Edmundo Villani-Côrtes (born 8 November 1930) is a Brazilian pianist, conductor, arranger, music professor and composer.

Biography

Villani-Côrtes was born in

Juiz de Fora Juiz de Fora (, '' Outsider Judge''), also known as J.F., is a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, approximately from the state border with Rio de Janeiro. According to 2020 estimates the current population is about 57 ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

. He started out as a musician at age 9 by playing the cavaquinho, acoustic guitar and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

. He graduated from the Brazilian Conservatory of Music in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

in 1954. Back to his hometown, he took and finished a law degree at the

Federal University of Juiz de Fora The Federal University of Juiz de Fora ( pt, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, UFJF) is a public research university in Brazil. Throughout its over 50 years of existence, the university has undergone significant growth, strengthening the qual ...

, having premiered there his own ''Concerto n.º 1 para piano e orquestra'' (''Concerto No 1 for Piano and Orchestra'') in 1956. Once in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, where he moved to study under José Kliass, he became a pupil of composer

Camargo Guarnieri Mozart Camargo Guarnieri (February 1, 1907 – January 13, 1993) was a Brazilian composer. Name Guarnieri was born in Tietê, São Paulo, and registered at birth as Mozart Guarnieri, but when he began a musical career, he decided his first name ...

and an arranger of advertisement music; there, he won an honourable mention from the Brazilian branch of Goethe-Institut with his ''Noneto'' (''Nonet'') in 1978. In 1986, he won both first and second prizes in a contest organised by Editora Brasil Cultural (Brazil Cultural Publishing). Villani-Côrtes completed his master's degree in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

in 1988 at the

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro or University of Brazil (UFRJ; pt, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro or ') is a public research university located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the ...

. He taught composition and counterpoint at the State University of São Paulo, where he also obtained his PhD in 1998. In 1995, his work ''Postais Paulistanos'' (''Postcards from São Paulo'') was commended by the

Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte The Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte (São Paulo Association of Art Critics) or APCA (established 1956) is an organization based in São Paulo, Brazil which honors the best in the Brazilian fields of stage acting (since 1956), music, lite ...

(São Paulo Association of Art Critics), which handed him a total of seven awards between 1990 and 2012, including a lifetime achievement award. Between 1992 and 1996, Villani-Côrtes was a faculty member of the Festival Internacional de Inverno de Campos do Jordão (

Campos do Jordão Campos do Jordão () is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in southeastern Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 52,405 (2020 est.) in an area of . The city is situated above s ...

International Winter Festival). In 2014, the Festival de Música Contemporânea Brasileira (Festival of Brazilian Contemporary

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

) honoured his life's work. Villani-Côrtes is also a celebrated

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and conductor. As a pianist, he worked with the Orquestra Filarmônica de Juiz de Fora (Juiz de Fora Philharmonic

Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

), several radio and television orchestras and musical ensembles, including the

Jô Soares José Eugênio Soares (16 January 1938 – 5 August 2022), known professionally as Jô Soares (Portuguese: /ˈʒo soˈaɾis, ˈswa-, -ɾiʃ/), or Jô, was a Brazilian comedian, talk show host, author, musician, actor and writer. Early life ...

late-night talk show band. As a conductor, he fronted the São Paulo

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

Symphony Orchestra between 1990 and 1999. While drawing on the influence of

Shostakovitch Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

and French

impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

and

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

, Villani-Côrtes is not particularly fond of avant-gardism in

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

. 'A good author', he says, 'shows competent use of the known vocabulary, that everyone understands, in order to convey a new idea with clarity. They don't need to invent a new vocabulary to be original.' He is not clearly associated with any definite aesthetic movement. Villani-Côrtes is a prolific composer with over 300 works for a variety of

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

instruments Instrument may refer to: Science and technology * Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft * Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific lab ...

, in addition to

chamber Chamber or the chamber may refer to: In government and organizations * Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests *Legislative chamber, in politics * Debate chamber, the space or room that houses delib ...

and orchestral pieces.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villani-Cortes, Edmundo 1930 births Living people Brazilian composers Brazilian pianists Brazilian conductors (music) People from Juiz de Fora