José Antônio Rezende de Almeida Prado or Almeida Prado (February 8, 1943 – November 21, 2010) was an important

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian composer of classical music and a

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 ...

. On Almeida Prado's death, his personal friend, conductor João Carlos Martins stated that Prado had possibly been the most important Brazilian composer ever. Prado wrote over 400 compositions and won various prizes for his work. He was born in Santos,

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 ...

in 1943. He died in

in 2010, having lived there for the latter part of his life.

Training

In Brazil, Almeida Prado studied with Dinorá de Carvalho (

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 ...

Osvaldo Lacerda Osvaldo Costa de Lacerda (March 23, 1927 – July 18, 2011) was a Brazilian composer and professor of music. Lacerda is known for a Brazilian nationalist musical style that combines elements of Brazilian folk and popular music as well as twentieth ...

( harmony) and

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 ...

(composition). Upon winning first prize for his cantata , based on a text by

Hilda Hilst Hilda Hilst (April 21, 1930 – February 4, 2004) was a Brazilian poet, novelist, and playwright. She is lauded as one of the most important Portuguese-language authors of the twentieth century. Her work touches on the themes of mysticism, insanit ...

, at the ''I Festival de Música da Guanabara'' in 1969, he continued his studies in Europe. He studied with Olivier Messiaen and

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

from 1970 to 1973, besides brief studies with

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

and

Lukas Foss Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor. Career Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...

in Darmstadt.

Professional activities

Returning to Brazil in 1974, Almeida Prado first taught at the ''Conservatório Municipal de

Cubatão Cubatão is a city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, 12 kilometers away from Santos seaport, the largest in Latin America. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista. The population is 131,626 (2020 est.) in an area of 142.88 k ...

'', and then, hired by

Zeferino Vaz Zeferino Vaz (May 27, 1908 – February 19, 1981) led the construction, establishment and development of the Unicamp university, in the interior of the State of São Paulo, Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s. The main campus is named after Zeferin ...

, he became a professor at the

UNICAMP The State University of Campinas ( pt, Universidade Estadual de Campinas), commonly called Unicamp, is a public research university in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Unicamp is consistently ranked among the top universities in Brazil and Latin ...

Institute of the Arts, retiring in 2000. After his retirement he settled in

, where he occasionally taught music courses and presented a radio program at Cultura FM. In January 2007, his cantata ''Hiléia, Um Mural da Amazônia'', based on the poem of the same name by Ives Gandra Martins, was performed at Carnegie Hall by the ''Orquestra Bachiana Filarmônica de São Paulo'' conducted by João Carlos Martins.

Selected works

;Orchestral * Sinfonia no. 1 (1970) * Abertura Cidade de Campinas (1976) * Sinfonia Unicamp (1976) * Abertura Cidade de São Paulo (1981) * Sinfonia dos Orixás (1985) * Arcos Sonoros da Catedral de Bruckner (1996) * Symphonic Variations (2005) ;Concertante * Variações sobre um tema do Rio Grande do Norte (1963) for piano and orchestra * Ceremonial (1971) for bassoon and orchestra * Exoflora (1974) for piano and orchestra * Aurora (1975) for piano and orchestra * Concerto for violin and string orchestra (1976) * Crônica de um dia de verão (1979), for clarinet and string orchestra * Concerto for flute and string orchestra (1981) * Piano Concerto no. 1 (1983) * Variações concertantes para marimba, vibrafone e cordas (1984) * Concerto ''Fribourgeois'' for piano e string orchestra (1985) * Fantasia (1997) for violin and orchestra * Psalm 148 (1997) for piano and concert band * Cartas Celestes VII (1998) for 2 pianos and concert band * Cartas Celestes VIII (1999) for violin and orchestra * Concerto for oboe and string orchestra (2001) ;Chamber music * Cantus Mobiles (1966) for violin and piano * Portrait de Lili Boulanger (1972) for flute, piano and string quartet * Livro Sonoro (1973) for string quartet * Ex Itinere (1974) for piano and string trio * Continuous movement (1976) for string quartet * Macaíra: a pescaria fantástica (1977), for harpsichord and 2 pianos (or 4-hand piano) * Paná-Paná I (1977) for flute, oboe and piano * String Quartet no. 1 (1978) * Paná-Paná II (1981) for clarinet, cello and piano * Violin Sonata no. 1 (1980) * Viola Sonata (1983) * Trio marítimo (1983) for violin, cello e piano * Violin Sonata no. 2 (1984) * Xangô (1984–85) for violin and cello * Réquiem para a paz (1985) for viola and piano * Sonata for flute and piano (1986) * Violin Sonata no. 3 (1991) * Sonata Tropical (1996) for 2 guitars * 4 Corais (1998) for double bass and piano * Sonata for trombone and piano (1998) * Cartas Celestes XI (2000) for vibraphone, marimba and piano * Sonata for cello and piano (2003) * Violin Sonata no. 4 (2007) ;Piano * 14 Estudos (1962-2003) * 55 Momentos (1965–83) * 11 Piano Sonatas (1965-2001) * Ilhas (1973) * Cartas celestes I (1974) * Rios (1976) * Itinerário idílico e amoroso ou Livro de Helenice (1976) * Cartas celestes II-VI (1981–82) * Savanas (1983) * 16 Poesilúdios (1983-1985) * 24 Corais (1984-1999) * 12 Sonetos (1984-1999) * 14 Noturnos (1985-1991) * Halley (1986) * Rosário de Medjugorje (1987-2002) * 9 Louvores Sonoros (1988) * Três Croquis de Israel (1989) * 25 Prelúdios (1989-1992) * Quinze Flashes de Jerusalém (1990) * 5 Líricas (1994-2007) * Cartas celestes IX-XIV (1999-2001) * Cartas celestes XV-XVIII (2009-2010) ;Choral * Ritual para a Sexta-feira Santa para coro e orquestra (1966) * Paixão de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo segundo São Marcos (1967) * (1969) * Carta de Patmo para coro, solista e orquestra (1971) * Thèrèse ou l’Amour de Dieu para coro e orquestra (1986) * Cantata Bárbara Heliodora para solistas, coro misto e orquestra de câmara (1987) * Cantata Adonay Roi Loeçar para solistas, coro e orquestra de câmara (1989)

Publications

* Prado, José Antônio R. De Almeida, Cartas Celestes: uma uranografia sonora geradora de novos processos composicionais. Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes, Departamento de Música: 1986. Tese (Doutorado).

Notes

References

* Translated from part of th
Portuguese article

External links

Biography
(in Portuguese)
Scores by Almeida Prado
at the Portal Musica Brasilis
Interview with Matheus G. Bitondi
(in Portuguese)
Radio broadcast in homage to Almeida Prado: Antonio Menenses; Eduardo Monteiro; Orquestra Acadêmica: Roberto Minczuk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Almeida Prado, Jose Antonio De 1943 births 2010 deaths 20th-century classical pianists Brazilian composers Brazilian classical pianists Male classical pianists Pupils of Lukas Foss People from Santos, São Paulo