Born in Porto in 1983, Daniel Moreira is an assistant professor at ESMAE (Polytechnic Institute of Porto), where he teaches subjects in analysis, composition, and music in cinema, and an integrated researcher at CEIS20 (University of Coimbra), where he is part of the research group on Artistic Practices. He graduated from King’s College London (Doctorate in Musical Composition, 2017) and ESMAE (Master’s in Musical Composition and Theory, 2010), also completing a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Porto (2006).
His main teachers throughout his training include Sir George Benjamin, Fernando C. Lapa, Dimitris Andrikopoulos, and João-Heitor Rigaud (Composition); Carlos Guedes (Electronic Music); Miguel Ribeiro-Pereira, José Oliveira Martins, Eugénio Amorim, and Silvina Milstein (Music Theory and Analysis). He also participated in seminars and/or had occasional lessons with Helmut Lachenmann, Klaas de Vries, Magnus Lindberg, Jonathan Harvey, and Kaija Saariaho; and in workshops with the Remix Ensemble Casa da Música, Quarteto Diotima, Lontano Ensemble, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra (in 2015, as part of the LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme).
In 2009, he was a Young Composer in Residence at Casa da Música. Since then, he has regularly received commissions for new works and arrangements from institutions such as Casa da Música, Festival Musica Strasbourg, European Concert Hall Organisation – ECHO, Chester & Novello, Banda Sinfónica Portuguesa, Antena 2/RDP, MPMP Património Musical Vivo, «Criatório» Programme, Kölner Philharmonie, Batalha Centro de Cinema, Ópera do Castelo, and Quarteto Contratempus, among others. He has been awarded three times in composition competitions: 3rd Prize in the Gian Battista Viotti International Composition Competition in Italy in 2007; Honourable Mention in the 3rd Póvoa de Varzim International Composition Competition in 2008; and 2nd Prize in the 1st GMCL/Jorge Peixinho International Composition Competition in 2014.
His music spans multiple genres, with particular emphasis, more recently, on the interaction between acoustic instruments and electronics and on multidisciplinary approaches within music for film and television, opera, and different genres of vocal music. Among his most representative works are the opera Ninguém & Todo-o-Mundo (2018); Isto não é um filme (2020); Vórtice: para o fim de um tempo (2022), for small ensemble, electronics, and lighting design; music for the silent film Os Faroleiros (2022), premiered by the Arditti Quartet; A Madrugada (2024), for two choirs, orchestra, and electronics; and music for the television series Cortina Vermelha (2023-25). A significant part of his music is inspired by cinematographic techniques and references, in various ways, the cinematic universe, including the series of solo instrument pieces, titled Curtas-metragens, which he began in 2025, and the work Kino-Katalog, for soprano, Pierrot ensemble, and electronics (2025).
His academic research focuses on the study of the relationship between music and cinema, from two main perspectives: the relationship between harmony, timbre, and narrative (especially in the film scores of Bernard Herrmann and Ennio Morricone); and the application of the concept of musicality to cinema and television (especially in the screen work of David Lynch). He has articles published in Revista Portuguesa de Musicologia (2016), Music Analysis (2021), Journal of Film Music (2022), Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale (2022), and Music Theory Online (2025). Finally, he regularly collaborates with Casa da Música and other institutions, writing programme notes and presenting public courses and pre-concert talks.
