was a Japanese-born Brazilian choral conductor and academic teacher based in the city of

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 GaWC a ...

. She was conductor of OSESP, the choir of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, from 1995 to 2013, and then principal conductor of Coral Paulistano Mário de Andrade at the

Municipal Theatre A municipal theatre is a theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific ...

. She was among the choral conductors in South America who "have contributed to the strengthening and stimulation of choral music", according to ''The Cambridge Companion to Choral Music''.

Life

Munakata was born in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, and the family moved to

, Brazil, when she was age two. She received piano lessons from age four and began singing in a choir that her father conducted at age seven. She also learned to play violin and harp. She studied at the Instituto Musical de São Paulo, graduating in composition and conducting in 1978. She studied conducting, musical analysis and counterpoint with

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 ...

. She also studied with

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 ...

, Hugh Ross, Sérgio Magnani and

John Neschling John Neschling is a Brazilian orchestral and operatic conductor. He was the musical director and the chief conductor of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo State Symphony) from 1997 to 2008. He was the Artistic Director o ...

. She further studied with

Eric Ericson Eric Gustaf Ericson (26 October 1918 – 16 February 2013) was a Swedish choral conductor and influential choral teacher. Life and career He graduated from the Royal College of Music (''Kungl. Musikhögskolan'') in Stockholm in 1943 and we ...

in Sweden on a scholarship from Vitae Foundation, and was awarded a scholarship for studies of conducting at the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

from the Japanese government in 1986. She received the award for best choral conductor from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics. Munakata was teacher and director of the Escola Municipal de Música de São Paulo, and conductor and artistic director of the Coral Jovem do Estado, the state youth choir. She ran a regular radio program, "Vozes" (Voices) on Rádio Cultura FM in São Paulo, informing about choral music. She was conductor of OSESP, the choir of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, from 1995 to 2013, when she became the choir's Honorary Conductor. From 2014, she was artistic director of the , the chorus of the

Theatro Municipal Teatro Municipal, Theatro Municipal, Théâtre Municipal or Teatro Municipale (= Municipal theatre) may refer to: * Théâtre municipal d'Albi * Teatro Municipal de Caracas * Teatro Municipal de Chacao * Théâtre municipal de Grenoble * Théâtre ...

. She taught at the faculties Faculdade Santa Marcelina and Faculdade de Artes Alcântara Machado (FAAM). In the

COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil The COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Brazil on 25 February 2020, when a man from São Paulo who had traveled to Italy tested positive for the virus. ...

, Munakata was hospitalized on 16 March 2020 at the Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz with symptoms of the infection, and died on 26 March at the age 64.

Awards

She received the award for best choral conductor from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics.

References

External links

* * *
"Oh schöne Nacht" (Brahms) – gefeiertes Konzert des OSESP-Chors in Sao Paulo, dirigiert von Naomi Munakata.
(in German) hart-brasilientexte.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Munakata, Naomi 1955 births 2020 deaths Musicians from Hiroshima Brazilian musicians of Japanese descent Brazilian conductors (music) Naturalized citizens of Brazil Brazilian women conductors (music) Japanese women conductors (music) Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in São Paulo (state) Japanese emigrants to Brazil 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Brazilian musicians 20th-century women musicians 21st-century conductors (music) 21st-century Brazilian musicians 21st-century women musicians Musicians from São Paulo Brazilian choral conductors Japanese choral conductors