Acclaimed as a unique case of excellence in the Portuguese musical panorama (Diana Ferreira, Público, 2010), the Quarteto de Cordas de Matosinhos (QCM) was created by the Matosinhos City Council through a public competition. Since 2008 he has been a resident of this city, where he performs a regular season of concerts. QCM was chosen as one of the ECHO Rising Stars (2014/2015), nominated by Casa da Música and the Gulbenkian Foundation, performing a tour of 16 concerts in some of the most important European concert halls, such as the Barbican in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Philharmonies in Hamburg and Cologne and the Konzerthaus in Dortmund. He also performs regularly in the largest Portuguese concert halls, such as Casa da Música, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and Centro Cultural de Belém, and collaborates with some of the most prominent Portuguese musicians, such as Pedro Burmester, António Rosado, Miguel Borges Coelho , António Saiote, Paulo Gaio Lima and Pedro Carneiro.
QCM and its members have been recognized with prizes in the most important national musical competitions, such as the RDP Young Musicians Award and the “Cidade de Alcobaça” International Chamber Music Competition. All members studied at the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra and perfected their craft at several prestigious schools, including Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia (Madrid), Northwestern University (Chicago) and Sion Conservatory (Switzerland). QCM also underwent specialized training at the Instituto Internacional de Música de Camara de Madrid, where he studied with Rainer Schmidt (violinist of the Hagen Quartet), in addition to working in masterclasses with members of great string quartets, such as Alban Berg, Lasalle, Emerson, Melos , Vermeer, Kopelman and Talich. More recently, QCM released the CD “Raízes”, an album that praises Portuguese heritage through unique and original writing for string quartet, published by NAXOS. Inspired by the tradition of our country, Eurico Carrapatoso, Telmo Marques, Sérgio Azevedo and Fernando Lapa, four renowned composers, transport us to the universe of traditional music, from Miranda to our islands, through new sounds in light of current musical writing .