DAVID MAGALHÃES ALVES
David Magalhães Alves is a Visual artist and musician from Lisbon, Portugal. His works as a violinist and painter have foccused individually and collectively on several ensembles and multidisciplinary
projects, featuring in collective exhibitions and live performances at some of the foremost national venues, such as CULTUGEST (Lisbon); GNRATION (Braga); Teatro S. Luíz (Lisboa); Museu Abade Baçal (Bragança); Casa das Artes (Arcos de Valdevez); Sonoscopia (Porto), and many others.
Throughout his career, he collaborated with projects of different media and typology, working with internationally recognized artists such as: Gonçalo M. Tavares; Pedro Carneiro; Vera Mantero; Pedro Calapez; António Jorge Gonçalves; Carlos
Zíngaro; Pavel Gomziakov; Natalia Tchitch; Iddo Bar-Shai; Tiago Bettencourt; Carla Caramujo; Daniel Garlitsky;
Sofia Neuparth; Phill Niblock; Reinhold Friedl, among many others.
Currently, he maintains activity as an
independent multidisciplinary artist, is part of the directing team at the EVERYSIGHT & EVERYSOUND project since
2019; is a founding member of GNU VAI NU multimedia collective; and is a founding member and musician at both of the acclaimed HEDERA 4TET
and ZARM Ensemble quartets.
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ON DAVID’S MUSIC
[ With a consistent basis on experimentation, organic sounds, and live compositions, David’s work in music has traversed a diverse set of genres, from Indie Rock & Pop Music, to Classical, Free Jazz and his corner stone practice: Experimental Improv. ]
HEDERA 4TET
is an experimental improv quartet founded by musicians Carlos Zíngaro, Bernardo Aguiar, David Magalhães Alves and Francisco Lima da Silva.
Based on it’s extensive acustic and electro-acustic practice, HEDERA 4tet has established itself at the forefront of portuguese experimental music, and most recently was awarded three grants from DGARTES in 2023, 2024 and 2025 to carry out its corresponding seasons of live presentations where each concert experience communicates and overlaps in layers, to feed a permanent work in progress for the ensemble.
Most recently HEDERA 4TET has established an inovative cross-discipline composition project for the 2025-2026 season, where guest artists were challenged to "compose" works specifically for the ensemble, which are co-created/performed by the quartet's musicians.
By addressing works of musical composition, visual art, choreography, and writing, HEDERA 4TET
together with a diverse set of internationally recognized artists (such as: Gonçalo M. Tavares; Pedro Carneiro; Vera Mantero; Pedro Calapez; António Jorge Gonçalves; Miguel Moreira; Nuno Rebelo, and many others...) has
broadened the understanding of composition, by allowing different expressions to communicate transversally, establishing and influencing other notions of interpretation and sound creation.
ZARM ENSEMBLE is an award-winning string quartet started by
David Magalhães Alves (Violin)
and fellow members Carlos "Zíngaro” (violin) , Ulrich Mitzlaff (Cello) and Alvaro Rosso (Double bass).
From an almost compulsive fascination with sound, the overwhelming resonance of large acoustic spaces, and the subtleties of false emptiness. We are left with the collective exploration of strings and wood, in constant vibrations within their reflected silences.
A different string quartet, which sacralizes the profane. Or profanes the sacred.
Most recently the Ensemble has colaborated with Reinhold Friedl in 2024 and with the Catalan Duo "DUOT" in 2021, performing at Grémio Caldense in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal, with the corresponding recordings registered in the Album "Duot with Strings", published by Fundacja Słuchaj.
In 2021 the quartet was awarded the Renova Art Commissions (RAC), by being a part of the “Renova” project led by Musician Carlos Zíngaro and acclaimed Choreographer Paula Pinto, curated by Maestro Martim Sousa Tavares, which premiered in LUX-Frágil, Lisbon in 2022, and was broadcast in RTP2 national television network