Born in Oporto, Fernando Guimarães completed his singing degree at his hometown. and went on to win awards in his country’s foremost singing competitions. As the winner of the L’Orfeo International Singing Competition, he sang the leading role of this Monteverdi Opera in Mantova on the 400th birthday of its premiere. In Portugal, Fernando Guimarães is a regular guest at the renowned Gulbenkian Foundation and Centro Cultural de Belém, and works frequently with the country’s most important orchestras and foremost early music ensembles, namely Divino Sospiro and Os Músicos do Tejo.

Highlights of Fernando’s flourishing career include: the title role in La Descente d’Orphee aux Enfers (Charpentier) with Les Arts Florissants, the premieres of oratorios Il Diluvio Universale and Nabucco by Michelangelo Falvetti with Cappella Mediterranea under Leonardo García Alarcón and the role of Abramo in the modern première of Nicola Conti’s oratorio Isacco, figura del Redentore (with Les Muffatti at the Bruges Festival); He also appeared in Giovanni Bontempi’s opera Il Paride, with L’Arpeggiata at Potsdam’s Sanssouci Festival and the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik and also appeared with the Seville Baroque Orchestra and Al Ayre Español.

Other recent successes include his debut with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and a tour with the Freiburger Barockorchester in Berlin, Stuttgart and Freiburg. He made his debut in the role of Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff with the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster and at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence in the role of Teseo in Cavalli´s Elena, which could also be seen at the operas in Montpellier and Versailles. He sang the title role in Monteverdi´s L´Orfeo at the Festival d´Ambronay as well as on tour in France and in Il Ritorno d´Ulisse in Patria with the Boston Baroque (also recorded by Linn Records and nominated for a Grammy Award). He appeared in the Pasticcio-project Il pomo d´oro at the Musikfestspiele Sanssouci in Potsdam and as Alidoro Cesti´s L´Orontea at the Festwochen Alter Musik in Innsbruck.

Last season he returned to the role of Teseo in Elena at the Opera of Angers, Nantes and Rennes, and to Falvetti´s Il diluvio universale and Nabucco in a concert tour with the Cappella Mediterrenea including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Opéra Royal de Versailles as well as concerts with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra in Sydney and Melbourne. He made his debut in Lully´s Armide with Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset at the Opéra National de Lorraine and Festival de Beaune and participated in a Monteverdi-project with John Eliot Gardiner with the Accademia Monteverdiana at the Festival Incontri Terra di Siena. Furthermore he made his debut with the Concerto Köln in concerts of works by Giovanni Simone Mayr. Projects this season include a production of Scarlatti´s Il primo omicidio overo Cain at the Winter Opera Festival Potsdam Sanssouci, further concerts of Falvetti´s oratorios at the Konzerthaus in Vienna and Dortmund and the Opéra de Versailles and various concerts in France. Furture projects include the title role in Monteverdi´s L´Orfeo at the Opéra de Lausanne and a tour of Vivaldi´s opera Arsilda with the Collegium 1704.