Nuno Marques, a Portuguese pianist and Yamaha Artist, is currently based in New York City, where he pursues his international career while directing the Porto Pianofest – Porto International Music Festival. He is regarded as one of the most active pianists of his generation and a highly versatile musician, equally at ease performing as a soloist, chamber musician, or in collaborations with other artistic disciplines.
In 2016, he founded Porto Pianofest, an international piano festival based in Porto that brings together renowned pianists and promising young musical talents through masterclasses and public concerts. The festival is supported by several leading public and private institutions and has expanded its activities to New York, Washington, D.C., as well as across Europe, including Lisbon, Madrid, and Paris. Nuno Marques serves as the festival’s founder and artistic director.
His recent concert activity has taken him to major concert halls and festivals throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia, including two performances at the Carnegie Hall. He has also completed two concert tours in China and has been invited to teach masterclasses in Portugal, Spain, at the World Piano Congress in Serbia, as well as in Myanmar, China, and North America.
After completing his initial studies at the Conservatory in Portugal, he moved to London, where he graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Artur Pizarro and Caroline Palmer. He later completed a Master’s degree in Performance at the Royal College of Music under Niel Immelman, followed by a second Master’s degree in Music Pedagogy at the University of Aveiro. His career later took him to New York, where he attended New York University, studying with José Ramón Méndez. At NYU, he received the prestigious Reinhold Scholarship, which supported his studies, enabled his New York concert debut, and allowed him to teach within the university’s piano department. He later completed a doctorate in performance at Rutgers University. His studies were supported by the European Union, NYU, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and AAMSL.
Throughout his training, he had the opportunity to work with distinguished pianists such as Lazar Berman, Irina Zaritskaya, Vitaly Margulis, Alexander Kobrin, and Dominique Weber. In chamber music, he collaborated with renowned musicians and ensembles including Takács Quartet, Florestan Trio, Gary Hoffman, and Ilia Grubert. He has also received awards in piano and chamber music competitions in Portugal and England.
As a soloist, Nuno Marques has performed with the Orchestra for Myanmar in a humanitarian cultural development project involving young members of the Rohingya minority, as well as with the Orquestra Artave, Jovem Orquestra de Famalicão, and the Orquestra do Norte in Portugal. He has also recorded for Centro Atlântico and Antena 2.
With a broad interest in chamber music, he founded several ensembles with which he performed across Europe. His passion for contemporary music has led him to collaborate with leading ensembles and commission and premiere works by contemporary composers.
Nuno Marques is currently pianist for the prestigious American Ballet Theatre (ABT) and regularly appears as a guest pianist with the New York City Ballet. He is also the Musical Director of Stars of American Ballet, founded by Daniel Ulbricht, principal dancer of the New York City Ballet. With this company, he has performed in ballet and piano productions touring across the United States, Israel, Hungary, and Portugal.
Nuno Marques has been a Portugal’s World Advisor since May 2026.