Portuguese pianist and composer. He was the son of Paul Théophile André Rey, a French citizen born in Larnaca, Cyprus, and María de los Dolores Raimunda Paula Colaço, also born in Tangier and of Portuguese-Spanish origin. He studied piano at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid, where he won first prize in the Piano category in 1874 and gave his first recital in Lisbon, in 1881, at the Royal Conservatory and at the D. Maria II National Theatre. Pedro Eugénio Daupias, the 1st Viscount of Daupias, was present and was so impressed by his performance that he offered him a trip to Paris to continue his studies there. From Paris he moved to Berlin where he studied at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik under Barth and Rudorff (piano) and Harertel and Bargiel (composition). He also studied with Théodore Ritter and George Mathias, Chopin's last disciple, and contacted the composer Gabriel Fauré. Due to his extraordinary talent, he was invited to teach piano at the same school, whose director was the famous Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, a friend of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Returning to Lisbon, he was advised by violinist and conductor Enrique Fernández Arbós to continue his studies in Berlin. The young pianist then left again for the German capital where he stayed for four more years. In 1887, Colaço returned to Lisbon and became a Portuguese citizen. That same year, he was married in Berlin, on December 11, to Alice Schmidt Constant Lafourcade. The couple had four daughters: Jeanne (1888), Alice (1890) Maria Adalgisa (1892) and Amélia (1898). In 1897, he was appointed professor at the Royal Conservatory of Lisbon and contributed widely to the culture of his country as a performer, composer and professor, having been music master of Infante Manuel of Braganza, who would later ascend to the throne as Manuel II of Portugal and of his brother Prince Royal Luís Filipe of Braganza, between 1903 and 1910 (Luís was assassinated in 1908 in the Regicide) and was also pianist of the Royal Chamber. Rey Colaço, along with Viana da Mota, was one of the greatest Portuguese pianists of the late 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. He was also one of the first erudite composers to value Portuguese popular music. He composed works of a nationalist nature, such as "Cantigas de Portugal" (for piano and voice) and "Fados" (9 pieces for piano), including other collections of Fado, Bailarico, Jota and Malagueña.