The Jury of the 7th Viseu International Guitar Competition is composed of 11 members from 5 countries.

In the Open Category, the panel is presided over by Paulo Vaz de Carvalho and includes 7 further jurors from Portugal, France, Brazil and Montenegro.

In the Junior Category, the panel is presided over by Pedro Rodrigues and includes 5 further jurors from Portugal and Slovakia. This is a panel of tremendous talent whose experience assures us that the choice of winners is in the best of hands.

Open Category

President of the Jury

Paulo Vaz de Carvalho (Portugal)

Artistic Direction of the Competition

Paula Sobral (Portugal)
José Carlos Sousa (Portugal)

Jury Members

Martin Krajčo (Slovakia)
Thomas Viloteau (France)
Cleyton Fernandes (Brazil)
Goran Krivokapić (Montenegro)
André Cardoso (Portugal)

Junior Category

President of the Jury

Pedro Rodrigues (Portugal)

Jury Members

Martin Krajčo (Slovakia)
José Carlos Sousa (Portugal)
Pedro Rufino (Portugal)
Francisco Berény (Portugal)
André Cardoso (Portugal)

PAULO VAZ DE CARVALHO
After completing his Law degree at the University of Coimbra, he pursued guitar studies at the Muzikhochschule, in Vienna under the guidance of Luize Walker. He continued his guitar studies at the Conservatoire Aulnay-sous-Bois with Raymond Gratien, alongside private studies with Roberto Aussel.
In 1994, he completed a Master’s degree in Musical Sciences at the University of Coimbra and later earned a PhD at the University of Aveiro with a dissertation entitled “Polyphonic Thinking in Guitar Pedagogy from the 17th to the 20th Century.”
He has presented papers at conferences and meetings on organology.
He has performed for RTP and RDP Antena 2 and has appeared in concert seasons of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Ministry of Culture, the Serralves Foundation, Casa da Música, Expo ’98, Lisbon Guitar Week, the Santo Tirso International Festival, and the Bolívar Guitar Festival in London, England.
He has performed as a guitar soloist with several Portuguese orchestras.
He has also taken part in vocal and instrumental recitals such as “Retratos e Paisagens” for instrumental ensemble, “De Mil Amores”, and “Requiem Laico por Paquito Cardinali,” among others.
In collaboration with instrument makers, he has designed and built string instruments.
He has participated in several recordings, including works by Isabel Soveral, Fernando Lopes-Graça, Eurico Carrapatoso, and his own compositions — “Quatro Visitações a Manuel Mendes,” “Retratos e Paisagens,” and “Triângulo do Atlântico.” In connection with his stage music, he has led actor training sessions with the theatre companies A Escola da Noite and Urze Teatro.
He brought together the founding team of the first Academy of Music of Vila Real.
He served as Assistant Professor of Musical Expression at UTAD.
He was Professor of Guitar, Guitar Pedagogy, and Chamber Music at the Department of Communication and Art of the University of Aveiro. He is the Artistic Director of the festival “Ponto de Guitarra.”

PAULA SOBRAL
Paula Sobral, born in Sernancelhe (Viseu), began her musical studies at the Viseu Music Conservatory, where she studied Guitar with Luís Lapa and Christopher Lyall. In 1994, she enrolled in the Degree in Music Education at the University of Aveiro, specializing in Classical Guitar under the guidance of Paulo Vaz de Carvalho.
She later continued her guitar studies with guitarist Jozef Zsapka. She combined her guitar studies with teaching at the Viseu Conservatory and participated in several masterclasses. She also taught at the Music School of Colégio de S. José (Guarda) and at the Seia Conservatory.
She currently teaches at the Viseu Music Conservatory “Dr. José de Azeredo Perdigão.” In 2007, she completed a Master’s degree in Chamber Music at the University of Aveiro, under the supervision of Professors Paulo Vaz de Carvalho, Helena Marinho, Fausto Neves, and guitarist Odair Assad.
Between 1999 and 2014, together with José Carlos Sousa, she served as Artistic Director of the Sernancelhe International Classical Guitar Competition and Festival, a pioneering event in Portugal. Since 2015, she has been the Artistic Director of the Viseu International Guitar Competition, which is part of the Viseu Spring Music Festival.
Her artistic activity has been particularly distinguished in the field of chamber music, notably with the guitar duo Concentus Duo, alongside Manuel Tavares since 2000. The duo has performed in several cities across Portugal, including the Oliveira do Bairro Classical Guitar Cycle Festival, the António de Almeida Foundation Guitar Festival, the Sernancelhe International Festival, the CCB (Belém Cultural Center), the Guitarmania International Festival (Almada and Lisbon), and the Santo Tirso International Guitar Festival.
Internationally, they have appeared at the Hondarribia International Guitar Festival (Basque Country), the “Guitarre-Essonne” Festival in Paris, and the Palencia International Guitar Festival in Spain. This duo later gave rise to her most recent project — Duo Sobral — formed with her son, Rúben Sobral.
She has performed with the guitar octet Acord’Ensemble and with the Guitarrafonia Orchestra. She is a member of the Viseu Guitar Quartet, a group that has developed an intense artistic activity since its creation, featuring a broad repertoire and frequently performing their own transcriptions. The quartet has appeared as soloist with the Filarmonia das Beiras Orchestra in 2018 and with the Atlantic Orchestra in 2020.

JOSÉ CARLOS SOUSA
José Carlos Almeida de Sousa was born in Viseu, Portugal, in 1972. He began his musical studies at the Dr. José de Azeredo Perdigão Regional Conservatory of Music in his hometown, where he completed a general course in composition in 1995.
In 1996, he continued his studies at the University of Aveiro, where he completed his degree in composition in 2000.
He studied composition and electronic music with Evgueni Zoudilkin, João Pedro Oliveira and Isabel Soveral. He also attended several seminars on composition and electronic music led by composers Jorge Antunes, Alain Sève, Tomás Henriques, Flo Menezes, François Bayle and Emmanuel Nunes.
He has taught at the University of Aveiro and the Piaget Institute in Viseu.
Together with Paula Sobral, he was the organiser and artistic director of the Sernancelhe International Classical Guitar Competition and Festival for 15 consecutive editions.
He was the creator of the Viseu International Spring Music Festival, which he has organised since 2008, also serving as the festival’s artistic director.
In 1995, he won first prize in the 1st composition competition at the conservatory where he studied, with his children’s piece for piano, Almofada.
In the Electroacoustic Composition Competition ‘Música Viva 2000’, he was awarded an Honourable Mention.
In April 2001, he was awarded a prize for his work Viagem in the same competition, which was part of Porto 2001 European Capital of Culture.
His music has been performed in several Portuguese cities and at various music festivals: Festival Música Viva (Portugal), Primavera en La Habana (Cuba), Aveiro Síntese (Portugal), ’33e Festival International des Musiques et Créations Electroniques’ (Bourges – France), International Guitar Competition and Festival (Sernancelhe – Portugal), 14th World Saxophone Congress (Slovenia), “Guitarmania” – International Classical Guitar Festival (Almada – Portugal), Palencia Guitar Festival (Spain), Dias de Música Electroacústica Festival (Seia – Portugal), “Síntese” – Contemporary Music Cycle of Guarda (Portugal), Santo Tirso International Guitar Festival (Portugal), Viseu International Spring Music Festival (Portugal), 8th Festival International Guitar´Essonne – (Paris – France), Electroacoustic Music Days at Santa Cruz Air Race (Portugal), VIII Festival de la Guitarra de Sevilla – Spain, Tempo Reale Festival “Maratona Soundscape” in Florence, Italy, Festival “The Soundscape we live in” in Corfu, Greece, among others.
Some of his works are commissions from various institutions such as International Music Festivals, Universities, Orchestras, Museums and City Councils.
In April 2022, his work for orchestra, “As 7 Trombetas e a Nova Jerusalém” (The Seven Trumpets and the New Jerusalem), had its world premiere. At the invitation of Cem Palcos, he presented the project “Sete Andamentos para uma Cave” (Seven Movements for a Cellar) in collaboration with writer João Ricardo Pedro on 31 May 2024. In November 2024, his project ‘De Tenebris ad Lucem Sonorum’ was presented in Viseu, Porto, Braga, Estarreja, Mangualde, and Castelo Branco.
Between March and July 2025, the project ‘A Viagem dos Capitães’ (The Journey of the Captains) was presented in Viseu, Mangualde, Tondela, Carregal do Sal, and Sernancelhe.
He is the director and artistic director of the Viseu International Spring Music Festival, which he founded and continues to direct today in its 19th edition.
He is a professor of composition at the Viseu Conservatory of Music, and has also held the position of Pedagogical Director of the Conservatory since 2004.

MARTIN KRAJČO
Martin Krajčo, a leading Slovak guitarist, is one of the prominent personalities of the Slovak music scene. He graduated at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (Prof. Jozef Zsapka). In addition to his studies, he regularly studied at master classes led by artists as Costas Cotsiolis, Leo Brouwer, Luise Walker and many others. His success during his studies is confirmed by prizes at international competitions in Aix-en-Provence, Bratislava, Kutná Hora, Sernancelhe and Vienna. Martin is a versatile artist, active as soloist and chamber musician. Since 1997 he has been a member of the Bratislava Guitar Quartet and is continuously engaged in projects with diverse artists — among others Emily Van Evera, Hrvoje Jugović, Pavel Steidl, Simona Šaturová, Eva Šušková, Juraj Tomka, Miloš Valent, Moyzes Quartet and Mucha Quartet. His projects are part of important festivals in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Serbia and Spain. World premieres include works by Breiner, Brouwer, Burlas, Godár, Kolkovič, Krák, Kupkovič, Machajdík, Malovec, Mertz, Tailleferre, Zagar and others. Krajčo’s discography includes solo works, guitar duets, compositions for guitar and piano, or guitar quartet. Recent recordings include Mertz’s Kukuk with Pavel Steidl (Music Centre, 2021) and Hummel – Music for guitar and piano, with Hrvoje Jugović (Polimelos, 2025). Since 2018, he has been an Associate Professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.

THOMAS VILOTEAU
French guitar phenomenon Dr. Thomas Viloteau is widely regarded as one of today’s most outstanding classical guitarists. He began performing publicly just one year after starting the instrument and has since appeared in major venues across Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Winner of numerous international competitions — including the Guitar Foundation of America, Francisco Tárrega, Segovia, Mottola and Sernancelhe — Dr. Viloteau is the only guitarist to have received the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association. He has recorded for Naxos, Mel Bay and La Ma de Guido, and is the author of In the Black Box: Technique(s) of the Classical Guitar.
In 2019, he joined the guitar faculty of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, USA).

CLEYTON FERNANDES
Cleyton Fernandes is a guitarist, researcher, and classical guitar maker. He holds a PhD in Music (Guitar) from UNESP (São Paulo) and a PhD in Semiotics and Linguistics from USP (São Paulo), and completed part of his doctoral studies in Liège, Belgium. He also undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA).
He is currently a guitar professor at the Federal University of Cariri (UFCA), Brazil. He began his guitar studies in 1982 and has participated in numerous masterclasses and festivals in Brazil and abroad. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed with Paulo Bellinati, among others.
In addition to his teaching and concert activities, he is actively engaged in research on classical guitar luthiery. He regularly participates as a luthier in festivals in Brazil and Europe, where he gives lectures on the history and techniques of guitar making. His guitars are played by internationally renowned musicians such as Franz Halász, José Antonio Escobar, Guinga, Rafael Padrón, Everton Gloeden, Mario Ulloa, Edson Lopes, Marco Pereira, Gustavo Costa, Daniel Wolff, Swami Jr., and Eduardo Meirinhos, among others.

GORAN KRIVOKAPIĆ
Guitar virtuoso Goran Krivokapić has been lauded as “one of the most sought-after guitarists of today” by Medici TV.
Overall winner of nineteen international competitions, his focus lies on the development of repertoire for guitar, mainly through making his own transcriptions and collaborating with composers. Goran Krivokapić is an active soloist, chamber musician and teacher. He has performed across Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and Russia, appearing at major festivals and concert halls such as Tchaikovsky Hall, Lubkowitz Palace, Concertgebouw and Auditorio Conde Duque.
Together with Danijel Cerović, he formed the Montenegrin Guitar Duo, a leading guitar ensemble, which has performed on four continents and made the highly acclaimed premiere recording of J.S. Bach’s complete English Suites for Naxos.
Passionate about teaching, Goran Krivokapić has given masterclasses and lectures at universities and festivals worldwide.
Having taught previously at the Koblenz International Guitar Academy, the Lemmens Institute and Prince Claus Conservatoire, he teaches at Detmold University of Music and is professor of guitar at the Cologne University of Music and Dance.

ANDRÉ CARDOSO
André Cardoso was born in 1980. He attended the Alves Martins Secondary School in Viseu, in the Technological Course of Arts and Crafts. He enrolled in the Visual and Technological Education degree, which he later left to devote himself exclusively to music. He attended the Dr. Azeredo Perdigão Regional Conservatory of Music in Viseu, where he studied classical guitar with professors Paula Sobral and Christopher Lyall. He later enrolled at the University of Aveiro in the Degree in Music Education, specialising in Classical Guitar, studying with Josef Zsapka and Paulo Vaz de Carvalho. In Chamber Music, he studied with Professor António Chagas Rosa. He participated in masterclasses in classical guitar and chamber music led by Christopher Lyall, Timothy Walker, Olga Prats, Betho Davezac, Roberto Aussel, Carlo Marchione, Judicaël Perroy, Tal Hurwitz, Yamandu Costa, Jérémy Jouve, and Thibault Cauvin, among others. He has recorded for RDP Antena 2 and Antena 1. He performed as soloist with the Filarmonia das Beiras Orchestra, and has played with the Orquestra Clássica do Centro and the Orquestra Aeminium. He has performed chamber music in a wide variety of ensembles, most notably Duo Lontano (2003–2010, classical guitar duo) and the Viseu Guitar Quartet (2012–). In the fields of folk and world music, he has taken part in projects such as Quimera Quinteto (music by Astor Piazzolla), Toques do Caramulo (mountain folk music), Contracorrente (protest music from around the world), Tocar o Chão (music by Carlos Peninha), Terra da Fraternidade – ACERT (homage to Zeca Afonso), Isabel Silvestre and Cantares de Manhouce, among other groups and musicians. He has been a member of the group A Presença das Formigas (2009–), where he performs and composes. The group won the Zeca Afonso Prize at the Cantar Abril Festival in Almada (2009). At the same festival, he won the Adriano Correia de Oliveira Prize with Contracorrente (2013). He has participated as performer and guest musician on the albums: Ciclorama (2010) and Pé de Vento (2014) by A Presença das Formigas; Contracorrente – D’Orfeu (2013); A Viagem do Elefante – ACERT (2014), 14 songs from the show, with Luís Pastor; and A Cor da Língua ACERT; Mina (2016); Tocar o Chão (2017); Sara Vidal (2018); Manuel Maio (2019). He also participated as performer and composer in Fil’Mus (2010–2020, live silent film accompaniment), Crónicas de Inverno (2015, poetry), O Banco do Tempo (2014, dance), and Fogo Correndo (2019–, theatre). He composed music, together with Manuel Maio, for the choreographic video Perpetuum (2016). He began amateur theatre at the age of 14. He was co-founder of the AdHoc Project (1998), winning prizes with the original works Se não fosse de cá, acharia tudo isto muito estranho (1999) and Loucura, será isto loucura? (2000). He participated as actor and creator in the play Twister (2002), directed by Jorge Fraga. He has directed various artistic projects with communities and amateur theatre groups, primarily in the Viseu district. In 2007, he co-founded Zunzum Associação Cultural and was part of its artistic and management board until 2017. He was founder and artistic director of the Outono Quente festival (2012–2017). He has participated in dozens of theatrical productions as narrator, director, actor and musician. He has performed regularly throughout Portugal and abroad, in countries including Spain, France, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA and Switzerland. He has served on the jury of the International Classical Guitar Competition at the Viseu Spring Music Festival (2016–). He taught at the Conservatório de Música de Águeda (2002–2004) and the Conservatório de Música da Guarda (2004–2006). Since 2004, he has been a Classical Guitar teacher at the Dr. Azeredo Perdigão Regional Conservatory of Music in Viseu.

PEDRO RODRIGUES
Winner of the Artists International Auditions (New York), Concorso Sor (Rome) and the Young Musicians Award, and laureate of more than two dozen international competitions including Salieri-Zinetti, Paris, Montélimar, Valencia and Sernancelhe, Pedro Rodrigues began his musical studies at the age of five. He studied with José Mesquita Lopes at the Orfeão de Leiria School of Music, where he completed his studies with the highest distinction as a scholarship holder of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He later studied with Alberto Ponce at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, where he was awarded the Higher Diplomas in Chamber Music and Guitar Performance, the latter with highest honors, jury unanimity and congratulations.
He has participated in masterclasses with David Russell, Leo Brouwer, Joaquín Clerch and Darko Petrinjak. Under the supervision of Paulo Vaz de Carvalho and Alberto Ponce, he completed his PhD in 2011 at the University of Aveiro as a scholarship holder of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.
Pedro Rodrigues has performed as a soloist in internationally renowned venues such as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall (New York), Salle Cortot (Paris), National Concert Hall (Taipei), Ateneo de Madrid, Sala Manuel de Falla (Madrid), Endler Hall (Cape Town), India International Centre (New Delhi), Sala Raúl Juliá (San Juan), Centro Cultural de Belém, Casa da Música, the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, as well as festivals including Mikulov, Paris, Santo Tirso, Música Viva, Sernancelhe, Caruso Festival, Miguel Llobet, Forfest Kroměříž and Vital Medeiros, among others.
He has premiered over 60 works by leading Portuguese composers such as João Pedro Oliveira, Cândido Lima, Isabel Soveral, Sara Carvalho, Sérgio Azevedo, José Luís Ferreira, António Sousa Dias and Carlos Caires, many of which were dedicated to him.
He has recorded for RTP, RDP, RTM, SABC, Český Rozhlas and WIPR, and released albums with the labels Numérica, Nuova Venezia, Portugaler, Slovartmusic, DME and JNS Music. He has appeared as a soloist with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Filarmonia das Beiras, Algarve Orchestra, and the Cascais and Oeiras Chamber Orchestra, among others.
Pedro Rodrigues is regularly invited to teach masterclasses at conservatories and universities across Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia. His transcriptions and editions are published by Mel Bay Publications, Bergmann Editions, AVA Editions and Notação XXI. As a researcher, he has given lectures in China, the United States, England, Brazil and Portugal, and his articles have been published in journals such as Soundboard Scholar (USA) and Vortex (Brazil).
He recently created and hosted the radio programme “Seis Cordas Para Um País”, broadcast on Antena 2, and published the books O Jogo das Seis Cordas (Notação XXI) and The Breathing Hand (Bergmann Edition). He is currently an Integrated Researcher at INET-md and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication and Art of the University of Aveiro, where he also serves as Director of the Master’s Degree in Music, Artistic Director of the University of Aveiro Autumn Festivals, and a member of the University’s General Council.

FRANCISCO BERÉNY
Francisco Berény Domingues was born in Porto (Portugal) and began his musical studies at the age of 11. He attended Curso de Música Silva Monteiro, where he studied with Hugo Sanches, Paula Marques, Óscar Rodrigues, and Pedro Rodrigues. He has taken part in numerous recitals and given masterclasses in Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Finland.
He has regularly collaborated in initiatives with the Associação Música e Esperança de Portugal and maintains active chamber music partnerships with pianist Álvaro Teixeira Lopes, cellist José Tiago Azevedo e Silva (Opus Duo), and flutist Luís Meireles. In addition, several works have been dedicated to him by composers Amílcar Vasques Dias, Diogo Novo Carvalho, Pedro Rodrigues (in this case dedicated to the guitar trio Trium), and Fernando Lapa (for Opus Duo).
In the context of masterclasses, he has worked with Paula Marques, Michel Sadanovsky, Dejan Ivannovich, Margarita Escarpa, Pedro Rodrigues, Judicael Perroy, Marco Tamayo, Michalis Kontaxakis, Daniel Wolff, Fabiano Borges, Hubert Kappel, Zoran Dukic, Laura Young, Ricardo Gallén, Joaquín Clerch, and Marcin Dylla.
Berény completed a Bachelor’s degree in Guitar Performance and a Master’s degree in Music Education at the University of Aveiro under Professor Pedro Rodrigues. In 2021, he completed a Master’s degree in Performance in the class of Professor Laura Young at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, graduating with highest honors. In 2023, Francisco released his debut CD, Salzburg Recital, with KNS.
Since 2022, he has been the Artistic Director of the Festival Teoria das Cordas (a partnership between the University of Porto and Curso de Música Silva Monteiro), Artistic Director of the Santa Cecília Guitar Competition, and since 2024, a member of the pedagogical board of Curso de Música Silva Monteiro.

PEDRO RUFINO
Pedro Rufino, a native of Nisa, began his first musical studies at the Sociedade Musical Nisense. In 1987, he entered the Regional Conservatoire of Castelo Branco, where he studied Guitar with Professor Paulo Valente Pereira, completing his secondary studies in the class of Professor Eli Camargo Júnior.
He completed both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Education – Instrument and Ensemble Class at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa and at the Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco.
Since 1996, he has taught Guitar and Ensemble at the Academia de Música e Dança do Fundão, where he has developed a wide range of projects.
In his artistic career, he has performed at numerous festivals, including the III International Guitar Festival of Tomar; the International Festival of Novosibirsk (Siberia); a recital organised by the Camões Institute in Moscow (Russia) and in Warsaw (Poland); the XII International Winter Festival of Domingos Martins (Brazil); the International Guitar Festival of Sernancelhe (Portugal); a concert organised by the Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga Professional Conservatoire of Music in Bilbao (Spain); the Guitar’Essonne International Festival (France); the Elogio da Guitarra Festival (Portugal); the Allegromosso Festival (Italy); and on RDP – Antena 2, including a notable performance at the Centro Cultural de Belém.
With the Concordis Guitar Quartet, he has performed at the Guitar Art Festival in Belgrade (Serbia); the 7th Lagoa International Guitar Festival (Portugal); the Guitares en Picardie Festival (France); the 29th International Guitar Meeting “Ciudad de Linares Andrés Segovia” (Spain); the Beausoleil Chamber Music Festival (France); the Baltic Guitar Festival (Lithuania); the Festival Internazionale delle Due Città (Italy); the Guitar Festival Krško (Slovenia); the José Tomás Villa de Petrer International Guitar Festival (Spain); the Fundão International Guitar Festival (Portugal); the Astana International Music Festival (Kazakhstan); the Oriente Foundation (Macau, China); the Hong Kong International Guitar Festival (China); and the Antena 2 Festival at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon (Portugal).
He is currently a founding member of the MP GuitarDuo and Artistic Director of the Fundão International Guitar Festival.
He performs on guitars by Zbigniew Gnatek and is sponsored by Savarez.