A native of Lisbon, Hugo Oliveira studied at Lisbon's Escola Superior de Música with Helena Pina Manique and Luís Madureira, and later on at The Hague Royal Conservatory with Jill Feldman and Barbara Pearson, supported by a scholarship of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
In 2009, Hugo Oliveira won the first prize in the III Competition of the Portuguese Rotary Foundation. He was also finalist of the London Bach Society Competition.
Integrated in the Opera departments of both conservatories, Hugo Oliveira took part in several operatic performances: in Lisbon, he appeared in W. A. Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (as Figaro) and Don Giovanni (as Leporello) conducted by Nicholas McNair. In 2004, he performed John Blow’s Venus and Adonis (as Adonis), in The Hague, under the direction of Nigel North.
As part of the Ambronay European Baroque Academy (2004), he toured several venues in Spain and France (including Versailles, Rouen, Metz and Vichy, among others) playing La Discorde in Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s opera Les Arts Florissants, conducted by Christophe Rousset,.
Further operatic performances include D. Milhaud’s Les malheurs d’Orphée (as Orphée) with the Ebony Band at Paris’ Cité de la Musique, and Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge (as David) - a production of Opera Minora (The Netherlands); he toured the most prestigious concert halls in The Netherlands and Belgium with A. Banchieri’s madrigalesque comedy La barca di Venetia per Padova, conducted byGabriel Garrido and co-produced by Reisopera.
Hugo’s collaboration with the Estúdio de Ópera do Porto - Casa da Música had him appear in such productions as Benedetto Marcello’s Joaz (as Azaria in 2002 and Jojada in 20003) directed Richard Gwilt, Gluck’s L’Ivrogne Corrig (as Lucas) conducted by Jeff Cohen, and Heinz-Karl Gruber’s Frankenstein! (choreographed by Paulo Ribeiro), with the Remix Ensemble under the guidance of Pierre-André Valade. Later on, in 2006, Hugo performed Gruber’s opera once again at the Barbican Centre in London, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by François-Xavier Roth.
Within the context of Rotterdam 2001 and Porto 2001 - European Cities of Culture, he performed António Chagas Rosa’s Melodias Estranhas in both cities, with the Remix Ensemble conducted by Stefan Asbury.
His flexible skills as a singer extend into the Classical/Romantic and Contemporary repertoire as well.
Hugo has collaborated with orchestras such as Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (The Netherlands), Il Fondamento, Ricercar Consort, Divino Sospiro Baroque Orchestra, L’Arpeggiata, Les Inventions and with conductors such as Laurence Cummings, Jaap van Zweden, Paul Dombrecht, Werner Herbers, Peter van Heyghen, Christina Pluhar, Patrick Ayrton and Enrico Onofri.
Within the realm of oratorio, his repertoire includes works such as J. S. Bach’s Matthäuspassion, Johannes Passion, Markuspassion and Weihnachtsoratorium, Arvo Pärt’s Passio (as Jesus) with England’s Hilliard Ensemble, C. Monteverdi’s Vespro della beata vergine, Casanove’s Invitatórios e Responsórios with Les Concerts des Nations conducted by Jordi Saval, Händel’s Messiah and Nisi Dominus, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Christus and Lauda Sion with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under the direction of Michel Corboz; he later collaborated once more with the Swiss conductor in Mozart’s Requiem. In 2007, again with the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, he appeared in Liszt’s Die Legende von der Heiligen Elisabeth.
Hugo has also performed Duruflé’s and Fauré’s Requiem, J. Rutter’s Mass of the Children, Brahms’ Requiem (four-hhand piano version) with Marcus Creed, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Remix Ensemble directed by Martin André, Gubaidulina’s Jetzt immer Schnee with the Schönberg Ensemble conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw, as well W. A. Mozart’s Mass in C major and Haydn’s Missa Nelson, under the guidance of Christopher Bochmann.
He also performed the world première of Nuno Corte-Real’s Cantata Verbum Caro conducted by Paulo Lourenço.
Further performances worthy of mention include that of Händel’s Dixit Dominus with the Holland Baroque Society under the direction of Peter Dijkstra in Amstedam’s Concertgebouw and, in the same prestigious venue, Haydn’s Stabat Mater with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta conducted by Klaas Stok.
