Marcos Soares Pereira
Marcos Soares Pereira was a Portuguese composer and mestre da Capela Real. He was the brother of the famous Portuguese composer João Lourenço Rebelo.
Life
Marcos Soares Pereira was born in Caminha most probably at the end of the 16th century, as the son of João Soares Pereira and Maria Lourenço Rebelo.Little is known about his musical studies and when or where he was ordained priest. In 1624 Pereira was admitted as chaplain-singer at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa, the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Braganza, the most important title in the peerage of Portugal in the middle of the 17th century. In 1629 Pereira replaced Robert Turner as mestre de capela.
After the overthrow of the Philippine Dynasty on 1 December 1640, which had ruled Portugal since 1580, João, Duke of Braganza became king and the ducal chapel moved from Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. In 1641, after the retirement of Filipe de Magalhães, Marcos Soares Pereira was appointed mestre da Capela Real, a position he held until his death in 1655.