Mariana Venâncio
Mariana Venâncio was born in October 2006. She’s been showing a keen interest for the artistic world since she was a little girl, having joined the school’s choir at the age of three. At the same time, she began classical dance practice, which she kept doing until the age of seven, when she joined the Santo Amaro de Oeiras Choir.Mariana jas always enjoyed watching musicals and, at age eight, she enrolled in EDSAE musical theater school. This year, at this school, she joined a new project called the Young Actors Company (Companhia de Jovens Atores). Through EDSAE, she participated in the The Voice as a mini mentor. She gets private singing lessons from tutor Tiago Sepúlveda. Mariana joined the cast of a musical theatre piece that will debut in December at the Turim Theater (Teatro Turim) in Lisbon, together with actors Susana Rodrigues and Filipe Salgueiro. In October 2017, Mariana won the Juniors of Portugal (Juniores de Portugal) competition and will represent the country at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Mariana loves to learn other languages and has been attending English classes at the British Council for two years. Mariana is a good student at school; her favourite subjects are: music, physical education and English. In addition to performing in musicals, she likes to play with her friends and siblings in her free time. Mariana also enjoys watching movies, riding her bicycle and going to the beach. She’s also a lover of travel! Her favourite sport is alpine skiing, which she has practiced since she was four years old. Her biggest dream is to become an actress and singer in musical theatre but if she’s not able to achieve that, she would like to become a teacher.
About the song writers and composers
Mariana Andrade has been a psychotherapist for twenty years. Every day she tries very hard to make it easier for people who have lost their way to a good life, to help them rebuild ties, tolerate struggles and find solutions. She also supervises younger colleagues. Throughout her professional life, Mariana Andrade has collaborated in various adult education projects and she was a member of the administration in two international exchange organisations. She lives in Lisbon, in the same neighbourhood where she grew up, and where she raised her three children with her husband. She has a dog and in her free time she enjoys other creative projects such as drawing, sewing, singing as well as creating stories and songs. Mariana is excited and happy that her song will represent Portugal at the 2017 Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
João Cabrita has been a musician and producer for over 25 years with an extensive discography. He has performed several jazz shows as a saxophonist in his own name or as a sideman and been part of several projects, such as theatre, publicity, television and cinema, as a musician and/or musical director. João is currently on tour with The Legendary Tigerman, and with his band Cais Sodré Funk Connection. He also works sporadically with acts such as Dead Combo, Susana Felix, Zeca Baleiro, Caetano Veloso, Rui Veloso, Vitorino, Martinho da Vila, Cool Hipnoise, Prince Wadada, Dani Silva, Paulo de Carvalho, Jorge Palma, Orelha Negra, Virgin Suta, D.A.M.A. among others.
