Francisco Luis, one of the rising stars of Portuguese classical guitar, was born in Caldas da Rainha, in 1998. He started his guitar studies at the age of ten with Luís Roldão, in the Conservatory of Caldas da Rainha. After five years, he began his studies at the Music School of the National Conservatory, in Lisbon; studying guitar with Eurico Pereira, chamber music with Júlio Guerreiro and Paulo Amorim and basso continuo with Helena Raposo. He completed his Bachelor degree with distinction with Carlo Marchione, at the Maastricht Conservatorium, before beginning his Masters with Zoran Dukic at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Francisco Luis’s numerous international awards include First Prize at both the Harmonia Cordis International Classical Guitar Festival and the Festival International de Guitarra de Guimarães, as well Second Prize at both the Uppsala International Guitar Competition and the Aalborg International Guitar Competition.
In 2015, Francisco Luis was soloist in the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo with the symphony orchestra of the National Conservatory of Lisbon. His varied repertoire includes transcriptions of works by Bach, Scriabin, Telemann and Rameau. He also frequently performs classical improvisations, mixing his musical knowledge with his creativity and distinctive musical personality. He has performed in venues such as Casa da Música in Porto and the Palácio da Ajuda in Lisbon.