Current

Conto num Violino

Violin Tale - A fantasy on the typical characters of a tale, told on the anatomy of a violin. A small radio theatre, for speaking voices and 3 violins, in Portuguese.

With Luisa Cruz, Luis Madureira and Sze Ying Chan.

Every Tuesday 11am and 3pm (GMT) on Antena 2

translation available, click link.

Songs my mother taught me

Songs my mother taught me is a unique performance of music and theatre, with new and old works inspired by folk song in the unique Union Chapel.

It includes two premieres by Darren Sng and Vincenzo Di Francesco, as well as music by Bartók, arrangements of Brahms and Gustav Holst, and works by living composers such as Luis Mota, Jorge Ramos, Samuel Gapp and António Sá-Dantas.

Performed by the Cat’s Cradle Collective, with the actress Marta Carvalho creating a narrative beyond the music.

Recent projects

Cidades Invisíveis

teatro sonoro para rádio, a passar todas as 2as na Antena 2. Uma leitura integral da obra Cidades Invisíveis de Italo Calvino, com um variado elenco explorando diferentes sotaques em Português, com música original de António Sá-Dantas.

Todas as 2as na Antena 2 e online durante 1 mês.

Portrait of a Wrestler

A dance+wrestling+music performance, created in collaboration with Claire Heaffor.

Exploring Wrestling as a performative practice and, traditionally, as a safe space for men to explore identity, creativity and community - this dance performance has music from António Sá-Dantas created for a live, performative choir.

TUE 31st in THE PLACE

BIO

António Breitenfeld Sá-Dantas is a composer, conductor and performer. In all the different sides of his creative output he finds one source — looking for novelty, wonder and expression through sound and performance. 

António has composed works for orchestra, ensemble, solo, as well as award winning vocal works and electronic pieces. In his music he aims to discover a blend of old and new, creating musical stories that suggest unique worlds.

Currently he is working on his music radio play adaptation of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, commissioned by Portuguese national Radio Antena 2. Antonio is not only the composer, but also the artist director of the whole project, that counts with a uniquely diverse cast of eleven actors, that includes Fernando Luis, Luisa Cruz, Clara Andermatt and Igor Regalla amongst others. During his artistic residency at the Millay Colony for the Arts (USA) in the summer of 2016, he composed the radio music play Eine Schwalbe falten on a text by Margret Kreidl, commissioned and broadcasted by the Austrian national radio Ö1, as well as German radio Deutschlandfunk; and was adapted to Portuguese and broadcast by Antena 2 with the renowned actress Rita Blanco playing the main role. António was Casa da Música’s Young Composer in Residence 2016. For that position he was commissioned three works: perante sonora flor esta, Ferocidade and Désir t’a appris l’inanité du désir, all premiered in Casa da Música by leading ensembles. His earlier work Cantos for choir a cappella was awarded the 2nd prize in the Styria Cantat Choir Competition in 2015 and was subsequently recorded and published. 

António is the co-founder and artistic and musical director of the Cat’s Cradle Collective (CCC), an ensemble dedicated to creating cross-collaborative performances of music from all ages and genres; and the Voyage Ensemble, an ensemble that explores experimental film music. With the Cat’s Cradle, Antonio has conducted in the Royal College of Music, in the Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, created unique performances in the Portuguese Embassy in London. His project Das Tripas Coração, in which Portuguese composers were invited to write new music based on Portuguese traditional music, is featured in the radio in London and Portugal, as well as the film Das Tripas Coração em Carne e Osso seen by over 1000 people in celebration of the World day of Portuguese Language.

His work as a composer and countertenor merged into each other with the creation of the music+dance performance Suspensão. Co-created and performed by António, choreographer Clara Andermatt and improviser Jonas Runa, Suspensão has been touring ever since its premiere in 2016 through the most prominent concert halls in Portugal. He recently worked with visual artist Judith Deschamps on a work exploring artificial intelligence in recreating Farinelli’s voice.

During the COVID pandemic Antonio created the business Sounds a Treat, dedicated to the creation of personalised Happy birthday arrangements, arranged, sung and recorded by Antonio himself.

He has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Composition and in Orchestra Conducting from the Kunstuniversität Graz. His teachers included Beat Furrer and Martin Siegahrt, respectively.

Antonio continues pursuing his career of composer, conductor and countertenor cresting projects and open to all kinds of collaborations.