Fernando Miguel Jalôto

Directing his own ensemble, guest continuo player with prestigious European Early Music groups, or as a soloist/recitalist, Miguel is presently the most notorious Portuguese specialist on historical keyboard instruments. Principal continuo player with the Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música (Oporto) under the direction of Laurence Cummings, and guest continuo player with the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra and Choir in Lisbon, Miguel frequently performs at important venues in all Europe, Israel, China and Japan, and often collaborates with such prestigious groups as La Galanía, Oltremontano, Vox Luminis, Capilla Flamenca and Bonne Corde, among others. Recent solo recitals include the complete keyboard works by Giovanni Salvatore at Utrecht's Oude Muziek Festival; suites by Froberger, Bach and Handel at Casa da Música (Porto) and D. Scarlatti and Seixas sonatas at the Spanish Royal Palaces of Aranjuez and La Granja de San Ildefonso.

As a soloist, Miguel performed many famous concertos by J. S. Bach, G. F. Handel, C. Ph. E. Bach, J. Haydn and W. A. Mozart, as well as less known concertos by Carlos de Seixas, José Palomino, C. H. Graun, F. Benda and Wilhelmina Von Bayreuth. His solo organ repertoire is mainly focused on the Iberian and Italian schools from the 16th to the 18th century, and as harpsichord soloist he often performs French, German, and English music from the same period, with principal emphasis the French Harpsichord school from J. Ch. de Chambonnières and L. Couperin to F. Couperin and J.-Ph. Rameau; and J. S. Bach and his forerunners and contemporaries, from J. J. Froberger to C. Ph. E. Bach. There is no need to mention that Miguel is a specialist in the Portuguese repertoire, from Rodrigues Coelho to C. Seixas and D. Scarlatti. Miguel recorded for Harmonia Mundi, together with Andreas Staier, and also to Glossa Music, Anima & Corpo and Parati. His double album with the complete harpsichord suites by Dieupart for Brilliant Classics was particularly well received by the specialized critic, as well as his interpretation of Carlos Seixas Harpsichord Concert in g under the direction of Enrico Onofri, for Dynamic. Miguel is the co-founder and director of Ludovice Ensemble, a group devoted to the performance of 16th, 17th and 18th century music. They recorded French Baroque Cantatas for Ramée (Outhere) and C. H. and J. G. Graun sonatas for flute and obligato harpsichord for Veterum Musica. 

Miguel conducted from the harpsichord and/or organ some of the greatest Baroque masterpieces such as Monteverdi 1610's Marian Vespers; Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme by Moliére/Lully; Idylle sur la Paix by Racine/Lully; Le Triomphe de la Paix by Th.-L. Bourgeois; Les Arts Florissants and Messe de Minuit by M.-A. Charpentier; Timon of Athens by Shakespeare/H. Purcell; Cain overo il primo omicidio by Ottoboni/A. Scarlatti; J. S. Bach's sacred cantatas and masses; grands motets by J.-Ph. Rameau; concerti grossi by A. Corelli and G. F. Handel; anthems by M. Locke and Purcell; ballet music by Handel, Rameau, and C. Debussy; Sephardic Baroque music; and, of course, a great amount of Portuguese-Italian baroque music, including Avondano, Schiassi, Perez, Giorgi and Tedeschi. As a continuo player Miguel often collaborates with prestigious conductors and soloists including Enrico Onofri, Ton Koopman, Paul McCreesh, Christina Pluhar, Christophe Rousset, Fabio Biondi, Antonio Florio, Amandine Beyer, Harry Christophers, Andrew Parrott, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Chiara Banchini, Alfredo Bernardini, Christophe Coin, Dirk Snellings, Wim Becu and Paul Hillier. Miguel studied harpsichord at the Early Music and Historical Performance Practice Department of the Royal Conservatory, The Hague, where he completed his bachelor and master degrees with Jacques Ogg. He attended master classes with Gustav Leonhardt, Olivier Baumont, and Ilton Wjuniski, and also studied the clavichord and baroque organ. He has a master's degree in Music at Aveiro University and currently follows a PhD programme in Historical Musicology at the Universidade Nova, in Lisbon, focuses on Portuguese-Italian 18th century sacred music.