Luís Tinoco [b. Lisbon, 1969] graduated at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa. Later, in the UK,  he completed a composition MMus at the Royal Academy of Music, in London, and a PhD Music research at the University of York. 
Since 2000 he has worked as a freelance author and producer of new music radio programmes for the Antena 2 / RTP. For this same radio, Tinoco is the artistic director of the Young Musicians Prize and Festival.
He also lectures at the Escola Superior de Musica in Lisbon.

Tinoco's catalogue includes vocal and stage works such as “Search Songs” (2007) – for soprano and orchestra, setting texts by Alexander Search; “From the Depth of Distance” (2008) – for soprano and orchestra, setting texts by Walt Whitman and Álvaro de Campos; “Evil Machines” (2008), a music theatre project with libretto and stage direction by the  Monty Python Terry Jones; “Paint Me” (2010), a chamber opera with libretto by Stephen Plaice and stage direction by Rui Horta; “Wanderings of a Solitary Dreamer” (2011), a cantata with text by Almeida Faria; “Lídia” (2014) a ballet with choreography by Paulo Ribeiro; and “Work Songs”, for voice and orchestra - written for the Brazilian singer Lívia Nestrovski.

Orchestral works include “Cercle Intérieur” (2012), premièred by the Radio France Philharmonic at the Cité de La Musique; “Horn Concerto” (2013), premièred by Abel Pereira at the 45th International Horn Symposium (Memphis, EUA); “Frisland” (2014) – premièred by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at the Benaroya Hall;  “Incipit” (2015) premièred by the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra in June 2015 (Rio de Janeiro); “The Blue Voice of the Water“, a work co-commissioned by the Orquestra Gulbenkian and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (2015), "Cello Concerto", premièred by Filipe Quaresma and the Portuguese Symphony; "Entre Silêncios - Clarinet Concerto", premièred by Horácio Ferreira and the Gulbenkian Orchestra; “Kokyuu - Saxophone Concerto”, premièred by João Pedro Silva and the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra; and “Accordion Concerto”, premièred by João Barradas and the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra.

From 2016-2018 Luís Tinoco was the Composer-in-Residence at the São Carlos Theatre - Portuguese National Opera House. In 2017 was Associated Artist at Casa da Música (Porto). 

Tinoco’s music is available on commercial CDs recorded with the Orquestra Gulbenkian (Naxos) and the Ensemble Lontano (Lorelt). In 2018 the record label Odradek released a CD with world première recordings of orchestral music by Tinoco, with performances by the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Casa da Música Symphony Orchestra, Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony and cellist Filipe Quaresma as soloist. More recently, also on Odradek, Tinoco released "Archipelago" - an album fully devoted to his percussion works, performed by the Drumming GP. “Archipelago” was awarded the “Prémio Play” for best classical music album of the year 2020. 

In 2022, Artway Next released "Aleppo and other silences", featuring Tinoco's chamber works written between 1998 and 2021. This album was awarded the "Portuguese Author’s Society” prize for best classical music album of the year.
In 2016, Luís Tinoco was appointed Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) and in 2019 Tinoco was awarded the DSCH - Shostakovich Ensemble 2019 Prize for Composers. 

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In 2024 he was the recipient of the "Prémio Pessoa", a prestigious award that recognizes the outstanding activity of Portuguese individuals in the country's cultural and scientific sphere. 

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His music is published by Artway Editions and the University of York Music Press.