Maria João Alexandre Barbosa Pires (; born 23 July 1944) is a Portuguese classical

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 ...

, widely regarded as one of the leading interpreters of Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin.

Early life and education

Pires was born in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, a posthumous daughter of João Baptista Pires and his wife Alzira dos Santos Alexandre Barbosa. She has three siblings: Hugo Alexandre Barbosa Pires, Maria Regina Alexandre Barbosa Pires and Maria Helena Alexandre Barbosa Pires. Her first recital was at the age of five, and at the age of seven she was already playing

Mozart piano concertos Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's concertos for piano and orchestra are numbered from 1 to 27. The first four numbered concertos and three unnumbered concertos are early works that are arrangements of keyboard sonatas by various contemporary composers. ...

publicly. Two years later she received Portugal's top prize for young musicians. In the following years, she studied with Campos Coelho at the Lisbon Conservatory, taking courses in composition, theory, and

history of music Although definitions of music vary wildly throughout the world, every known culture partakes in it, and it is thus considered a cultural universal. The origins of music remain highly contentious; commentators often relate it to the origin of ...

. She continued her studies in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, first in the Musikakademie of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

with Rosl Schmidt and then in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

with

Karl Engel Karl (Rudolf) Engel (Birsfelden, 1 June 1923 - Clarens, Switzerland, Chernex, 2 September 2006) was a Switzerland, Swiss pianist. In 1952 Engel was awarded the second prize at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, Queen Elisabeth competition. ...

Career

International fame came in 1970, when she won the

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

Bicentennial Competition in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. Subsequently, she performed with major orchestras in Europe, America, Canada, Israel and Japan, interpreting works by

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

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 ...

, Chopin and other classical and romantic composers. Her professionalism achieved worldwide recognition when a film (from 1999) was drawn to the attention of the press and went viral in 2013. At the start of a lunchtime concert in Amsterdam, she realised that she had rehearsed for a different Mozart concerto from the one the orchestra had started playing; quickly recovering, she played the correct concerto from memory. Pires performed at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

in 2010. In an interview beforehand, she said that after 60 years of recitals and concerts she had cut back her performances but was non-committal about retirement. From 2012 to 2016, she was a Master in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, Belgium, where she gave piano lessons and

master class A master class is a Class (education), class given to students of a particular Academic discipline, discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are b ...

es to young talented pianists from all over the world. To foster young musicians, she launched the Partitura Project. In 2017, she announced her retirement from the stage and tours for 2018, but she continued giving concerts. On February 20, 2019 she was awarded with a Doctorate Honorary Degree by

Pompeu Fabra University Pompeu Fabra University ( ca, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, UPF, ; es, link=no, Universidad Pompeu Fabra) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. The university was created by the Autonomous Government of Catalo ...

of Barcelona.

Recordings

Pires performs as a solo artist and in

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

. Her many successful recordings include performances of the ''

Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...

'' and other

sonatas Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''canta ...

by Beethoven, ''Le Voyage Magnifique'' (the complete impromptus of Schubert), nocturnes and other works by Chopin, and Mozart trios with

Augustin Dumay Augustin Dumay (born 17 January 1949) is a French violinist and conductor from Paris. Biography Dumay was invited as a soloist to appear with Yo-Yo Ma in Paris by Herbert von Karajan. Later on, he performed Béla Bartók's ''Second Concerto'' wi ...

(

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

) and Jian Wang (

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

). She won the

Pessoa Prize The Pessoa Prize ( pt, Prémio Pessoa, ), named after Fernando Pessoa, is recognized as the most important award in the area of Portuguese culture. Created in 1987 by the newspaper ''Expresso'' and the IT company Unisys, since 2008 the prize has be ...

in 1989, and founded the Belgais Centre for Study of the Arts in 1999. ''

Gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

'' selected her recordings of the Chopin

nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

s as the best version available: "I have no hesitation in declaring Maria João Pires—a pianist without a trace of narcissism—among the most eloquent master-musicians of our time." (Bryce Morrison). Another of her acclaimed recordings is ''Mozart: The Piano Sonatas''. According to the ''Penguin Guide'', "Maria João Pires is a stylist and a fine Mozartian. She is always refined yet never wanting in classical feeling, and she has a vital imagination. She strikes an ideal balance between poise and expressive sensibility, conveying a sense of spontaneity in everything she does."

Partial discography

* Chopin, Schubert, Mozart etc.: Complete Concerto Recordings on

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

2014 * Chopin, Schubert, Mozart etc.: Complete Solo Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon 2014 * Mozart: Lieder and Arias ccompanist to Barbara Hendricks MI* Mozart: Piano Sonatas Complete (Denon) * Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4 (2014, Onyx Classics) * Mozart; Fantasies KV 397-KV475, Rondos KV485-KV511 (Denon BB-7009) 1974 * Mozart: Piano Concertos 14, 17, 21, & 26 (2013, Deutsche Grammophon) * Schubert (2013, Deutsche Grammophon) * Chopin (2008, Deutsche Grammophon) * Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (2001,

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; grc, Ἐρατώ) is one of the Greek Muses, which were inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius o ...

) * Schumann: Piano Concerto, Piano Quintet (2000, Deutsche Grammophon) * Chopin: Piano Concertos 1 & 2 (1999, Erato) * Chopin: Nocturnes (1996, Deutsche Grammophon) * Franck, Debussy: Violin Sonatas; Ravel: Berceuse; Habanera; Tzigane (1996, Deutsche Grammophon) * Mozart: Piano Sonatas K. 281, K. 282, K. 533/K. 494 (1993, Deutsche Grammophon) * Mozart: Piano Sonatas K. 331 & 457; Fantasias K. 397 & 475 (1990, Deutsche Grammophon) * Schubert: Sonata; 6 Moments Musicaux; 2 Scherzi (1989, Deutsche Grammophon) * Mozart: The Great Concertos for Piano (1978, Erato)

Move to Brazil

In 2006 she moved to

Lauro de Freitas Lauro de Freitas is a municipality in Bahia, Brazil. It covers and a population of 201,635 (2020 est.). Lauro de Freitas has a population density of 3,376 inhabitants per square kilometer. It is located from the state capital of Bahia, Salvador ...

—a town near

Salvador, Brazil Salvador (English: ''Savior'') is a Brazilian municipality and capital city of the state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognized throughout the country and internationally for its cuisine ...

—and continued performing. At the time of her move, she commented that she had suffered much adverse publicity in Portugal due to her Belgais Centre project to help tackle the significant problem of underprivileged children, a project that the Portuguese Government helped to fund but publicly shied away from. The centre continued to operate at her farm in Portugal and she subsequently started similar projects in Brazil. In 2017, she moved back to Belgais, in Portugal.

Social engagement

"It is in response to this issue that Maria João Pires launched the Partitura project. It is all about creating favourable circumstances for transmission by encouraging reciprocal listening between generations: inciting well-known musicians to foster young musicians and to invite them (as the name suggests) to share the concert platform".Partitura Music Chape Maria João Pires
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Honours and Awards

Honours

Dame ''Dame'' is an honorific title and the feminine form of address for the honour of damehood in many Christian chivalric orders, as well as the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system and those of several oth ...

of the

Order of Saint James of the Sword The Military Order of Saint James of the Sword ( pt, Ordem Militar de Sant'Iago da Espada) is a Portuguese order of chivalry. Its full name is the Ancient, Most Noble and Enlightened Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, of the Scientifi ...

(9 August 1983) * PRT Order of Prince Henry - Commander BAR

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of ...

(9 June 1989) * PRT Order of Saint James of the Sword - Grand Cross BAR

Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Grand ...

of the Order of Saint James of the Sword (9 June 1998) * PRT Order of Prince Henry - Grand Cross BAR

Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry (19 May 2019) *Honorary doctorate ( ''Doctor Honoris Causa''),

of Barcelona (20 February 2019)

References

Notes Sources
Belgais CentreDeutsche Grammophon BiographyInterview with Maria João Pires, May 24, 2012

External links

March 25, 1991 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pires, Maria Joao Portuguese classical pianists Child classical musicians Deutsche Grammophon artists Portuguese expatriates in Brazil Musicians from Lisbon 1944 births Living people Pessoa Prize winners Women classical pianists 21st-century classical pianists Erato Records artists 21st-century women pianists