Maria do Mar is a Lisbon-based violinist, composer, teacher and activist. With a classical background, she explores alternative ways of teaching, participates in experimental and improvised music projects, and programming and curating events.
She contributed to several soundtracks, namely ‘The Architect” (1993), a documentary by Paulo Rocha with music by Paulo Brandão, “Quem é Ricardo” (2004) and “Estive em Lisboa e lembrei de você” (2015) both by José Barahona, “Ela é uma Música” by Francisca Marvão (2019), and she composed the original soundtrack for “Há uma profeta nas Olaias, tenham cuidado! “(2021) by Lucas Camargo de Barros and “O estranho caso de Adelaide” (2023) de Inês Oliveira.
Experimental, improvised music and performance are her main expressions. In 2024 she worked in a musical theater piece, “Silencio, por favor!” with the Opera Lab Berlin. Transdisciplinarity, Ecofeminism, Queer Theory, Post-Humanism have been her latest focus, with works such as Grão Contratempo (2022) and Grão_X (2024), made in two villages of the interior of Portugal, which also crosses media such as
installation, field recordings, electronics, sound manipulation software, video, with the participation of the surrounding community, drawing attention to the global climate changes; or her work as a curator and participant in the Descomposição Transitória Cycle, which has been taking place since 2021 at SMUP, which explores the interaction between image, sound and space. She explores the violin to its acoustic limits, using extended technics, traversing the entire sound spectrum of the instrument acoustically and resorting to electronic devices, also using noise as a mean of expression. She has performed with many national and international artists, such as Miguel Mira, Carlos “Zíngaro”, Joelle Léandre, Atau Tanaka, Sei Miguel, Ricardo Freitas, Paulo Chagas, Pavel Fajt, Ernesto Rodrigues, Joana Guerra, Rodrigo Amado, Maria Radich, Adriana Sá, Mia Zabelka, Sofia Borges, César Burago, João Camões, José Lencastre, Jan and Romke Kleefstra, Olivier Perriquet in festivals like MIA, Creative Fest Lisbon & Berlin, Jazz no Parque de Serralves, BCN ImproFest, Festival Urogallo at Léon, Festival Underscore, Magassessions, Lisboa Soa, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIVE INTERFACES 2022, Jazz ao Centro at Coimbra, Jazz 2020 in Gulbenkian, Explore the North festival, in the Netherlands.
She has several recordings, and is a member of music projects such as Arpyies, Kokota Mabaya, and LANTANA, which has been awarded Best Band of 2022, by RTP (Radio and Television of Portugal) and Festa do Jazz, and Revelation Group 2022, by El Intruso pole of critics, concerning their debut album Elemental (Cipsela Records).
In 2019, her work was recognized with her nomination by Rui Eduardo Paes as 2019 Best Portuguese Musician or Band in Jazz.pt magazine.
She explores a wide and varied universe and the development of a personnel language, with tenuous aesthetical boundaries, opening up creative unlimited cross-possibilities.
