Casa de Fado Amsterdam
MUSICIANS
GET TO KNOW OUR COMMUNITY
Each performance is a One-of-a-Kind Experience
Joana Almeida
Classical Guitar (PT)
Sofia Pedro
Singer (PT)
Raquel Lima
Portuguese Guitar & Saxofone (PT)
Juan Sebastián Blanco
Harp (CO)
Afonso Costa
Singer (PT)
Lua Madeira
Singer (PT)
The group performs with a minimum of three musicians—a singer, a classical guitarist, and either a Portuguese guitarist or a harpist—but can grow into a larger ensemble by adding instruments like the saxophone, cello, or additional vocalists.
This flexibility enables Casa de Fado Amsterdam to craft truly unique and captivating performances every time.
Joana Almeida
Classical Guitar (PT)
Joana Almeida, born in 1993 in Vila do Conde, is a guitarist and composer who has distinguished herself as one of the first women to establish a professional career accompanying fado with classical guitar, assuming the traditional “viola de fado.” With a dedication to classical guitar since the age of 11, she gradually integrated into the fado scene in Portugal. Between 2015 and 2019, she attended the Jazz course at the Valentim de Carvalho School of Music, under the guidance of professors such as António Pedro Neves, António Torres, Luísa Pais Vieira, and João Paulo Rosado. Simultaneously, she honed her skills with professors Bruno Brás (“viola de fado”), Eurico Costa (jazz guitar), and Nuno Campos (ear training). In 2020, seeking to expand her musical horizons, Joana moved to Amsterdam, where she delved into Non-Western Rhythms with percussionist Sjahin During, with whom she also explored knowledge in Music Management and Production. In 2021, she began studying the Indian Konnakol technique with Professor Ricardo Passos. In 2023, she further developed her knowledge of Management and Tour Management with Tami Toledo.
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Since 2005, Joana has established herself as a regular presence in the fado scene in northern Portugal, collaborating with various musicians, including - Portuguese Guitar: Eduardo Jorge, Mário Henriques, Márcio Silva, Samuel Cabral, André Mariano, Francisco Pereira, João Martins, Pedro Martins, Manuel Soares, and more; - Fado singers: António Laranjeira, Mariana Correia, Ricardo Barreto, Florência, Aurélio Perry, Maria de Fátima Travassos, Patrícia Costa, Paulo Cangalhas, Gina Santos, Fátima Couto, Francisco Moreira, Pedro Ferreira, Fernanda Moreira, Adriana Paquete, André Castro, and others.​ Throughout her journey in traditional fado, Joana has been part of various casts and projects, including: Funtão (2005-2010); Café Central and Associação Guerra Junqueiro (2015-2019); Coimbra à Moda do Porto (2016-2017), an instrumental Coimbra fado project; Fado de Coimbra (2016-present); Galerias de Paris (2017-2018); A Viela (2018-2020); Ideal Clube de Fado (2019-2020); Casa da Mariquinhas (2019-2020).​ From 2020 onwards, accompanying her professional development, Joana founded her first projects: Amara Quartet (2020), the first female fado quartet;; Cacha Mundinho (2020), original Portuguese music co-founded with Sjahin During; Miras Trio (2022 to 2024), a fado project with harp. In 2024, Miras Trio joined the Casa de Fado Amsterdam project; Casa de Fado Amsterdam (2024), a fado community in the Netherlands, co-founded with Afonso Costa and Raquel Lima.
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In 2022, Joana was selected for the "Young Creators" program by On the Roof (Netherlands), and in 2023, with the Amara Quartet, she began a collaboration with the Aga Khan Master Musicians. In the same year, she released her first original album, "Vento do Mar," with the group Cacha Mundinho, in the Netherlands. In 2023 and 2024, she worked as an assistant producer on Tami Toledo’s team and in 2024 participated in “Memorabele Momenten”, a musical experience for children. Throughout her career, Joana has had the opportunity to perform with musicians from various nationalities, including Feras Charestan (qanun, Syria), Wu Man (pipa, China), Jasser Haj Youssef (viola d’amore, Tunisia), Basel Rajoub (saxophone, Syria), Abbos Kosimov (doira, Uzbekistan), Yasamin Shahhosseini (oud, Iran), Ezgi Elkırmış (percussion, Turkey), Mónica Pinto (vocals, Italy), José Soares (saxophone, Portugal), Sjahin During (percussion, Turkey/Netherlands), Maripepa Contreras (oboe, Spain), and others.
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Along her journey, Joana has performed in various national and international concert halls and festivals, including the Sharq Taronalari Folk Music Festival (Samarkand, Uzbekistan, 2019), Ethnos Festival (Italy, 2021), PAS Festival (Netherlands, 2021), Hidden Kingdom World Music Festival (Bhutan, 2021), OuTonalidades Portuguese Circuit (Portugal, 2022 and 2023), Bimhuis (Netherlands, 2023 and 2024), Chambres d'O Festival (Belgium, 2023), and more.
Raquel Lima
Portuguese Guitar & Saxofone (PT)
Raquel Lima, was born in Porto in 2005. She had her first contact with music at the age of seven at the “Associação Banda de Música de Moreira da Maia” music school. In 2013 she started playing the cavaquinho and a few months later the classical guitar with professor André Mariano with whom she later discovered her taste for the Portuguese guitar. In 2014 she began studying saxophone with professor Nuno Silva and then with the teacher Miriam Muiño. In 2015, she joined the music course at the “Conservatório de Música do Porto” (Porto) in teacher Rosa Oliveira’s class, from 5th to 9th grade. In 2020, she was admitted to “EPME- Escola Profissional de Música de Espinho” (Espinho, Aveiro) in the 10th year of the Professional Wind and Percussion Instrumentalist Course, in the class of professor Fernando Ramos. During her career she had masterclasses with saxophonists Fernando Ramos, Jorge Sousa, José Pedro Gonçalinho and Nascho Gascón, Nicolas Arsenijevic, Thomas Barthélémy and Ryo Noda. In 2023, she was admitted to the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the class of professor Arno Bornkamp.
Over the years, she had the opportunity to work on several projects with the “BSP- Banda Sinfónica Portuguesa”, the “Orquestra Clássica de Espinho” and the “Orquestra de Jazz de Espinho”. In these two Espinho orchestras she played alto and baritone saxophone with several artists such as: Eliot Mason, Sofija Knezevic, Mário Laginha, Eduardo Cardinho, Cristina Branco, João Barradas, Django Bates, Julian Argüeles, Cantigas de Maio, Edmar Castaneda, etc. Furthermore, she shared the stage with several conductors, such as: Pedro Neves, Francisco Ferreira, Fernando Marinho and William Goodchild. Raquel also participated in several competitions and won 2nd, 3rd and 1st prizes in the children's category, in the “International Wind Instrument Competition - Terras de La Salette” (Oliveira de Azeméis) between 2016 and 2018. In 2019 she won 3rd prize in the “Ilda Moura Prize - 4th edition” competition at the Guilhermina Suggia School of Music (Porto) and 2nd prize in 2021.
Since 2019, in parallel with his academic career, she has continued to develop her skills on the Portuguese guitar playing alongside André Mariano, Paulo Faria de Carvalho, Miguel Amaral, Rafael Faria de Carvalho Jr, João Moutinho, Bruno Brás and Gonçalo Narciso.
Afonso Costa
Singer (PT)
Afonso Costa was born in Guimarães in 2003. He began his musical journey at the Sociedade Musical de Pevidém Music School at the age of 5, where he joined the Youth Choir and Chamber Choir under the guidance of Professor Sandra Azevedo. He studied percussion until the age of 13, when he began his vocal studies with Professor Sandra Azevedo. At 15, he enrolled in the Secondary Vocal Course at the Calouste Gulbenkian Music Conservatory of Braga, under the tutelage of Professor Inês Sofia. In 2019, he performed as a soloist with the CMCGB Symphony Orchestra in W. A. Mozart's Missa Brevis in C Major. That same year, he participated in CJ.com, where he earned an honourable mention. In 2021, he was admitted to the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the class of Professor Sasja Hunnego, where he is currently completing his fourth year of a Bachelor's degree.
Throughout his journey, he has worked with various teachers, including Job Tomé, Sérgio Ramos, Pierre Mak, Alexander Oliver, and Roberta Alexander, among others.He has participated in various projects both within and outside the classical sphere, including several musicals such as Beauty and the Beast, The Sound of Music, The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera; operas like L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, Orpheus and Eurydice, Opera Bizarre; choral projects like Summer Singing 2018 and Cantigas de Abril em Maio; jazz projects like SHE(FT) and Jam Session in Concert; and recorded the CD OJP Summon the Heroes.
Starting in 2023, he began expanding his knowledge of Fado under the guidance of Joana Almeida.
Sofia Pedro
Singer (PT)
Sofia Pedro was born in Lisbon, Portugal. She studied Classical and Early Music singing at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where she graduated her masters degree cum laude.
She has performed in some of the most important Early Music festivals in Europe, as Ambronay, Innsbruck, Stockholm, Utrecht, Halle and Gottingen, and all across The Netherlands in halls like Muziekgebouw het IJ, Concertgebouw, De Doelen and Splendor.
Sofia is interested in different musical expressions of human emotion, performing repertoire expanding from the medieval to the contemporary, and nurturing a very special love for Fado and the Portuguese soul.
Juan Sebastián Blanco
Harp (CO)
Juan Sebastián has studied the harp for 20 years and has performed and won different prizes along Europe and North and Central America. He debuted at 15 years old as soloist with the orchestra I Musici de Montréal. After completing a Master in Classical Music at the Amsterdam Conservatory, he broadens his and the listeners music horizons through different music styles. Now he is a directive board member from the Latinamerican Harp Association.
He has been Principal Harp at top level orchestras such as the Grammy Award winning Orchestra of the Americas, and pursued his education under the guidance of Bibiana Ordóñez (Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra), Emmanuel Ceysson (Opéra de Paris, MET of New York, LA Philharmonic), Erika Waardenburg and Sandrine Chatron (Nederlandse Opera & Ballet, Haute École de Musique de Genève).
Lua Madeira
Singer (PT)
Lua Madeira is a Portuguese Coloratura Soprano with a wide range of interests. She began her musical journey singing in a choir that combined music and movement. This choir performed music from various countries and styles across Portugal and other European countries. Her first school was the Instituto Gregoriano de Lisboa, where she studied Singing, Cello, and Gregorian Chant. Lua has performed in auditions, choir concerts, churches, opera galas, and competitions such as the CCB Summer Choral Festival in Lisbon and the World Choir Games in South Africa.
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The soprano then enrolled in the National Conservatory, where she studied singing with Rute Dutra and early music with the Cordavoce ensemble, under Helena Raposo. She is currently studying at Codarts, with Charlotte Riedijk, Marcel Reijans, and Henk Neven as her singing teachers, and Wiecher Mandemaker as her choir conductor. Lua has participated in Masterclasses with Margreet Honig, Jill Feldman, and Isabel Alcobia, and has been involved in productions such as Dido and Aeneas (as Belinda), The Magic Flute (as Papagena), Mitridate (as Aspasia), and O Rapaz de Bronze (as Gladiolus).