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Francine Benoit arrived in Portugal in 1906 and acquired the Portuguese nationality in 1929 at the age of 35.
She developed a remarkably diverse range of activities within the musical area. As a teacher, a pedagogue, a composer, a lecturer, a musical critic and a chronicler, Francine Benoit was well known for her character and singularity.
She started her musical studies in the Amadores de Música Royal Academy in 1906, where she studied piano with Eugénio Costa and music theory with Tomás Borba. Francine Benoit graduated in Piano and Harmony (with honour) at the Lisbon National Conservatory, having studied with Alexandre Rey Colaço and Eduardo Costa Ferreira. From 1917 to 1919 she studied at the Vincent d’Indy Composition Course at the Paris Schola Cantorum.
Francine Benoit taught at the n.1 Lisbon Workshop-School, Cascais Neighbourhood-School, Madame Péchenard School, João de Deus School, Feminine Association for Peace, Voz do Operário School and the Amadores de Música Academy, where she also held functions as an art director. She participated in numerous associations, among which is the SONATA Concert Society (since its foundation in 1942).
She wrote for several newspapers and magazines, namely Diário de Lisboa, A Capital, Informação, A Batalha, Os nossos filhos, Sonoarte, De Música, Revue Musicale, Revista Portugal, Actualidades, Eco Musical, Arte, Ilutração, A Seara Nova, Vértice and Gazeta Musical.
As a lecturer, Francine Benoit worked with various institutions, such as the Popular University, António Feliciano de Castillo Orphan’s School, Voz do Operário, National Radio, Amadores de Música Academy, Coimbra Music Institute, Coimbra Music Academy, Coimbra Faculty of Humanities and Lisbon National Conservatory.
She joined the Feminine Association for Peace around 1923 and the National Women’s Council (today known as the Women’s Democratic Movement) in 1945, of whose National Council she became a member in 1980.