Cello and piano concert pays tribute to Guilhermina Suggia

The School of Music Guilhermina Suggia promotes, 21 October, a concert to honour cellist from Porto, Guilhermina Suggia (1885/1950), that will take place in Palacete dos Viscondes de Balsemão (Carlos Alberto Square), at 6 pm, with free entrance.

This event will be attended by the Cello Ensemble of ESMAE, which includes Jed Barahal, Gisela Neves, Hrant Yeranosyan and Júlia Barahal, and also pianists Daniel Cunha, Luís Costa and Valerio Vittorio Riggi.

This concert is sponsored by "Porto.", jointly with Antena 2, ESMAE and Associazione Socio-Culturale Italiana del Portugallo Dante Alighieri.

Guilhermina Suggia was already a cellist at the age of 13. She was the leading cellist at the Porto Orpheon Orchestra, and two years later she was granted the Queen D. Amélia support to pursue her musical studies abroad.

The recognition of her work opened the door to the major concert halls from Western Europe to Russia and she has become known as "the Paganina", a reference to the famous composer and Italian cellist Niccolò Paganini.

Suggia was a prominent cello performer and also the driving force behind the possibility of women playing that instrument, which was considered improper for women in the 1930s of the 20th century.