Biography
Portuguese conductor Rui Miguel Marques currently holds the position of Assistant Conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, since January 2025, where he works closely with their Chief Conductor, Andris Poga, and various guest conductors.
Rui is the 3rd Prize Winner of the 6th Svetlanov International Conducting Competition, where he also received both the Audience Award as well as the Online Audience Award. In August 2026, Rui was also the recipient of the Paavo Järvi Scholarship in the 26/27 Conductor’s Academy with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, where he was also awarded the Audience Prize.
Rui has worked with various orchestras worldwide such as: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Minas Gerais Symphony Orchestra, Brazil National Theatre Symphony Orchestra, Amazonas Philharmonic, Kecskemet Symphony Orchestra, Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra, Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Clássica do Centro and Alto Minho Youth Orchestra. Marques has also shared the stage with artists such as Adrien Fournaison, Aigars Raumanis, Alexander Dimitrov, Bernardo Santos, Diego Caetano, Kaëlig Boché and Wies de Boevé.
Since February 2024, Rui has also been part of Dirigentforum Junior - Talent Norge’s and Dirigentløftet’s Program for young conductors. By being part of Dirigentforum Jr, Rui has participated in masterclasses with Johannes Schlaefli, Axel Kober, Wolfram Christ, Stefan Dohr, Eivind Aadland and Alf Årdal. During these sessions, Marques had the possibility to colaborate with soloists such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Amalie Stalheim and Miriam Helms Ålien.
The 21-year-old conductor is based in Oslo and studying at the Norwegian Academy of Music (Oslo) under the guidance of Professor Ole Kristian Ruud. Before his degree, Rui studied for four years with British Conductor Timothy Henty and previously with Portuguese Conductors Alexandre Madeira and Marta Falcão.
In the last few years, Rui has also participated in masterclasses with Jorma Panula, Johannes Schlaefli, Nicólas Pasquet, Neil Thomson, Lawrence Foster, Gustavo Gimeno, Howard Williams, Edward Gardner, Colin Metters, Tabita Berglund, Dinis Sousa and Nuno Coelho.