José Carlos Cocarelli (born 17 March 1959) is a Brazilian classical pianist resident in France. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he was a pupil of

Adele Marcus Adele Marcus (February 22, 1906 May 3, 1995) was an American pianist and instructor whose career was based at the Juilliard School in New York City. Life and career Marcus was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the youngest of 13 children of a rabb ...

and Merces de Silva Telles. He was awarded second prize on the 1984 Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition, he won the

Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition The Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition is a music competition for young pianists that takes place in Bolzano, Italy. It was founded in 1949 by Cesare Nordio in memory of the pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni. History The fir ...

in 1985 and the Concours Long-Thibaud in 1986.

Life and career

Cocarelli was born 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 ...

to José Carlos and Judith (''née'' Montanhas da Cruz) Cocarelli. His father was an oboist with the orchestra of the Teatro Municipal and a music professor at the Instituto Villa-Lobos. His mother was a pianist, composer, and music professor 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 ...

.''

Correio da Manhã ''Correio da Manhã'' () is a Portuguese daily newspaper from Portugal. Published in Lisbon, it is the most circulated daily newspaper in Portugal. History and profile ''Correio da Manhã'' was established in 1979. The paper is based in Lisbon ...

'' (23 November 1971)
"José Carlos, 12 anos, um músico erudito"
Retrieved 22 July 2014 . He showed musical talent from a very early age and began learning the piano at age six, taught by his mother. When he was nine he won a place in the Youth Orchestra of the Teatro Municipal. The following year he won a place as a soloist with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra and in 1971 at age 12 was awarded first prize in the Lorenzo Fernández piano competition. As a child and young teenager he appeared frequently as a soloist in recitals and on Brazilian television, including a solo recital at age 14 in the

Sala Cecília Meireles Sala Cecília Meireles is a theatre in the Lapa district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is noted for its chamber music and is considered to be one of the best venues in terms of acoustics in the city, as well as one of the most traditional in its d ...

performing pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Villa-Lobos.''

'' (9 July 1973)
"O jovem Cocarelli"
He went on to receive a scholarship from the Brazilian government when he was 18 which allowed him to study in New York City as a private pupil of

. He later studied in Paris with Merces de Silva Telles, a Brazilian pupil of

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and B ...

. In 1980 at the ''Panorama da Música Brasileira Atual'', Cocarelli premiered Ronaldo Miranda's

atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a ...

solo piano work ''Prólogo, Discurso e Reflexão'' which had been written expressly for him. He also played the piece at the 1981 Maria Canals International Music Competition where he won third prize. The critic

Xavier Montsalvatge Xavier Montsalvatge i Bassols (; 11 March 1912 – 7 May 2002) was a Spanish composer and music critic. He was one of the most influential music figures in Catalan music during the latter half of the 20th century. Biography Life Montsalvatge w ...

noted that it was a risky choice for a music competition but that Cocarelli had demonstrated a "profound understanding of contemporary music". When asked in 1997 how a musician from Brazil can make himself known in Europe, Cocarelli replied: "The only solution is the one that I adopted: to become known by winning major international competitions. It's a business card, which bring recordings and good reviews in magazines." Between 1981 and 1989 he had embarked on a series of major piano competitions winning first prizes in the

(1985) and the Concours Long-Thibaud (''ex-aequo'' with Yukino Fujiwara, 1986) as well as 2nd prizes in the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition (1984) and the

Van Cliburn International Piano Competition The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (The Cliburn) is an American piano competition by The Cliburn, first held in 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas and hosted by the Van Cliburn Foundation. Initially held at Texas Christian University, the c ...

(1989). Retrieved 22 July 2014. The Van Cliburn competition led to several recital engagements in major US concert halls, including his Carnegie Hall debut in 1991, where he played Alban Berg's

Piano Sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with ...

and

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

' ''Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann'' ( Op. 9). A review of the recital in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' noted: "Along with generally excellent control and fastidiously even passage work came thoughtful rubatos and occasionally an almost brooding intensity." An international career ensued, although it remained a low-key one, with Cocarelli often playing with chamber ensembles and orchestras rather than as a solo recitalist. He has lived in Europe since the early 1990s, eventually settling in France. Now retired from the concert stage, he teaches piano at the community music school in

Fresnay-sur-Sarthe Fresnay-sur-Sarthe (, literally ''Fresnay on Sarthe'') is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire in north-western France. On 1 January 2019, the former communes Coulombiers and Saint-Germain-sur-Sarthe were merged ...

.Almeida, Rogério V. (11 February 2011)
"José Carlos Cocarelli"
. Associação Pró-Música de Uberlândia. Retrieved 22 July 2014 .

Recordings

*''8th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, 1989: The winners'' (

Teldec Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group. History Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...

) *''Four great 20th century piano sonatas'' ( Musical Heritage Society) *''José Carlos Cocarelli spielt Beethoven und Schubert'' ( Deutsche Welle)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocarelli, Jose Carlos Living people 1959 births Brazilian classical pianists Male classical pianists Maria Canals International Music Competition prize-winners Prize-winners of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition Prize-winners of the Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners Prize-winners of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Musicians from Rio de Janeiro (city) 21st-century classical pianists