Mariá Portugal has been active in the Brazilian musical scene since 16 years old, recording, performing and touring throughout South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania with artists like Arrigo Barnabé, Elza Soares, Metá Metá, Maria Beraldo, Maggie Nicols, Charlotte Hug, Angelika Niescier, Gerald Cleaver, Ute Wasserman, Joëlle Leandre, Billy Martin, Burkhard Beins, Emilio Gordoa, Fred Frith, Jasper van't Hof and Paul van Kemenade.
Among her main projects is the Brazilian instrumental group Quartabê, which is currently promoting their third album. The band has already performed in festivals such as Festival Jazz & The City, in Salzburg, Austria (2017), Moers Festival, in Moers, Germany (2018), Nijmegen Music Meeting, in Nijmegen, Netherlands (2018), Frue Festival in Japan and Festival Internacional de Jazz de Buenos Aires, Argentina (2019).
As a composer, she has been performing and composing original music for dance, theatre and cinema. Her most recent work as a soundtrack composer is the score for the feature film "1976", by Manuela Martelli, which will be premiered at Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes 2022.
In 2020, Mariá lived in Moers, Germany. as the 13th Improviser in Residence of the Moers Festival, where she played with Angelika Niescier, Gerald Cleaver, Burkhard Beins, among others. She is currently living in Köln.
She is the curator for the city of Duisburg for the Soundtrips-NRW, a project that seeks to promote and connect free improvisers from Nordrhein-Westphalia.
Mariá holds a degree in Composition from UNESP (São Paulo State University) and a M.A. in Communication and Semiotics, from PUC-SP (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo).