Manuel Faria is a musician, composer, and music producer whose expertise spans the entire spectrum of music practice and sound design. Born in 1957, he began studying piano at age 6 and later pursued Electronic Engineering. In 1976, he co-founded the acclaimed band Trovante, where he served as pianist and producer. His collaborative work later extended to prominent artists including Sérgio Godinho, Mafalda Veiga, Entre Aspas, Zeca Afonso, and Amália Rodrigues, among others.

In 1996, Faria established Indigo, a post-production and music composition house that earned the "Best Sound Production Company" award for 16 consecutive years. Driven by a passion for spatial sound and its human impact, he has composed for theater, film, advertising, museums, and immersive sound experiences.

Combining artistic sensitivity with acoustic expertise, his work has garnered numerous distinctions, including two Cannes Gold Lions and Silver and Bronze prizes at the London International Awards. Faria serves on the Advisory Board of The Adventure Lab Copenhagen, Denmark, and has delivered keynote presentations at prestigious events worldwide, including conferences in Brazil and Sydney, Eurobest and TEDx in Lisbon, IndieSummit in London, MAPIC in Cannes, and TEA SATE in Paris.

Gascia Ouzounian is a historian and theorist of sound whose work bridges sound studies, architecture and urbanism, and science and technology studies. She is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Oxford and Fellow in Music at Lady Margaret Hall. Her first book, Stereophonica (MIT Press), traces how ideas of spatial sound and auditory perception evolved alongside developments in sound technology, experimental music, and scientific research in acoustics and psychoacoustics from the 19th century to the present. Her forthcoming book, The Trembling City, reimagines cities as vibrational territories shaped by warfare, occupation, and mass violence. She is also editing a volume on critical and experimental approaches to sonic architecture and urbanism.

Ouzounian leads the ERC-funded project Sonorous Cities: Toward a Sonic Urbanism (SONCITIES) and founded Recomposing the City, an initiative with architect Sarah Lappin that brings together architects, urbanists, and sound artists. Her collaborative projects—Concrete Dreams of Sound, Quiet Urgency: Disturbing Sonic Ecologies, and Scoring the City —have been staged in cities including Beirut, Berlin, London, and Yerevan. Her writing has appeared in journals across music, architecture studies, and visual culture, and she serves on the editorial boards of the  Journal of the Royal Musical Association and Cambridge University Press’s Music and the City series.

Simão Costa will perform Beat With Out Byte on a piano from the museum collection

Simão Costa is a pianist, composer, and transdisciplinary artist exploring his “expanded piano” with magnets, motors, and inductors since 2006. His work, published by Shhpuma (2014) and Cipsela Records (2021), treats sound as a plastic, phenomenological, visual, and cultural material. His practice spans composition, improvisation, coding, circuit bending, and data sonorisation. Since 2007, he has exhibited individually and collectively, creating a multidisciplinary path that bridges music, interactive arts, science, and technology.

Simão is a founding member and artistic director of MãoSimMão – Associação Cultural, developing original creations and collaborative projects with artists such as Marta Cerqueira, João Calixto, Yola Pinto, Ana Trincão, and Sónia Moreira. His work appears on stage, in recordings, installations, galleries, and public spaces, moving between contemporary music and visual arts. His 2024 land art project GRAVE, at Jardins da Quinta Real de Caxias, reimagines abandoned pianos as solar-powered, poetic voices in nature.

Luísa Amaro plays in a Portuguese Guitar from the museum collection

Luísa Amaro is the first female professional guitarist of the Portuguese Guitar. She is the first woman to compose professionally for this instrument and to perform as a concert artist, as well as a pioneer in the innovative approach she has developed with the Portuguese guitar.

In 1984, she began playing and accompanying Master Carlos Paredes (1925–2004) in hundreds of concerts around the world. In 1996, she began playing the Portuguese guitar, performing concerts in Portugal and abroad. She has already recorded and released five CDs.