Berta
Alves de Sousa
Berta Alves de Sousa (1906-1997) was a Portuguese pianist and composer. Alves de Sousa was born in Liège, Belgium. She grew up in Oporto, Portugal, and studied music under Moreira de Sá, Luiz Costa, Lucien Lambert and Cláudio Carneyro at the Music Conservatory. She continued her studies in Paris with Wilhelm Backhaus and Theodor Szántó for piano and Georges Migot for composition, and in Lisbon with Vianna da Motta. She also studied orchestral conducting with Clemens Krauss in Berlin and Pedro de Freitas Branco in Lisbon. After completing her studies, Alves de Sousa took a position at the Music Conservatory of Oporto in 1946, teaching chamber music, and performed as a concert pianist, accompanist and conductor. She also worked as a music critic.