João Guilherme Daddi (1813-1887) was a key figure in Portugal’s musical life in the nineteenth-century. Amongst his compositions are a series of powerfully virtuosic piano pieces, largely based on popular operatic themes or else sequences of waltzes and other dances. From a later generation was José Viana da Mota (1868-1948), one of the great virtuosi of the time whose fusion of classical-romantic traditions with nationalist elements was inspired by Portuguese songs and dances.

Sofia Lourenco was born in Oporto, where she completed graduate studies at the Conservatory and University. From the age of ten she was a pupil of Helena Sá e Costa and was also guided by several distinguished pianists, including Sequeira Costa, Vitaly Margulis and Alicia de Larrocha. She obtained a Soloist Diploma at the Berlin Universität der Künste and was awarded a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation scholarship. She has been a professor at the Escola de Música e das Artes do Espetáculo do Oporto since 1991. She enjoys an active career as a performer in Portugal and abroad, with a number of recordings to her credit.