The answer to that question has been many different things and sometimes I simply had no answer. But if I absolutely must choose something, it would be Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. The gigantic journey that it takes you on, concluding on such an intensely emotional and powerful pay off at the last cadence gave me one of the most special experiences of my life when I played it with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra in my first year of bachelors.

I don’t tend to listen to music when going about my day or on my own. I have always preferred spaces where I can actively and freely interact with it, especially if that is a shared experience. The best example of that is probably in rehearsal or performance, but also anywhere I can dance or sing along, from parties to hanging out with friends, or just at home with my partner. In that sense, even though I love attending orchestral concerts, it actually frustrates me a bit that there is traditionally very little room for interaction between the audience and the music or the musicians.

I think I would tell them that listening to classical music is often like watching a movie with no dialogue except you are completely free to create all the imagery or story in your head. I would also tell them that it’s absolutely normal to sometimes let your mind drift away during a concert or feel like you don’t understand everything, that’s often the case for us classical musicians too.

I have been drawing for as long as I can remember and as a kid I really thought I would become an artist. Nowadays I go through phases when I am drawing and painting lots and other times when I just can’t fit it into the schedule, even though I always wish I did it more. On top of that, I love finding new films and series to watch and also probably spend more time than I should watching all sorts of content on YouTube. More recently I started a small collection of board games and always have a fantastic time when friends come around to play. Also, during warmer times of the year, I am usually keen to find a large body of water where one can go for a swim.

I think that question has two answers in my case. If I hadn’t actually gone for a music degree, I certainly would have applied for a degree in filmmaking. I still love cinema as a whole, but at that time I was especially excited about all the indie and foreign (non-Portuguese or English language) films I had just found, while also learning about many aspects of the process of making movies. In addition, I had begun experimenting with video editing and animation while making short films with my younger brother. I am sure I would have enjoyed pursuing that degree. However if I were to choose another career now, I like to think I would be able to merge two other passions I have and get into paleo art. I have been interested in many fields of science since I was little but palaeontology has always held a special place. The artistic and yet scientifically accurate representation of extinct species is a fundamental part of their study. It also allows us to peak into a world that was wildly different from ours today, sometimes beyond anything the sci-fi or fantasy genres have been able to produce. Nowadays with social media many prominent paleo artists have been able to share their work more widely and seeing their work along the most recent discoveries in the field has reignited the fascination I had for dinosaurs as a kid. I believe I would find a lot of joy if I could develop and work by using my drawing and painting skills while learning more about this scientific field.

The one moment I don’t think I could possibly ever erase the sound or image of from my head is the first note I ever played on the bass with the bow. It was the open D string and it just so happens that it was in a room together with forty other kids who were also playing the open D string of their violins, violas, cellos and basses for the first time. The teacher counted to three and that enormous orchestral sound that I had only really heard on TV or in films emerged. I just couldn’t believe I was part of producing that and I will never forget that feeling even if I try.

From the first notes I ever played on the bass all the way to being admitted into my undergraduate degree, my teacher was in fact not a bassist but a violinist (who cannot play the double bass). The teacher who led the music program where I first learned how to play the bass was the violinist Dr. Renata Jaffé. For two years I only had classes where all the string students learned together as an orchestra. During that time I never had private lessons. After I finished the course, Dr. Jaffé and I were searching for a private teacher for me but we were just not happy with the options we found and so she decided she would continue teaching me. This turned out to be a very special experience for both of us. I was her first private student who wasn’t a violinist or violist and the unusual situation pushed us to find creative solutions to the challenges we came across. I ended up playing lots of violin studies and scale systems, and the focus of the lessons was mostly on musicality and sound quality.