Maria Teresa Xavier, a pupil of Helena Costa, from whose class she graduated with distinction at Porto Music Conservatory, won prices in the National Competitions of Portuguese Music Youth in Porto, at the Franz Liszt concert in Lisbon and in the Carlos Seixas and João Arroyo competitions in Coimbra. She worked under the teachers Karl Engel, Hans Graf, Joaquim Rodrigo and Vlado Perlemuter. She played at concerts for the Secretariat of State for Culture, Pró-Arte, Rádio Clube Português (Portuguese Radio Club), Radiodifusão e Radiotelevisão Portuguesas (Portuguese Radio and Television Broadcasting), and in many foreign countries. She also played chamber music and in that capacity performed with national and foreign artists, namely Natália Clara, Isabel Rocha, Alberto Gaio Lima, Paulo Gaio Lima, Jorge Chaminé, José Oliveira Lopes, Dora Rodrigues, Leppo Kimanen, Lamara Chkonia, among others. She was a soloist at Orquestra da Radiodifusão Portuguesa (Portuguese Broadcasting Orchestra) under the conductors Frederico de Freitas, Silva Pereira, Ghunter Arglebe, Manuel Ivo Cruz and Florian Ollard. She taught at Porto and Braga Music Conservatories and was a teacher-accompanist at Escola Superior de Música Artes e Espectáculo (Higher School of Music and the Performing Arts).