Inspired by the expression of Morton Feldman, the composer who wrote music for Rothko’s paintings from Rothko Chapel in Houston, John Romão inquired on the importance of creating music from the visual work of Helena Almeida who developed between 1978-1979 the series “Sente-me, Ouve-me, Vê-me”.

Establishing a partnership with three music universities from three distinct cities (Lisbon, Porto and Braga) and uniting three curators (Ana Cristina Cachola, Delfim Sardo, Filipa Oliveira) and two composers (Dimitrios Andrikopoulos and Diogo Alvim) who commit to the tutorship by the project, it promotes a new Portuguese contemporary kind of creation centered in the relation between visual arts and music, allowing new webs of connection to spring in both.

In a collaboration with the Superior School of Music of Lis- bon (ESML), the Superior School of Music and Performance Arts of Porto (ESMAE) and the Department of Music of the University of Minho (Braga), each city is responsible for the rendition of each verb – “Sente-me / Feel me” in Lisbon; “Ouve-me / Hear me” in Porto; “Vê-me / See me” in Braga. Throughout four months the young composers and instrumentalists will receive training with the invited curators and arrangers with the objective of musically composing and performing each verb of Almeida’s series, con- structing a single artistic object by way of a stimulating dialogue between students from the different cities.

“Sente-me, Ouve-me, Vê-me” oozes the essence of BoCA, promoting the unique synergy between cities, institutions of higher education, cultural institutions, artistic territories and between young composers and instrumentalists. In the last days of the biennial, “Sente-me, Ouve-me, Vê-me” will take the shape of a concert, presented in the three cities and bringing together the three verbs of this series.