Ligia Amadio is a Brazilian
conductor, currently chief conductor of the
Bogotá Philharmonic
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
.
Biography
Studies
Ligia Amadio began studying music at the age of five on the piano, eventually completing her diploma at the Dramatic and Musical Conservatory of São Paulo as a pianist. A few years later, however, Amadio received her Bachelor of Conducting as well as a master's degree in arts from the State University of Campinas.
Her most important conducting teachers in Brazil and abroad were:
Eleazar de Carvalho
Eleazar de Carvalho (28 June 1912, Iguatu, Ceará – 12 September 1996, São Paulo) was a Brazilian conductor and composer.
Biography
De Carvalho's parents were Manuel Afonso de Carvalho and Dalila Mendonça. He studied in the United State ...
, Henrique Gregori,
Hans-Joachim Koellreutter
Hans-Joachim Koellreutter (2 September 1915 – 13 September 2005) was a Brazilian composer, teacher and musicologist.
Koellreutter was born in Freiburg, Germany and lived in Brazil from 1937 onward, where he became one of the country's most i ...
,
Ferdinand Leitner
Ferdinand Leitner (4 March 1912 in Berlin – 3 June 1996 in Zürich) was a German conductor. Leitner studied under Franz Schreker, Julius Prüwer, Artur Schnabel and Karl Muck.
He also was a composition student with Robert Kahn. Starting as ...
,
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Or ...
, Julius Kalmar, Dominique Rouits,
Georg Tintner
Georg Tintner, (22 May 19172 October 1999) was an Austrian conductor whose career was principally in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. Although best known as a conductor, he was also a composer (he considered himself a composer who conducted) ...
, Alexander Polishuk, Eugeni Yergemsky, Guillermo Scarabino, and
Edward Downes
Sir Edward Thomas ("Ted") Downes, CBE (17 June 1924 – 10 July 2009) was an English conductor, specialising in opera.
He was associated with the Royal Opera House from 1952, and with Opera Australia from 1970. He was also well known for his ...
.
Musical career
Acclaimed for her high artistic standards, her charisma and her expressive performances, Ligia Amadio is considered by the critics as one of the finest conductors of her generation. With a passionate and intense personality, she has been praised by huge artists of our time for her energetic, natural stage-presence and her versatile technical dexterity.
Ligia Amadio enjoys a successful career as a conductor, in light of over 20 years of performance experience, acquired from positions held as artistic director and guest conductor of major orchestras. For 12 years, from 1996 to 2008, she was the Chief Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro. Between 2000 and 2003, Ms. Amadio also stepped up to the podium of the OSUNCUYO, in Mendoza (Argentina) and in 2009, she directed the Symphony Orchestra of Campinas (Brazil). In August of that year, at the request of the musicians, she took the baton of OSUSP, in São Paulo, Brazil. From 2010 to 2014, also at the request of the members, she was invited to take over the artistic directorship of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mendoza, where she has been the chief conductor until 2014 when she was invited to be the Chief Conductor of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ms. Amadio has been invited to guest conduct many of the world's finest orchestras. Highlights of her international conducting appearances include Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, Simfoniki RTV Slovenija, Jerusalém Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, the
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) (ISO) is an Icelandic orchestra based in Reykjavík, Iceland. Its primary concert venue is the Harpa Concert Hall. The Iceland Symphony is an autonomous public institution under the aus ...
, State of México Symphony Orchestra, Sodre Symphony Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, State of São Paulo Symphonic Orchestra, Baden-Badener Philharmonie, Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, Chile National Symphony Orchestra, Perú National Symphony Orchestra, Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, Orkiestrę Symfoniczną Filharmonii Szczecińskiej, Orkiestra Symfoniczna Filharmonii Czestochowskiej, Ensemble Contrechamps, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, The Congress Symphony Orchestra, Silesian Opera Orchestra, Arpeggione Städtisches Kammerorchester, Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Moldova, in addition to the most important Brazilian and Argentinian orchestras.
In Japan, she was the first woman in 30 years to receive an award in the renowned Tokyo International Conducting Competition in 1997. In the following year, she won the 2nd Latin American Competition of Orchestra Conductors in Santiago, Chile. In the Netherlands, she was selected among the four best of 180 candidates from around the world to attend the 35th Kirill Kondrashin Masterclass, when she was honored to conduct the famous Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In Brazil, Amadio was awarded by the São Paulo Association of Art Critics as the “Best Conductor of the Year” 2001. In 2012 she was distinguished again as “Best Conductor” by the Carlos Gomes Award, in Brazil.
Ligia Amadio has attended several international specialization courses of orchestral conducting, having important mentors such as Ferdinand Leitner, Kurt Masur, Sir Edward Downes and George Tintner. In Brazil, her main tutors were Eleazar de Carvalho, Henrique Gregori and Hans-Joachim Koellreutter.
Her discography includes eleven CDs and five DVDs, recorded under her direction, with the National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, the Symphony Orchestra of RTV in Slovenia and the Symphony Orchestra of Cuyo National University). Between 2000 and 2003, Ligia produced and hosted a radio program dedicated to Music and Literature on Radio MEC (run by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Brazil).
Sources
Personal SiteSummer Music Festival
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amadio, Ligia
Brazilian conductors (music)
Brazilian women conductors (music)
Living people
21st-century conductors (music)
21st-century Brazilian women musicians
Year of birth missing (living people)