The tenor Fernando Serafim (1933– ), born in Alcobaça, studied voice at the Conservatório Nacional with Arminda Correia and Elena Raggi Pellegrini. He later continued his training abroad between 1966 and 1971, supported by scholarships from the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and the Instituto de Alta Cultura, first studying with Carla Castellani and Vladimiro Badiali in Milan, and then at the Akademie Mozarteum in Salzburg, where he graduated in Voice in the class of Lisie Egger and in Chamber Music with Paul von Schilhawsky.1
His debut took place at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in 1958, in the opera A guerra by Rossellini, and the following year he began a prolific career as a concert artist in partnership with the pianist and composer Fernando Lopes-Graça. In 1962, he collaborated with the Grupo Experimental de Ópera de Câmara, and between 1963 and 1974 he was a member of the Companhia Portuguesa de Ópera based at the Teatro da Trindade. He subsequently became a resident singer at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos from 1974 to 1992. Between 1962 and 1974, he also worked as a program coordinator at the Emissora Nacional.2
In addition to his collaboration with Fernando Lopes-Graça—which led him to premiere more than 100 of the composer’s songs and to become the dedicatee of many of them—he also participated in the premieres of numerous operas by Portuguese composers, performing leading roles. He showed a strong interest in early music, joining the ensemble Segréis de Lisboa (1970–1980), and collaborated regularly with the Companhia de Ópera de Câmara do Real Teatro de Queluz. He was also involved with several other ensembles formed by leading musicians of his time, including Constança Capdeville, Elsa Saque, and Pedro Caldeira Cabral, and performed in recitals and concerts both in Portugal and abroad. He contributed to several recordings, notably with the Orquestra Gulbenkian.3
From 1992 onward, he devoted himself primarily to teaching voice, both privately and at institutions such as the Conservatório de Tomar, the Conservatório de Santarém, the Escola Profissional de Teatro de Cascais, and the Juventude Musical Portuguesa. In 1965, he was awarded first prize at the Concurso Guilhermina Suggia, and in 1988 he received the Prémio da Canção de Lisboa.4
