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".

Upcoming Villa-Lobos Concerts

Since 1997 I've been keeping track of Villa-Lobos concerts around the world, that I've heard about from performers or presenters, or that I've come across on the web. You can find the Upcoming Villa-Lobos Concerts page at http://www.rdpl.org/villa/concerts.html. I've recently reorganized them by month in a convenient calendar format. Here, for example, is the page for September 2003, which includes concerts from Rio de Janeiro, Brooklyn, Teresopolis, Belo Horizonte, Sao Paulo, London and Delaware & Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Besides letting people know about concerts they may wish to attend, these pages now play another role: to document Villa-Lobos concerts from around the world over the past six years. I've analyzed the concerts by work, and will be keeping this information up-to-date in a spreadsheet linked to at the page above. It's also available in this cool new format from Macromedia called FlashPaper - here's the link: http://www.rdpl.org/villa/concerts/ConcertsSpreadsheet.htm.

Please let me know about any Villa-Lobos performances coming up in your neck of the woods.

Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira Website

The website of Rio de Janeiro's OSB, or the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, as it's also known, is very fine. There's useful information on upcoming programs - for example, this October 18, 2003 concert:

18 October
Norton Morozowicz, conductor
Miguel Proença, piano

Villa-Lobos, Preludio da Bachianas Brasileiras no. 4; Saudades das Selvas Brasileiras, no. 1 & 2; Seis Cirandas (Theresinha de Jesus – A Condessa – Senhora Dona Sancha – O Cravo Brigou com a Rosa – Passa, Passa Gaviao); Valsa da Dor; Hommage à Chopin
Prokofiev, Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, in D-flat Major, op. 10
Bartok, Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra

There's also plenty of historical information, including this picture from 1958:




Villa-Lobos' last concert with the BSO and Sônia Maria Strutt acknowledging the ovation to the execution of the Maestro's "Momo Precoce", on August 24, 1958

All in all a fine site. I even have one of the computer wallpapers decorating my Windows desktop.

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!