Bruno Almeida was born in Lisbon, Portugal. His first musical instrument was the classical guitar. While at university, he joined an academic musical group and performed both across Portugal and abroad. During that time, he decided to start studying singing. He debuted in 2010, as Federico in the 17th century Portuguese chamber opera As Taças de Hymineu. Soon after, he was invited to sing at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (Lisbon), in the role of Primeiro Segurança, at the world première of Nuno Corte-Real’s opera Banksters. Also in 2011, he participated in São Carlos’ Opera Studio.
He gained further stage experience through roles such as Count Lerma (Don Carlo, Verdi), Zefirino/Gelsomino (Il viaggio a Reims, Rossini), Felice (Poliuto, Donizetti), Flavio (Norma, Bellini), and Gran Sacerdote (Idomeneo, Mozart). Later he embraced bigger challenges, performing El Remendado (Carmen, Bizet), Bastien (Bastien und Bastienne, Mozart, Portuguese version), Gernando (L’isola disabitata, David Perez), Beppe/Arlecchino (I pagliacci, Leoncavallo), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni, Mozart, debut in Italy), Tony (West Side Story, Bernstein), Alfredo Germont (La Traviata, Verdi) and Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca, Puccini, debut in Spain). He sang Tamino in the show “Temporary exhibition: a painting by Chagall and The Magic Flute by Mozart”. In musical theatre, he performed the Phantom (The Phantom of the Opera, Lloyd Weber).
In concert, Almeida sang Vivaldi (Sampiero, Migone), Sporting Life (Porgy and Bess, Gershwin), Brother (Die sieben Todsünden, Weill), Requiem and Missa brevis in D major (KV 194) (W.A. Mozart), Mattutino de’ morti (Davide Pérez), Missa Grande (Marcos Portugal), Fantasy for Chorus and Orchestra (op. 80) (Beethoven), Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven), Magnificat (J. S. Bach), Christmas Oratorio (C. Saint-Saens), All-Night Vigil (op. 37) (S. Rachmaninov), and The Messiah (G. F. Händel). He has performed in festivals such as “Dias da Música”, “Temporada de Música de São Roque”, “Cistermúsica”, “Festival junger Künstler” (Bayreuth) and “Brighton Early Music Festival”.
Bruno Almeida studied at the National Conservatory, in Lisbon, with Filomena Amaro, and pursued additional vocal studies with Isabel Biu, Susan Waters, Paulo Ferreira and Luís Rodrigues. He also took part in numerous courses and masterclasses mentored by Yvonne Minton, Graham Johnson, Sarah Walker, Loh Siew Tuan, João Paulo Santos, Nicholas Mcnair, Lucia Lémos, Tom Krause, Jorge Parodi, Elisabete Matos, Fiorenza Cossotto, Gabriella Ravazzi, Christian Hilz, Roberta Mameli, Doreen DeFeis, James Hooper, among others. He has worked with conductors such as Martin Andre, José Miguel Esandi, Lawrence Renes, Miquel Ortega, Jorge Matta, Pedro Neves, João Paulo Santos, Giovanni Andreoli, Yi-Chen Lin, Cristóbal Soler, Speranza Scappucci, Massimo Mazzeo (Divino Sospiro), Jean Sébastien Béreau, Marcos Magalhães (Músicos do Tejo), Cesário Costa, Rui Pinheiro, Paulo Lourenço, António Lourenço, Pedro Carneiro, Francisco-Antonio Moya, Nuno Oliveira (Avres Serva), Jean-Marc Burfin and Osvaldo Ferreira. He has likewise collaborated with stage directors including João Botelho, Patrice Chéreau, Ronny Lauwers, André e. Teodósio, Luca Aprea, Dirk Schattner, Emilio Sagi, José Carlos Plaza, Nicola Raab, Giulio Ciabatti, Paulo Campos dos Reis, Ricardo Neves-Neves, Carlos Pimenta, Pedro Ribeiro, Mário Redondo, Teresa Simas, Juanma Cifuentes, Jean Paul Bucchieri and Mónica Garnel.
Bruno Almeida continues to perform regularly in both concerts and recitals. He is equally active developing musical projects, among them researching and performing Portuguese music from the early 20th century as one of the founders of the ensemble Projecto Alba. He also loves Latin-American traditional music, and, recently, has been exploring mariachi, tango, zamba, and bolero classics.