Born in Lisbon, Maria João Pires is one of the most important contemporary pianists. She played piano at a very young age: her first recital was at five, and she publicly played a Mozart concert at seven. She studied at the Lisbon Conservatory of Music, where she would later teach piano. International recognition came in 1970, after she won the Beethoven Bicentennial Competition in Brussels.
Held as one of the greatest Mozart interpreters of our time, Maria João Pires was awarded several prizes and distinctions, including the IMC-UNESCO International Music Prize in 2002, and the Don Juan de Borbón International Music Award in 2006.
The pianist devised a center for the “fulfillment of her musical and human ambitions” in Belgais, Castelo Branco, where she teaches piano. Belgais’ Center for the Arts, open since the beginning of the 2000's, hosts concerts, residencies, performances, readings, conferences, among other events, comprising an important hub for interdisciplinarity in artistic creation.
In film, besides playing in many soundtracks featured in both Portuguese and foreign films, Maria João Pires performed in Manoel de Oliveira's films The Divine Comedy (1991) and The Letter (1999), produced by Paulo Branco.