I feel very grateful and honored to be awarded the Professional Merit Insignia, at the celebrations of the day of Azores Autonomy that were held in Flores Island, specifically in Lages Municipality of Flores, where I was born, and which this year celebrates its 500 years. But nothing that I did so far, could be done alone. Without the fantastic and wise teachers I had, without the public that welcomes me, without the extraordinary conductors with whom I have worked, without the high level of musicians who have accompanied me on a regular basis, without the great directors with whom I have worked and without the many and many singers colleagues, for whom I have great appreciation and consideration, with whom I have gone to many different stages, could not have done the way I did. So to all of you: THANK YOU!!!