2026 SEASON MASTERCLASSES
The 2026 season is structured as a sequence of thematic masterclasses, each designed to address a specific aspect of conducting practice through a shared working method: score study → gesture → sound → rehearsal.
Masterclasses may be attended individually or combined as part of a broader training path, allowing conductors to engage with the Academy according to their artistic needs and current stage of development. Participants who choose to attend more than one masterclass benefit from pedagogical continuity and cumulative feedback, supporting a deeper consolidation of technique, interpretation and personal working method over time.
The programme unfolds through a combination of online and in-person formats, with on-site activities taking place in Porto, Portugal at ESMAE (Superior School of Music and Performing Arts), a leading Portuguese and internacional reference for higher education in music and arts.
Across the 2026 season, the masterclasses explore:
preparation and interpretative decision-making (from score to priorities)
phenomenology of conducting gesture
sound, balance and orchestral colour (listening as technique)
musical continuity and long-range thinking
form, proportion and architectural time
clarity and control under pressure (efficiency, pacing, reliability)
Masterclasses 2026
”Thinking Before Conducting” (March)
“The Language of Conducting: Gesture, Time and Clarity” (April)
“Sound Without Weight” (May)
“Inside the Musical Line” (June)
“Time as Architecture” (September)
“Gesture Under Pressure” (October)
Explore the individual masterclasses below to learn more about their focus, format and working context, and to identify those that best align with your current artistic goals.
Masterclass 1 “Thinking Before Conducting”
Dates: 9 - 10 March (online)
Programme
Curated excerpts from Haydn · Mozart · Mendelssohn · Beethoven
Thinking Before Conducting addresses the work that precedes action on the podium: reading the score, setting priorities and forming musical decisions before the first gesture.
Conceived and led by Luis Miguel Clemente, this online masterclass focuses on clarity of thought, inner tempo and structural awareness as essential foundations of conducting practice. Participants are guided to articulate musical intention in advance, developing a clear and conscious relationship between score study, interpretative choice and subsequent gesture.
As a conceptual entry point to the OCA Conducting Academy season, this masterclass supports conductors in building a reliable preparatory method that can be transferred across repertoire and professional contexts.
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Format: Online (live sessions)
Duration: 2 sessions × 2 hours
Number of participants: minimum 4
Fee: €100
Language: English
Certification: Certificate of participation issued at the end of the masterclass
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Schedule:
Session 1 — 9 March 2026 · 20:00 - 22.00
Session 2 — 10 March 2026 · 20:00-22.00
PT time (Western European Time — UTC+0)
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Masterclass 1 — Thinking Before Conducting (Application deadline: 2 March 2026)
Applications close on the application deadline or earlier if all places are filled.
Masterclass 2 “The Language of Conducting: Gesture, Time and Clarity”
Dates: April, 14 (online) · 17 – 19 (in person) · Post-masterclass follow-up (online)
Programme
W.A. Mozart — La clemenza di Tito, Overture K.621
Franz Schubert — Symphony No. 5 in B♭ major, D. 485
The Language of Conducting explores how gesture, time and clarity function when sound, colour and orchestral weight are deliberately reduced.
Working in an abstract environment, conductors engage directly with the relationship between gesture and time, where clarity must arise from precision rather than mass. With limited sonic variables, the responsibility of the conductor’s physical language becomes immediately apparent.
In Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito Overture, preparation, attack and economy of movement are exposed with particular immediacy: gesture must communicate clearly, or it communicates nothing at all. Schubert’s Fifth Symphony extends this work into continuity and flow, requiring the conductor to sustain time, breathe naturally and maintain direction over longer musical spans without forcing the sound.
Together, these works create a rigorous working space in which conductors refine the essentials of their physical language, establishing a technical and conceptual foundation for subsequent expressive work throughout the OCA Conducting Academy season.
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Format: Hybrid (online + in person)
Active participants: 6
Passive participants: no limit
Fee
Active: €475
Passive: €100
Ensemble: 2 Pianos
Language: English
Location (in person): Porto, Portugal
Certification: Certificate of participation issued at the end of the masterclass
(Further logistical details provided after confirmation of participation.)
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Podium Time: Approx. 100 min. with two pianos
+ Individual Coaching: Approx. 90 min.
Schedule
April 14, 2026 (online) 20.00 - 22.00 (PT time): Score study and guided discussion (no conducting)
April 17, 2026 (in person): Silent conducting session; individual coaching
April 18-19, 2026 (in person): Conducting sessions with two pianos; individual coaching
Date tbc (online): 30-minute individual follow-up session
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Masterclass 2 — The Language of Conducting: Gesture, Time and Clarity (Application deadline: 6 March 2026)
Applications close on the application deadline or earlier if all places are filled.
Masterclass 3 “Sound Without Weight”
Dates: May, 26 (online) · 29 – 31 (in person) · Post Masterclass follow-up (online)
Programme
Claude Debussy — Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Maurice Ravel — Ma mère l’Oye, Suite (M. 60)
Gabriel Fauré — Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80
Sound Without Weight centres on a deceptively simple question: how can sound carry presence and direction without pressure or force?
Working within the transparency of the French repertoire — from Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune to the refined sound world of Ravel and the understated tension of Fauré — this masterclass focuses on balance, listening and the confidence to let the music unfold without being driven.
Attention is given to suspended time, clarity of texture and trust in musical flow, inviting conductors to refine their gesture and discover how authority can emerge from precision, calm and restraint rather than insistence.
Masterclass 4 “Inside the Musical Line”
Dates: July, 1 (online) · 3 – 5 (in person) · Post Masterclass follow-up (online)
Programme
Richard Wagner — Siegfried Idyll, WWV 103
Gustav Mahler — Symphony No. 4
Inside the Musical Line addresses a central challenge of advanced conducting: sustaining direction, tension and coherence over long spans of time without forcing the music forward.
Mahler’s Fourth Symphony confronts conductors with a transparency where nothing is hidden — long lines must be carried with care, and even small excesses become immediately audible. In Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, intensity depends almost entirely on breath, continuity and the ability to sustain musical flow without visible effort.
Together, these works invite conductors to work from within the music itself: shaping time, maintaining inner pulse and remaining inside the musical line, rather than acting upon it from the outside.
Masterclass 5 “Time as Architecture”
Dates: September, 1 (online) · 4 – 6 (in person) · Post Masterclass follow-up (online)
Programme
Franz Schubert — Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 “Unfinished”
Johannes Brahms — Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
Time as Architecture focuses on the conductor’s responsibility in shaping musical form through time, rather than treating form as a fixed or predetermined structure.
In Brahms’s First Symphony, conductors face a continuous density that demands long-range thinking, proportion and structural balance under constant pressure. Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony presents a different challenge: sustaining direction and coherence in music that resists resolution and closure.
The masterclass explores how musical form is built, supported and held together over time — training conductors to think structurally, listen globally and shape form as an ongoing process rather than a sequence of events.
Masterclass 6: “Gesture Under Pressure”
Dates: October 13 (online session) · 16 – 18 (in person) · Post Masterclass follow-up (online)
Programme
Carl Maria von Weber — Der Freischütz, Overture, Op. 77
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony responds instantly to gesture, amplifying emotional impulse, contrast and orchestral weight. Clarity is rewarded, but exaggeration and loss of proportion are equally exposed, requiring the conductor to shape energy without being carried away by it.
Weber’s Der Freischütz Overture removes that protection. Transparency and rhythmic precision leave little room for excess, forcing a recalibration of intention, timing and physical presence.
Working between these two sound worlds, conductors refine their relationship with impulse — learning when to trust it, when to restrain it, and how to transform raw energy into clear musical direction. Gesture, reaction and consequence are heard immediately.
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Format: Hybrid (online + in person)
Active participants: 6
Passive participants: no limit
Fee
Active: €780
Passive: €100
Ensemble: Chamber Orchestra (15 players)
Language: English
Location (in person): Porto, Portugal
Certification: Certificate of participation issued at the end of the masterclass
(Further logistical details provided after confirmation of participation.)
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Podium Time: Approx. 100 min. with Chamber Orchestra
+ Individual Coaching: Approx. 90 min.
Schedule
Day 1 (online) 20.00 - 22.00 (PT time): Score study and guided discussion (no conducting)
Day 2 (in person): Silent conducting session; individual coaching
Day 3-4 (in person): Conducting sessions with Chamber Orchestra; individual coaching
Informal end-of-masterclass performance conducted by the participants with the orchestra.
Date tbc (online): 30-minute individual follow-up session
Schedule
April 22, 2026 (online) 20.00 - 22.00 (PT time): Score study and guided discussion (no conducting)
April 24, 2026 (in person): Silent conducting session; individual coaching
April 25–26, 2026 (in person): Conducting sessions with two pianos; individual coaching
Date tbc (online): 30-minute individual follow-up session
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Application deadline:
Masterclass 3 — Sound Without Weight (Application deadline: 27 March 2026)
Masterclass 4 — Inside the Musical Line (Application deadline: 30 April 2026)
Masterclass 5 — Time as Architecture (Application deadline: 30 June 2026)
Masterclass 6 — Gesture Under Pressure (Application deadline: 22 July 2026)
Applications close on the application deadline or earlier if all places are filled.