João Malha

oão Malha (1991), began his piano studies with professor Bruno Sales, at the music school "Haja Música", in 2002, and after that with conductor and pianist António Ferreira. He completed his 8th degree in piano at the Regional Conservatory of Palmela, student of the professor Luís Pinto. He attended the "Luiz Villas-Boas" Jazz School (Hot Club Portugal), with César Cardoso, Pedro Nobre and Daniel Bernardes. In parallel, he earned a degree in Biology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. 

He has a degree in Wind Orchestra Conducting at the Lisbon School of Music, supervised by professor and conductor Alberto Roque, and a Master's Degree in Orchestral Conducting with professor and conductor Jean-Marc Burfin at the same institution.
He frequently attends masterclasses to improve his art in Orchestral Conducting, having worked with several national and international conductors, including Jean-Sébastien Béreau, Frank de Vuyst, José Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana, Mark Heron, Felix Hauswirth, Douglas Bostock, and several orchestras and wind bands such as the Army Symphonic Band, the Military Band of Porto and the PSP Symphonic Band. In 2019 he was selected as a participating conductor at the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum in Salzburg, under the guidance of conductor Bruno Weil.

He is principal conductor\teacher of the Metropolitana Professional School’s Classical Orchestra and Wind Orchestra, principal conductor of the “Orquestra Médica de Lisboa”, principal conductor and artistic director of the Philharmonic Band "1º de Dezembro" of Montijo, as well as assistant conductor of the composer and conductor Jorge Salgueiro in the choir "Setúbal Voz". In 2022 he was selected to participate in the competition “Prémio Jovens Músicos” in the category of Orchestral Conducting.

He is the winner of the 2nd prize in the VI National BSP Composition Competition in 2018, with the piece APOTEOSE and of the 1st prize in the 7th edition of the Composition Competition for Wind Orchestra - INATEL Foundation and Banda Sinfónica do Exército 2019, with the piece JAZZ SUITE. He was also named Resident Composer of the Cascais and Oeiras Orchestra for the 2021 season, resulting from the contest "Música Nova 2020".