Isabel Rato

Portuguese pianist, composer, arranger and producer Isabel Rato is one of the most influential voices on her country’s contemporary jazz scene. This year she is celebrating a remarkable anniversary: ten years have passed since her critically acclaimed debut album Para Além da Curva da Estrada was released on Sintoma Records. Since then, Isabel Rato has released four albums, three of which – Histórias do Céu e da Terra (2019), Luz (2022) and Vale das Flores (2024), all released by Editora Nischo – were each named the best Portuguese jazz album of the year by the renowned magazine jazz.pt.

Her most recent work Vale das Flores, a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974, was named one of the outstanding albums of 2024 in the fields of jazz and world music by several critics and the curators of the World Music Charts Europe. Isabel Rato’s sound language moves in a fascinating field of tension: jazz and classical music, traditional Portuguese music and the songs of the Abril poets merge into an organic whole. “Isabel Rato moves between jazz and classical tradition with the elegance of someone walking on clouds of dreams,” wrote Fernando Sobral in the Jornal Económico. “She seems to bring peace, but does not forget the struggle of souls. She is part of this new generation of active and ambitious names who are opening new windows on the musical panorama from jazz – a fresh breeze in our musical kingdom.”

This vision is supported by an excellent quintet: alongside Isabel Rato on piano and as arranger, João Custódio on double bass and Alexandre Ferreira Alves on drums form the rhythmic foundation, while João Capinha sets lyrical and expressive accents on saxophones.

A central role is played by singer João David Almeida, whose voice conveys the poetic content of the Portuguese lyrics with an intensity that oscillates between intimate tenderness and dramatic power – an ideal interpreter for Rato’s sonic journey through the soul of Portugal. Over the past decade, the artist has performed on Portugal’s most important festival stages – including the Ageas CoolJazz Festival, Santa Casa Jazz Fest, Festa do Jazz and the Casa da Música in Porto – as well as at the Egypt Jazz Festival.

For the current concert season, Isabel Rato presents a program that combines the most striking pieces of these ten years in new arrangements: a sound journey through the music of her country, in which jazz and improvisation meet Portuguese tradition – universal in character, singular in perspective.