The Portuguese cellist and conductor Bruno Borralhinho is a member of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and artistic director of the Ensemble Mediterrain.
He performs regularly as a soloist with orchestra or in recitals with piano in Portugal, Spain, Germany and Brazil. His unanimously acclaimed interpretations of Bach's Six Suites for solo cello on the Montagnana Suggia (2008), Beethoven's complete works for cello and piano on the Stradivarius "King of Portugal" (2012) or Haydn's complete cello concertos (2014, soloist and conductor) are among his most notable achievements. Borralhinho has previously conducted master classes in Brazil, Portugal and Spain.
Bruno Borralhinho's diverse artistic activities also include orchestral conducting. In addition to frequent appearances as a conductor with his Ensemble Mediterrain (DE), he has also conducted the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa (PT), the Orquestra Clássica do Sul (PT), the Orquestra Clássica do Centro (PT), the Orquestra Clássica da Madeira (PT), the Orquestra de Câmara Portuguesa (PT), the Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinu (CZ), the Orquestra Sinfônica do Paraná (BR), the Orquestra Sinfônica de Campinas (BR), the Deutsche Kammerorchester Berlin (DE), the Berliner Symphoniker (DE) and the Dresdner Philharmonie (DE) and has worked with renowned soloists such as Camilla Nylund, Tara Erraugh, Lothar Odinius, Peter Bruns or Javier Perianes. The upcoming season 2022-2023 includes several symphony, opera and ballet productions in Germany, Portugal, Mexico and Brazil.
Bruno Borralhinho was born in 1982 and began his musical training at the age of 12 with Prof. Luis Sá Pessoa. From 2000-2006 he studied at the Berlin University of the Arts in the class of Prof. Markus Nyikos, where he was awarded the "Künstlerisches Diplom" in 2004 and the "Konzertexamen" with distinction in 2006. Bruno Borralhinho then studied in Oslo with the renowned cellist Truls Mørk. He also attended master classes with Natalia Gutman, Antonio Meneses, Pieter Wispelwey, Anner Bylsma, Jian Wang, Martin Ostertag, Martin Löhr, Márcio Carneiro and Thomas Demenga, among others.
In 2022, the NAXOS label released a CD entirely dedicated to the composer Fernando Lopes-Graça, played by the Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa conducted by Bruno Borralhinho. In 2018, Borralhinho recorded the sonatas of R. Strauss and Zemlinsky as well as Mahler's Lieder with the pianist Christoph Berner for the German record label ARS, and in 2016 a CD dedicated to Portuguese music for cello and orchestra was released by NAXOS, with Bruno Borralhinho as soloist accompanied by the Orquestra Gulbenkian. This album was ranked as the best of 2016 by voters from over 65 countries on the 5 continents of the planet, following an international public vote sponsored by The Violoncello Foundation (New York/USA). In 2009 Bruno Borralhinho released the double CD "Pagina Esquecida" (Forgotten Page), also entirely dedicated to Portuguese music, and received rave reviews in the national and international press.
In 2011, Bruno Borralhinho obtained a Master's degree in Cultural Management at the UOC - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Barcelona) and was one of the guests at the Ateliers for Young Festival Managers organised by the EFA - European Festivals Association in Izmir (Turkey). In 2020, he obtained a PhD in Humanities (History, Geography and Art) from Carlos III University (Madrid). His research and thesis led to the publication of a book entitled "Poder y Música Clásica en el Portugal del siglo XX" (Power and Classical Music in 20th Century Portugal) by the Spanish publishing house Universo de Letras in 2021.
During his studies he was awarded 1st prize in the Concurso Júlio Cardona and also 1st prize in the Prémio Jovens Músicos. As a soloist he has played with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Orquestra Clássica do Centro, Orquestra do Norte, Orquestra Clássica do Sul, Orquestra XXI, Orquestra da Madeira, Orquestra de Câmara Portuguesa, Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, Orquestra Sinfônica de Campinas and Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional de Brasília.
Bruno Borralhinho was a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and principal cellist in the Jeunesses Musicales World Youth Orchestra. He was also a trainee in the DSO - Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin in 2003 and a member of the Orchestra Academy of the Staatskapelle Berlin in 2004-2006.
He has performed in the leading concert halls of Europe as well as in the USA, Canada, Asia, Russia and South America with famous conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Möst, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Herbert Blomstedt, Paavo Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach or Andris Nelsons.