José Manuel Bettencourt da Câmara was born in São Miguel island (Azores), in Portugal, where he began studying piano with Maria Luísa Bruto da Costa, while at the same time concluding his secondary school studies. Later on in Lisbon, he graduated in Philosopy and Theology from Instituto Superior de Estudos Teológicos and in History from Universidade de Lisboa. At Instituto Gregoriano, he studied Composition with Frederico de Freitas, Organ with Antoine Sibertain Blanc and Conducting and Gregorian Chant with Júlia d'Almendra. At the Lisbon National Conservatoire, he attended the Piano General Course and the Composition Graduate Course with Armando José Fernandes, Joly Braga Santos and Filipe Pires. He also graduated in Singing with Arminda Correia and Helena de Pina Manique. His postgraduate studies include a master's degree and a doctorate degree with unanimous distinction from Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He was president of Juventude Musical Portuguesa, a board member of Conselho Português da Música and a member of the Gulbenkian Foundation choir from 1972 to 2000, with which he took part in hundreds of concerts nationally and internationally, as well as several CD recordings. Bettencourt da Câmara was a professor at Universidade de Évora where he taught more than a dozen disciplines, such as Aesthetics of Music, Contemporary Aesthetics, Ethnomusicology, Sociology of Performing Arts, Music and Literature, History of Music and History of Music in Portugal. He also tutored several master and doctorate thesis and was the director of the Master of Musicology and Postgraduate of Music Teaching degrees, as well as being a member of the Evaluation Council of the university. From his musical works, a set of piano pieces for children was published in 1998 and other works were premiered in Lisbon, the Azores and Brazil, where he was the guest composer at the 1992 São Paulo's Música Nova festival. He is currently a member of Universidade do Porto's Centro de Investigação Transdisciplinar Cultura, Espaço e Memória research centre, where he is the coordinator of the 'As freguesias do lado oriental do Concelho da Ribeira Grande (São Miguel, Azores)' project. He is the author of a vast number of books and articles published in national and international journals, magazines and newspapers. His research work has spanned across decades and has focused on many diverse fields, mainly aesthetics, art history, Azorean culture, Portuguese folk music and Portuguese music history, especially the works of Francisco de Lacerda and Fernando Lopes Graça.