54th Festival Villa-Lobos

Every November since 1961 the Museu Villa-Lobos celebrates the Festival Villa-Lobos. The 54th annual celebration takes place in Rio de Janeiro from November 4-15, 2016. There are a number of important celebrations taking place at this year's Festival. One is the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great composer Anacleto de Medeiros, who was born July 16, 1866. Also, this year Moacir Santos would have been 90 years old.

But the star of this year's show is Egberto Gismonti. He was born on December 5, 1947, and according to the Festival Villa-Lobos website, his 70th birthday celebrations begin with this year's Festival. Gismonti will perform at the opening concert on November 4th.

There are various versions of this improvisation by Gismonti on Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5. This one is elegant, elaborate and beautiful.



Follow the Festival Villa-Lobos twitter feed for the latest information.

Museu Villa-Lobos News

Here's some news from Rio de Janeiro: the Ministry of Culture has placed a public call for the position of Director of the Museu Villa-Lobos. Here is a Google Translate version of the advertisement:

Open public call for the position of director of the Villa-Lobos Museum
06/21/2016 - 11:30

It was published on Monday (20) in the Official Gazette, called public intended for selection of director for the Museum Villa Lobos, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), in commissioned position character.

Linked to the Brazilian Institute of Museums (Ibram / Ministry of Culture), the Villa-Lobos Museum collects objects and documents relating to the life and work of composer and conductor Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959). Its collection includes more than 53,000 items, including scores (handwritten and printed), correspondence, newspaper clippings, records, films, books, decorations, musical instruments and personal items.

They can run for office effective servers Ibram and not servers that meet the selection criteria, which include academic education at university level, proven experience in management and knowledge of public policy of the museum sector and the museum area of ​​operation. In the selection process, they will be taken into account technical criteria and qualification objectives, based on the curriculum analysis, Statement of Interest and Work Plan.

Applicants must submit documentation (CV, Statement of Interest and Work Plan) until 23:59 (GMT) next August 31 to the address selecao@museus.gov.br informing the subject "Public Call Museum Villa-Lobos. "

The documentation can also be sent by physical means for People Management Coordination Ibram at the following address: SBN, Block 2, Block N, CNC III Building, 11th floor - CEP 70040-020 - Brasília - DF.

Questions and other issues must also be sent to the email  selecao@museus.gov.br.

Press Office
Brazilian Institute of Museums
Ministry of Culture

I haven't been able to find any new about the current Director, Wagner Tiso. He turned 70 last December, so he may be retiring. Some help from my Brazilian friends, please! (Darn, it would be easier doing this if I knew Portuguese!)

Audio-visual presentation from the Museu Villa-Lobos

Museu Villa-Lobos Curator Nara Abud Tauile put together this 2-screen audio-visual presentation that makes great use of Villa-Lobos home movies, and the Bidu Sayão version of the Bachianas Brasileiras #5 Aria.

A New Villa-Lobos Score

Big news from Rio de Janeiro: a new Villa-Lobos score which was considered lost has been performed as part of the 48th Annual Festival Villa-Lobos, organized by the Museu Villa-Lobos.

Cânticos Sertanejos, a work from 1907, is for flute, clarinet, and strings.  The score is held by the Museu, and is © 2010 by the Academia Brasileira de Musica. The resurrection of this work is due largely to the efforts of Maestro Roberto Duarte, who edited and revised the work and conducted its first performance at the Festival last month.  The musicians at that performance were: Marcelo Bomfim (flute), Cristiano Alves (clarinet), Quarteto Rio de Janeiro (Felipe Prazeres, violin I; Gustavo Meneses, violin II; Ivan Zandonaide, viola; Marcus Ribeiro, cello), Adonhiran Reis, Flávio Santos, Thiago Lopes, Carlos Mendes and Flávia de Castro (violins), Ana Luiza Lopes (viola), Fabio Coelho (cello) and Ricardo Cândido (bass).  What a thrill it must have been to be involved in this historic event!

Thanks to the Museu's Marcelo Rodolfo for sending me this information so promptly.  I feel privileged to present this exciting news to so many Villa-Lobos fans around the world.

48º Festival Villa-Lobos

The 48th annual Festival Villa-Lobos, organized by the Museu Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro, takes places next month, from the 12th to the 28th of November.  The Festival's new website includes programming information.  It's an impressive line-up; highlights include:

• the jazz group Rabo de Lagartixa
• Quarteto Radamés Gnattali
• the choros group Os Matutos
• the great Quinteto Villa-Lobos
• a showing of Zelito Viana's film Villa-Lobos, uma vida de Paixão
• Joel Nascimento
• Wagner Tiso and the group Uakti
• and many, many others

Follow the Festival's Twitter feed, @fvlobos

A Visit to the Museu Villa-Lobos

A new YouTube video from the TV Cultura program Vitrine includes some great footage of Villa-Lobos playing the piano and the guitar, and composing. Also, Museu Villa-Lobos Director Turibio Santos shows off the many pictures, scores, and personal effects of the composer you can see up close at the Museum.

1945 again!

Meanwhile, back in New York in 1945, here's a picture of Villa-Lobos between Aaron Copland and Brazilian Consul-General Oscar Correia, at a reception at the Waldorf Astoria. This is one of the many great photos on the website of the Museu Villa-Lobos.

Dia da Música Clássica

The Dia da Música Clássica - Classical Music Day in both the city and the state of Rio de Janeiro - is celebrated (naturally) on March 5th, Villa-Lobos's birthday. This year, the Museu Villa-Lobos will present "Villa-Lobos e Eu" - conversations with people who met Villa-Lobos. They are, in this case, bassoonist Noel Devos, conductor Nelson Nilo Hack, and flutist Odette Ernst Dias.


The Sala Bidú Sayão at the Museu Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro

If you're lucky enough to be in Rio de Janeiro that day, the event starts at 2 p.m. at the Museu, and it's free.

By the way, I don't know of any other place in the world with a Classical Music Day. In a nice coincidence, considering Villa's leadership in Music Education, March is "Music in our Schools" Month in the U.S. (the logo of which is pictured below).



On the fifth of March, and for the next couple of weeks, Rio celebrates the Dia da Música Clássica. You can see what's on by searching for "Dia da Música Clássica" at the Villa-Lobos Website.

Villa-Lobos Home Movies

This isn't a new story, but I hadn't heard about it yet. Fifty hours of home movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s have been donated by Villa-Lobos's family to the Museu Villa-Lobos. The films, according to the story, will show "the intimacy of the family." Apparently the Museum is planning to digitize the films, and make them available in 2008.

Also included in the donation are 100 scores and 300 unpublished photos.

Andy Summers at the Villa-Lobos Museum

Police guitarist Andy Summers visited the Villa-Lobos Museum in Rio de Janeiro in February 2003.

"Like many guitarists I have lived with this music through most of my playing life. Lived with these seminal works by Villa Lobos that sit in your head like a monolithic presence. Like a place you know and love, it is music that you invariably return to once again to take in its exotic aroma."

Here is his really interesting interview with the VL Museum Director Turibio Santos.

I've been listening to Summers' One Train Later on his OTL MySpace page. This is really cool! I love his story about Roxanne starting out as a Bossa Nova. Buy the book - you'll find out the significance of "The Farting Zombies".

October 16, 2007 concert in Nicosia, Cyprus

The Brazilian-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen will be playing Brazilian music in Cyprus, I learn from this story in the Cyprus Mail.

His recital in Cyprus will comprise works by Alberto Nepomuceno, Alexandre Levy, Gnattali, Braga, Villa-Lobos, Nazareth, Dutra, Oswald, Guarnieri, Claudio Santoro, Francisco Mignone and Liszt.Arnaldo Cohen Recital. October 16, 2007. PASYDY Auditorium, Nicosia. 8:30pm. Tel.22-663871

New Sonia Rubinsky Recordings on the way

Pianist Sonia Rubinsky, recording session in Paris.
Photo courtesy of Nikolaos Samaltanos

It's fun checking out all of the VL activity on the web that I've missed out in the past couple of years. It's great to see that volumes 7 and 8 of Sonia Rubinsky's Naxos cycle of the complete Villa-Lobos piano music are slated for release soon. More information here.

Meanwhile, volume six is still only recently in release, and I've been enjoying listening to it on the Naxos Music Library. Here's the excellent liner notes, by James Melo.

Festival Villa-Lobos

Rio de Janeiro is the site of the 39th Festival Villa-Lobos, organized by the Museu Villa-Lobos. Here are some of the events that will take place - for complete information on these concerts, go to VivaMusica!. I will also add these concerts to the Upcoming Villa-Lobos Concerts page real soon.

- On November 17, a Mass in Memory of Villa-Lobos will be performed at the Igreja Nossa Senhora Esperança.
- On November 19, a concert by Patrícia Endo, in the Sala Cecília Meireles.
- Guitarist Maria Haro and Friends perform on the 20th, also in the Sala Cecília Meireles.
- In the same venue on the 21st, an afternoon concert by the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira Jovem, followed that evening by a concert by pianist Marcelo Verzoni.

Among the other performers at the Festival are the Quinteto do Rio de Janeiro, soprano Carol McDavit and pianist Maria Teresa Madeira.

Museu VL pictures

The Museu Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro is the most important centre for Villa-Lobos research. Thanks to Villa-Lobos fan futura, we have some cool pictures of what's up at the Museu. Thanks, futura!