Francisco Couto

Francisco Couto, S.E. Shires trombone artist, is the tenor and bass trombone player (wechselposaune) at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet in Helsinki, Finland. Born in Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal, he started his musical studies with his father at the age of 8 and at the Sociedade Filarmónica Harmonia Reguenguense later. He continued his musical studies at the Escola Profissional in Évora and at the Escola de Música do Conservatório Nacional in Lisbon with professor Hermenegildo Campos. He completed his bachelor degree in trombone at the Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon with teachers Ismael Santos and Hugo Assunção.

In 2012 he started his specialized master's degree in Orchestra at The Royal Conservatory of The Hague in The Hague, The Netherlands, where he concluded his studies with maximum distinction, with Timothy Dowling, Pete Saunders and Brandt Attema as teachers. In the same year he won the orchestra academy at the Residentie Orkest / The Hague Philharmonic.

During his career he had the opportunity to work with teachers such as Vitor Faria, Sergio Carolino, Gyorgy Gyivicsan, Olaf Ott, Byron Fulchne, James Miller, David Bruchez, Enrique Crespo, Blair Bollinger, Ben van Dijk, Ian Bousfield, Jörgen van Rijen , Weston Sprott, David Rey, Bradley Palmer, Denson Paul Pollard, Joseph Alessi, Domenico Catalano, Randy Hawes, Stefan Schulz, Martin Schippers, James Markey and Toby Oft.

He was awarded an Honorable Mention in the 1st National Competition "Terras La Salette", 3rd prize in the 27th edition of the Prémio Jovens Músicos, 1st prize in the 1st edition of the "SliderAsia" International Trombone Competition in Hong Kong and finalist with distinction in the Lätzsch Trombone Festival 2018 / International Trombone Competition in Heek in Germany.

He also had the opportunity to work with young and professional orchestras such as the NJO National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra (where he was an academist in 2014 and 2015), Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Belgium National Orchestra, Asko Schönberg Ensemble, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

He is the founder of the festival “The Trombone Meeting” organized in Helsinki and participates in various activities with the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.