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March 09, 2008
Playing with an orchestra is alwas a very gratifying experience. If the orchestra and the conductor are good, even better. And when we play in an important concert hall, you have a magical moment.
Yesterday I had the pleasure to play in Campos do Jordão, along with the Vale do Paraíba Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Rogério Santos. The group is a student orchestra that is part of a musical educational project, but is as good as many professional orchestras.
At the first half, I played some solo works of Scarlatti, Villa-Lobos, Giuliani and Guerra-Peixe. Soon after, the orchestra playied some highlights of the upcoming season. We finished with Vivaldi's Concerto in D major RV 93, with the main solists.
I loved the experience, and for sure it was on of the best performances I ever made. I hope I have the chance to, on a near future, play once more with that orchestra and conductor.
See below some videos of the performance:
Concerto RV 93 (Vivaldi):
1o movimento
2o movimento
3o movimento
Prelúdio 1 (Heitor Villa-Lobos)
Lamentos do Morro (Garoto)
Grand Overture (Giuliani)
February 23, 2008
I
recall that, on my first university classes, professor Bohumil Med said
musicians never are on vacations. At that time, I thought it was just
to point out something, but Bohumil was correct.
By the end of February I travelled on a tourist cruise, with my mom. We boarded on the Pacific ship in Fortaleza, from where we went to Fernando de Noronha, Recife and Natal. It was a fantastic travel, and the experience of making a cruise even better. Doubtless the best touristic trip I ever made, and I look forwarding repeating the experience.
Of course I brought the guitar to stay in shape and practice a little bit. After hearing myself here and there, I was invited to play a recital on board. Naturally, I accepted the invitation and performed a varied program, in which people could know better the guitar solo.
It was a very nice experience for me as for the audience, and it is always a pleasure being able to play and show the beauties of the guitar and its repertoire.
December 10, 2007
Casa
da Dona Yayá hosts the Centro de Preservação
Cultural of the Universidade de São Paulo. The residence has an
old history, and part of it dates from the time São Paulo was
nothing but a small city.
Last year I had the pleasure to play the Complete Solo Guitar Works by Heitor Villa-Lobos at this venue, but unfortunately the rain made it impossible to perform where the concerts normally happen, the beautiful garden that surrounds the house.
This year there couldn't be a better ocasion to play at the garden. I choose a program, called Cantabile, featuring works which the melody domains. In a place full of nature, with singing birds and playing by the shadow of trees with juicy fruits, it was a good choice!
Events in places like this, during the day, allows the audience and the artist to meet each other after the performance, and it was awesome knowing better the people who attended the recital.
Other reason of great joy is to play at an institution of the Universidade de São Paulo, where I studied and had to work really hard to get a Bachelor Degree. It's a great pleasure performing at an instution that is co-responsible for my education!
Click for one more photo of the recital
November 22nd, 2007
My
recent trip to Peru was incredible. I had the honor to
participate in the V International Festival of Musica Clásica
Contemporánea de Lima, organized by the Agencia Espanola de
Cooperación
Internacional (AECI). In that more than two-week-long event played
several
musicians, in various combinations, such as string quartet; voice,
percussion and electronic sounds; orchestras. In such a diverse event,
of course the guitar should be presente, and I performed a
solo recital on November 21.
The festival honoured the composers Edgar Valcárcel (Peru) and José Maria Sanchez Verdú (Spain), which had works presented in concerts and both were present at the festival. It was a unique opportunity to appreciate the works of such composers who are active, creating works of great beauty and prominence. For guitarists, it is interesting to know the work of Verdú, a young composer who already has a large number of works with guitar in various combinations. He defined himself as an enthusiast of the instrument, and loves working with guitarists.
I could be present in some concerts and I was truly delighted with the work of the honoured composers. I would like to mention especially Checan V for percussion and orchestra, by Valcárcel, and the opera El Viaje a Simorgh, by Verdú. Checan V refers to the Inca culture. It is a beautiful work, with the use of interesting sounds and rhythms, and also a virtuosistic tour-de-force for the soloist. El Viaje a Simorgh is an opera that tells the symbolic journey that all birds, according to the sufi culture, do to meet the god-bird Simorgh, which represents the passage of death. In the booklet, other contemporary dilemmas, such as the AIDS and the fighting against new forms of oppression are also present.
In my recital I playied Kitab 1, by Verdú, and works of Brazilian composers: Suite, by Ernest Mahle, Sonata, by César Guerra-Peixe and Lun-Duo, by Paulo Bellinatti. It was a very good opportunity to spread our culture in such an important event, and I am very grateful that the Brazilian embassy in Lima, especially the Ambassador Luis Augusto Castro de Araújo, the Minister Marcela Nicodemus (who was present), and Secretary Gustavo Teixeira Chadid, could make this event possible. After the recital, many said they liked a lot Guerra-Peixe's Sonata and the Bellinatti's composition. Several guitarists were excited to include them in their repertoire. I was especially pleased with the attention they gave to the Guerra-Peixe piece.
Soon
after the last applause, got to upstage my travel mates, the
Duo Frevo. These Norwegians who love Ibero-American music (yes,
their
name comes from the music style from Brazil) made a recital of
high quality,
with a repertoire well chosen. I liked especially Nagoya Guitars,
by
Steve Reich, an arrangement of the famous Nagoya Marimbas; Canto a Dos,
a piece by Valcárcel in tribute to Villa-Lobos that quotes
excerpts from his concert for guitar and orchestra and an amazing
performance Leo Brouwer's Micropiezas.
At this trip I could also minister a masterclass for students of the
National Conservatory of Music in Lima. I knew very talented students
in a conservatory with an infrastructure better than any Brazilian conservatory or
university music course I have ever visited. I hope I collaborated to motivate,
encourage and offer some interesting idea for these students.
The city of Lima is marvelous. Despite the frequent earthquakes, it has an urban natural beauty, and it looks very good. Clean streets, perfect sidewalks, lots of trees and very good security. Add to this beauty nice building and a geography that combines plains, great walls of rock and a beautiful sea. The people of Lima and the food are also spectacular, and I am sure that every Brazilian will love to spend a few days in this city.
At
the end of the trip I could not have a better scenario: the beauty of
the sunset above the clouds. Throughout the show, you can see all
the
colors of the rainbow, and it is magical seeing little by
little the light fading out. Too bad that the picture beside shows only
a
tiny part of this magnificent scene.
August 15th, 2007
Photo: Alda Regina Minioli
Playing with an orchestra is alwas a very gratifying experience. If the orchestra and the conductor are good, even better. And when we play in an important concert hall, you have a magical moment.
Yesterday I had the pleasure to play in Campos do Jordão, along with the Vale do Paraíba Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Rogério Santos. The group is a student orchestra that is part of a musical educational project, but is as good as many professional orchestras.
At the first half, I played some solo works of Scarlatti, Villa-Lobos, Giuliani and Guerra-Peixe. Soon after, the orchestra playied some highlights of the upcoming season. We finished with Vivaldi's Concerto in D major RV 93, with the main solists.
I loved the experience, and for sure it was on of the best performances I ever made. I hope I have the chance to, on a near future, play once more with that orchestra and conductor.
See below some videos of the performance:
Concerto RV 93 (Vivaldi):
1o movimento
2o movimento
3o movimento
Prelúdio 1 (Heitor Villa-Lobos)
Lamentos do Morro (Garoto)
Grand Overture (Giuliani)
February 23, 2008
I
recall that, on my first university classes, professor Bohumil Med said
musicians never are on vacations. At that time, I thought it was just
to point out something, but Bohumil was correct.By the end of February I travelled on a tourist cruise, with my mom. We boarded on the Pacific ship in Fortaleza, from where we went to Fernando de Noronha, Recife and Natal. It was a fantastic travel, and the experience of making a cruise even better. Doubtless the best touristic trip I ever made, and I look forwarding repeating the experience.
Of course I brought the guitar to stay in shape and practice a little bit. After hearing myself here and there, I was invited to play a recital on board. Naturally, I accepted the invitation and performed a varied program, in which people could know better the guitar solo.
It was a very nice experience for me as for the audience, and it is always a pleasure being able to play and show the beauties of the guitar and its repertoire.
December 10, 2007
Casa
da Dona Yayá hosts the Centro de Preservação
Cultural of the Universidade de São Paulo. The residence has an
old history, and part of it dates from the time São Paulo was
nothing but a small city.Last year I had the pleasure to play the Complete Solo Guitar Works by Heitor Villa-Lobos at this venue, but unfortunately the rain made it impossible to perform where the concerts normally happen, the beautiful garden that surrounds the house.
This year there couldn't be a better ocasion to play at the garden. I choose a program, called Cantabile, featuring works which the melody domains. In a place full of nature, with singing birds and playing by the shadow of trees with juicy fruits, it was a good choice!
Events in places like this, during the day, allows the audience and the artist to meet each other after the performance, and it was awesome knowing better the people who attended the recital.
Other reason of great joy is to play at an institution of the Universidade de São Paulo, where I studied and had to work really hard to get a Bachelor Degree. It's a great pleasure performing at an instution that is co-responsible for my education!
Click for one more photo of the recital
November 22nd, 2007
My
recent trip to Peru was incredible. I had the honor to
participate in the V International Festival of Musica Clásica
Contemporánea de Lima, organized by the Agencia Espanola de
Cooperación
Internacional (AECI). In that more than two-week-long event played
several
musicians, in various combinations, such as string quartet; voice,
percussion and electronic sounds; orchestras. In such a diverse event,
of course the guitar should be presente, and I performed a
solo recital on November 21. The festival honoured the composers Edgar Valcárcel (Peru) and José Maria Sanchez Verdú (Spain), which had works presented in concerts and both were present at the festival. It was a unique opportunity to appreciate the works of such composers who are active, creating works of great beauty and prominence. For guitarists, it is interesting to know the work of Verdú, a young composer who already has a large number of works with guitar in various combinations. He defined himself as an enthusiast of the instrument, and loves working with guitarists.
I could be present in some concerts and I was truly delighted with the work of the honoured composers. I would like to mention especially Checan V for percussion and orchestra, by Valcárcel, and the opera El Viaje a Simorgh, by Verdú. Checan V refers to the Inca culture. It is a beautiful work, with the use of interesting sounds and rhythms, and also a virtuosistic tour-de-force for the soloist. El Viaje a Simorgh is an opera that tells the symbolic journey that all birds, according to the sufi culture, do to meet the god-bird Simorgh, which represents the passage of death. In the booklet, other contemporary dilemmas, such as the AIDS and the fighting against new forms of oppression are also present.
In my recital I playied Kitab 1, by Verdú, and works of Brazilian composers: Suite, by Ernest Mahle, Sonata, by César Guerra-Peixe and Lun-Duo, by Paulo Bellinatti. It was a very good opportunity to spread our culture in such an important event, and I am very grateful that the Brazilian embassy in Lima, especially the Ambassador Luis Augusto Castro de Araújo, the Minister Marcela Nicodemus (who was present), and Secretary Gustavo Teixeira Chadid, could make this event possible. After the recital, many said they liked a lot Guerra-Peixe's Sonata and the Bellinatti's composition. Several guitarists were excited to include them in their repertoire. I was especially pleased with the attention they gave to the Guerra-Peixe piece.
Soon
after the last applause, got to upstage my travel mates, the
Duo Frevo. These Norwegians who love Ibero-American music (yes,
their
name comes from the music style from Brazil) made a recital of
high quality,
with a repertoire well chosen. I liked especially Nagoya Guitars,
by
Steve Reich, an arrangement of the famous Nagoya Marimbas; Canto a Dos,
a piece by Valcárcel in tribute to Villa-Lobos that quotes
excerpts from his concert for guitar and orchestra and an amazing
performance Leo Brouwer's Micropiezas.At this trip I could also minister a masterclass for students of the
National Conservatory of Music in Lima. I knew very talented students
in a conservatory with an infrastructure better than any Brazilian conservatory or
university music course I have ever visited. I hope I collaborated to motivate,
encourage and offer some interesting idea for these students. The city of Lima is marvelous. Despite the frequent earthquakes, it has an urban natural beauty, and it looks very good. Clean streets, perfect sidewalks, lots of trees and very good security. Add to this beauty nice building and a geography that combines plains, great walls of rock and a beautiful sea. The people of Lima and the food are also spectacular, and I am sure that every Brazilian will love to spend a few days in this city.
At
the end of the trip I could not have a better scenario: the beauty of
the sunset above the clouds. Throughout the show, you can see all
the
colors of the rainbow, and it is magical seeing little by
little the light fading out. Too bad that the picture beside shows only
a
tiny part of this magnificent scene.August 15th, 2007
Photo: Alda Regina Minioli
August
14th was a very special date. This day, I played on the Brazilian
Classical Music Week, organized by SESC 913 Sul, at the Espaco
Cultural JK. It was a great honour being the only guitarist invited to
an event with established singers, pianists and chamber musicians from
Brasilia, including the SESC Chamber Orchestra. The program honoured
two great Brazilian composers, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Camargo
Guarnieri. They represent the very best of Brazilian musical
nationalism, and I choose pieces which stressed this characteristic,
such as the Suíte Popular Brasiliéne (Villa-Lobos) and
the Ponteio (Camargo Guarnieri).
It was very exciting coming back to that hall, to celebrate the music of two great Brazilian composers, representing the guitar. A very happy night, an experience I look forward to repeating!
Alvaro Henrique