your Majesty the Queen Sofia of Spain and, in September, the Honor Medal of Caneças village.
Graduated at Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra with Etienne Lamaison, Ana leaves Portugal in 2007 to do a post-graduation in bass clarinet with Harry Sparnaay, at Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (Barcelona). In 2008 she was admitted on Michel Arrignon’s class at Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia (Madrid), with scholarships from Fundação Gulbenkian and Fundación Carolina. In parallel, she studied at Madrid’s International Chamber Music Institute, where she had opportunity to learn from Ralf Gothoni, Jacques Zoon, Radovan Vlatkovic, Klaus Thunemann and Hansjörg Shellenberger.
After finishing her studies in 2013, Ana was invited to be clarinet professor at Universidade de Évora and also, to form part of the Ensemble of the Lucerne Festival Alumni, having a tour with concerts in Zurich, London, New York, Beijing and Lucerne. In June of the same year, performed at ManiFeste Festival, organized by IRCAM, in Paris, under the direction of Heinz Holliger.
In 2011, she was selected to participate on the prestigious Lucerne Festival Academy directed by Pierre Boulez. In 2012, Ana was again admitted in the same Academy and she was selected to play as a soloist “Shadows” by Peter Eötvos. The concert took place at KKL’s Lucerne Concert Hall and was conducted by Peter Eötvos himself.
Also in 2011 and 2012 she was invited to participate at Encuentro y Academia de Música de Santander, where she had the opportunity to share the stage with important musicians such as Klaus Thunemann, Felix Renggli or Hansjörg Schellenberger.
In 2006, Ana did her debut as a soloist playing Debussy’s First Rapsody with the Orquestra Académica Metropolitana. This experience happened again in 2007 playing Concertino from Carl Maria von Weber and in 2013, she played Mozart’s clarinet Concerto with Orquesta Sony from Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia.
In 2008, Ana was in Paris with Etienne Lamaison recording a CD with music for children, composed by Thierry Pécou, for Éditeurs Gallimard (France). In 2011, in Madrid, she recorded the Brahms clarinet Quintet sponsored by BP and Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia.
Always with the need to improve her knowledge and experience, she did many master-classes with professores like Sabine Meyer, Paul Meyer, Tadahoshi Takeda, Yehuda Gilad, Philippe Cuper or Romain Guyot.
Ana worked with many orchestras like Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, Orquesta Sony and Sinfonietta Contemporánea from Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia, Orquestra de Câmara de Cascais e Oeiras, Zoltan Kodaly World Youth Orchestra (Hungary), Euro Asia Festival Orchestra (South Korea), giving her the opportunity to work with many conductors like David Robertson, Pablo Heras-Casado, Zsolt Nagy, Peter Eötvos, Michael Zilm, Alejandro Posada, Tamás Vásáry or Ian Cober.
Since 2006, she work’s as Etienne Lamaison’s assistant, at Fundação Gulbenkian educacional project, that consists in many musical exploration and improvisation workshops headed for children, about composers like Ligeti, Chostakovich, Messiaen or Stravinsky.
In 2010, she won the first prize of the International Clarinet Competition “José Alegria”, in Évora. In June of 2011, Ana received the prize as most outstanding student of Michel Arrignon’s class from the hands of Your Majesty the Queen Sofia of Spain and, in September, the Honor Medal of Caneças village.