Born in Oporto, Fernando Guimarães completed his singing degree at his hometown and went on to win awards in his country’s foremost singing competitions. As the winner of the L’Orfeo International Singing Competition, he sang the leading role of this Monteverdi Opera in Mantova on the 400th birthday of its premiere. In 2013 he was awarded 3rd prize and the special prize of the Theater an der Wien at the Cesti International Competition for Baroque Opera (Innsbruck).

Fernando is regularly invited as a soloist by renowned groups such as L’Arpeggiata (Christina Pluhar), Les Muffatti (Peter Van Heyghen), Al Ayre Español (Eduardo Lopez-Banzo), Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla (Enrico Onofri), Pygmalion (Raphäel Pichon), Cappella Mediterranea and Clematis (Leonardo García Alarcón), etc. His discography comprises recordings for the labels Virgin, Linn, Arcana, Ricercar, Naxos, Ramée, SWR and Ambronay Editions.

In Portugal, Fernando Guimarães is a regular fixture at the renowned Gulbenkian Foundation and Centro Cultural de Belém, and works frequently with the country’s most important orchestras and foremost early music ensembles, namely Divino Sospiro, Ludovice Ensemble,  and Os Músicos do Tejo. 

Recent highlights of Fernando’s flourishing career include: the title role of Orphee in La Descente d’Orphee aux Enfers by Marc-Antoine Charpentier with Les Arts Florissants; an european tour with the role of Noè in the oratorio Il Diluvio Universale by Michelangelo Falvetti (Cappella Mediterranea); Giovanni Bontempi’s opera Il Paride, with L’Arpeggiata at the Innsbruck Festival; the role of Teseo in Cavalli’s opera Elena, for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; his debuts at Berlin’s Philharmonie (in a Monteverdi program with the Freiburger Barockorchester) and at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; and the role of Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff with the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster. His recent portrayal of the title role in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria at Boston’s Jordan Hall with Boston Baroque was highly acclaimed by both audience and critic, as were his performances of Handel solo cantatas in Sydney and Melbourne with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.

Future projects include the role of Abramo in Scarlatti's Il Primo Omicidio (Potsdamer Winteroper); Gilles’ Messe des Morts at the Royal Chapel of Versailles alongside Cappriccio Stravagante and Collegium Vocale Gent; Lully's Armide with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset at the Opéra National de Lorraine; and his return to the title role of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the Opéra de Lausanne (Ottavio Dantone/Robert Carsen).