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Antônio Meneses

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Antônio Meneses
Meneses in 2016
Born(1957-08-23)23 August 1957
Recife, Brazil
Died3 August 2024(2024-08-03) (aged 66)
Basel, Switzerland
Occupations
  • Cellist
  • Academic teacher
Organizations
AwardsInternational Tchaikovsky Competition

Antônio Meneses (23 August 1957 – 3 August 2024) was a Brazilian cellist and academic teacher based in Switzerland. After Meneses won the first prize and gold medal at the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, he performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestra and with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Kurt Sanderling, and Herbert von Karajan. He was the cellist of the Beaux Arts Trio from 1998 to 2008 and collaborated in recital with pianists such as Nelson Freire and Maria João Pires.

Meneses promoted the music of Brazilian composers, commissioning new works and recording the complete works for cello by Heitor Villa-Lobos. He taught at the Bern Academy of Arts. The Strad wrote that he "was one of the most acclaimed soloists and chamber musicians of his generation".[1]

Life and career

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Meneses was born in Recife on 23 August 1957 and grew up in Rio de Janeiro.[2] His father played French horn in the orchestra of the Rio de Janeiro Opera.[3][4] He was the eldest of five brothers who all played string instruments.[1][5][6] He played cello from age twelve, taught by Nydia Otero. He played in the youth orchestra of the Municipal Theatre and the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (BSO).[5] When he was 16, Antonio Janigro discovered him when he played with the BSO.[5] Meneses subsequently studied with Janigro in Düsseldorf and at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart.[1][7]

Performing

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In 1977, Meneses won the first prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, and in 1982, he was awarded first prize and gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow,[1][6][8] the only musician to win both competitions.[9] He made his American debut with Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra,[10] followed by his New York City recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the following year.[11] Meneses performed as a soloist with various orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Sanderling,[12] and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.[13][14]

Meneses performed as a guest at various festivals, including the Edinburgh International Festival, Lucerne Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Prague Spring,[1] the Pablo Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, the Salzburg Festival, the Wiener Festwochen, the Berlin Festival, and the Mostly Mozart Festival.[15]

Meneses regularly played chamber music with the Vermeer Quartet on tour[1] in Europe and in Japan, as well as the Emerson String Quartet and the Amati Quartet.[16] He was the cellist of the Beaux Arts Trio from 1998[9][17] until its end in 2008;[18] playing with pianist and founder Menahem Pressler and violinists Yung Uck Kim and Daniel Hope.[9] In recital, he collaborated with pianists such as Pressler,[6] Maria João Pires,[19] Nelson Freire,[13][20] and Gérard Wyss,[21]

He usually played a Matteo Goffriller cello from 1710, and also a cello by Fabrice Girardin, and an instrument by Luiz Amorim and Filippo Fasser.[1]

Recording

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Meneses recorded Brahms' Double Concerto for violin and cello with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan for Deutsche Grammophon in 1983.[1][22] He also recorded Strauss' Don Quixote with Karajan and the orchestra.[1][23] Meneses recorded works of David Popper with the Sinfonieorchester Basel.[24] He made the first of his three recordings of Bach's Cello Suites for Philips Records Japan[25] and recorded Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Cecile Licad for EMI/Angel.[26] In July 1997, Meneses recorded the three concertos by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach with the Munich Chamber Orchestra.[13] In 2013, Deutsche Grammophon released a live recording from London's Wigmore Hall of Meneses and Maria João Pires playing[1] music by Bach and Mendelssohn, Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata and the First Cello Sonata by Johannes Brahms.[27] With pianist Gérard Wyss, he played the complete works by both Schubert and Schumann, and with Pressler chamber works by Beethoven. He recorded Haydn's Cello Concertos and Clóvis Pereira [pt]'s Concertino with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. A CD of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the orchestra conducted by Claudio Cruz was nominated for a Grammy Award.[1][28]

Meneses commissioned several works from composers from Brazil, for example in 2009 music inspired by Bach’s suites.[1][6] He celebrated his 60th birthday by recording a CD of classical and Brazilian popular music with pianist André Mehmari in 2017.[1] He recorded the complete works for cello by Heitor Villa-Lobos, and especially his cello concertos and the Fantasia for cello and orchestra with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra in 2023.[1][6] A reviewer of the 2023 recording described his music-making as "very sensitive and always lively", expressive even in low register in spite of the dense texture of the compositions.[29]

Teaching

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Meneses was a professor of cello at the Bern Academy of Arts from 2008 until his retirement in 2023.[1][30][2] He lectured at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and at the Accademia Stauffer in Cremona.[1] He gave masterclasses in Europe, Japan, and the United States.[1][31] He taught students an attitude of strict respect towards a composer's score.[9]

Personal life

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Meneses was married to pianist Cecile Licad;[32] they had a son.[5] The marriage ended in divorce.[32][33][34] He lived with his second wife, Satoko Kuroda, in Basel. While he never lived in Brazil again after leaving the country to study in Europe, he returned regularly for visits and playing chamber music with friends.[5]

In June 2024, Meneses was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme and announced his immediate withdrawal from all his concert engagements and teaching positions.[35] He died in Basel on 3 August 2024, at the age of 66.[1][5][6][9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses dies at age 66". The Strad. 3 August 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b Peixoto, Mariana (23 August 2022). "Antonio Meneses comemora seus 65 anos no palco, com dois concertos em BH". Estado de Minas (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  3. ^ Meneses, Antonio (28 February 2017). "Advice I would give my younger self – cellist Antonio Meneses". The Strad. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Patrons and Saints Shaped Pianist". The Morning Call. 13 November 1992. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Morre aos 66 anos o violoncelista Antonio Meneses" (in Portuguese). Concerto. 3 August 2024. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Argauer, Rita (4 August 2024). "Cellist Antonio Meneses gestorben". BR (in German). Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  7. ^ Wegsman, Ron (2 March 1990). "COMING UP". Jerusalem Post. Jerusalem: The Jerusalem Post. p. 07.
  8. ^ Schmemann, Serge (7 July 1982). "Brazilian is Tchaikovsky Cello Winner". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e Kienle, Friderike (6 August 2024). "Zum Tod von Antônio Meneses: "Er hat jeden Ton mit Herz und Verstand gespielt"". SWR (in German). Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  10. ^ Tuck, Lon (29 April 1983). "Glorious Londoners". The Washington Post. p. B6. ISSN 0190-8286.
  11. ^ Holland, Bernard (30 October 1983). "Recital: Antonino [sic] Meneses". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  12. ^ Henahan, Donal (2 October 1987). "Philharmonic: Sanderling Conducts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  13. ^ a b c "Antonio Meneses, cello – Philadelphia Chamber Music Artists". Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  14. ^ Barron, James (14 April 1985). "New Life for the Detroit Symphony". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  15. ^ "Antonio Meneses". artematriz.art (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  16. ^ LionCoders. "Antonio Meneses". Accademia Stauffer. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  17. ^ Potter, Tully (2001). "Beaux Arts Trio". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
  18. ^ Kosman, Joshua (22 April 2008). "Music review: Beaux Arts' last S.F. concert". SF Gate. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  19. ^ Maddocks, Fiona (8 January 2012). "Antonio Meneses and Maria João Pires; La traviata – review". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  20. ^ "Antonio Meneses e Nelson Freire" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  21. ^ Hogwood, Ben (December 2007). "Mendelssohn: Music for Cello and Piano – Antonio Meneses, Gerard Wyss". Classical Source. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  22. ^ Oestreich, James R. (18 March 1984). "Recordings; for Brahms at 151, the Celebrations Continue". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  23. ^ "R. Strauss Don Quixote; Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche". Gramophone. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  24. ^ "Popper / Meneses / Zollman / Basler: Works for Cello & Orch". Tower Records. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  25. ^ Antonio Meneses (1993). J.S. Bach: 6 Suites for Unaccompanied Cello (CD). Japan: Philips. PHCP 1414/1415.
  26. ^ Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Antonio Meneses, Cecile Licad, John Cerminaro (1996). Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio; Brahms: Horn Trio (CD). EMI. EMI 3315365.
  27. ^ Gill, Caroline. "Schubert Cello Sonata, Brahms Cello Sonata". Gramophone. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  28. ^ "Antonio Meneses | Artist | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  29. ^ Franck, Remy (22 September 2023). "Cellokonzerte von Villa-Lobos in exzellenten Interpretationen". pizzicato.lu. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  30. ^ "HKB Bern: Personen". Hochschule der Künste Bern. Archived from the original on 26 September 2008.
  31. ^ Böhler, Wolfgang (8 July 2024). "Antonio Meneses mit Krebsdiagnose". Schweizer Musikzeitung. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  32. ^ a b Stern, Max (6 March 1990). "Triple Debut". Jerusalem Post. Jerusalem: The Jerusalem Post Ltd. p. 06.
  33. ^ "Cecile Licad on concert memories and the loss of a soulmate | Philstar.com". www.philstar.com. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  34. ^ Slate, Libby (28 October 1988). "Filipino Pianist Cecile Licad Warming Up to America". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  35. ^ Meneses, Antonio. "Statement: Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses, one of the leading musicians of his generation, has withdrawn from his concert engagements and teaching positions". Facebook. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
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