Abel
Chaves
Abel Chaves was born in 1972 in Ponta Delgada on the Azore Islands,
Portugal. In 1986 he won the 1st prize of the carillon
competition sponsored by the Intitute of Portuguese Cultural
Patrimony and was awarded a scholarship to study at the
Royal Carillon School Jef Denyn in Mechelen, Belgium,
where he received his diploma with “great
distinction” in 1989.
The following year he
was awarded the prize of “laureate" at the school's Queen
Fabiola International Carillon Competition. In 1993 he was
appointed as the official carillonneur at the carillon at
the National Palace of Mafra by the Portuguese
Ministry of Culture. In
1994 he recorded a CD of the carillon in Mafra for the
LVSITANIA MUSICA collection and
in 1995 he played the dedication
recital of the new carillon in Oporto, Portugal. He was a member of the
international carillon
organization
„Eurocarillon“ from 1994 to
1998. He has performed at
international carillon
festivals in Belgium,
France, Germany,
Portugal and Spain, gives guest
concerts
in many European countries.
In 2004 he was put
in charge of the carillon of the Cathedral of
Leiria, in 2005 he
founded the first Portuguese Carillon School in Pousos,
Leiria and in 2008 he was appointed resident carillonneur at
the Igreja das
pastorinhos church in Alverca.

Abel Chaves in the bellchamber of the carillon of the
church Igreja das pastorinhos in Alverca,
Portugal.
Guest concerts on August 16, 2015 and August 6, 2017 at 3
p.m.
Abel Chaves and
Jeffrey Bossin perform The Four Seasons by Antonio
Vivaldi four hands.
Download the program for
2015 here and for 2017 here.
Click
here to listen to an excerpt from the violin concerto Summer from the Four
Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, performed four hands by Abel Chaves
and Jeffrey Bossin on the
Carillon in Berlin-Tiergarten.
Abel Chaves on YouTube
George Frideric Handel, Passacaglia
from Suite No. 7 for harpsichord, played on the carillon
of the church Igreja das pastorinhos in Alverca,
Portugal.