Orfeão Universitário do Porto

Orfeão Universitário do Porto (OUP) is a Portuguese student Association linked to the University of Porto dedicated to choir singing and Portuguese culture (mainly folk music and dance, and academic traditions). Originally founded on March 6, 1912 under the name of Orfeon Académico do Porto, following the French mouvement des orphéons, it is one of the few associations that gather students from all the Faculties of the University of Porto. It has undergone reorganizations in 1937 and in 1942, from where its current designation still lasts until today. Throughout its long history, Orfeão has become nationally known for the 1937 song "Amores de Estudante" (composed by its members Paulo Pombo and Aureliano da Fonseca), considered to be the Porto and portuguese students anthem. Orfeão was also the first academic choral group to accept women in its ranks in 1945, eventually developing the standard academic uniform that Portuguese women students still wear today. Being home to the second oldest Portuguese Tuna in activity, the Tuna Universitária do Porto (with its origins being traced to the last decade of the 19th century), in 1987 Orfeão organized the first Tunas Festival in Portugal - FITU (International Festival of University Tunas - City of Porto") - and in 1988 creates the first feminine academic tuna in Portugal. Currently presenting twelve different artistic groups, Orfeão Universitário do Porto is one of today's most artistically diverse representatives of the Portuguese cultural tradition, with the relevance of its work being recognized by the City of Porto with the Golden Medal of Artistic Merit and by the Portuguese Republic with the award of the grade of Commander of the Order of Public Instruction and Commander of the Order of Merit.[4] Today, Orfeão is directed by the Maestro António Sérgio Ferreira and derives much of its fame from its regular national television appearances and intense artistic activity at home and abroad.