Almeida Prado

Origin

Santos, SP

Also known as

José Antônio Rezende de Almeida Prado

Years Active

1960–2010

Genres

classical music, contemporary music

Instruments

piano

Biography

José Antônio Rezende de Almeida Prado was born in Santos on February 8, 1943, establishing himself as one of the most important composers and pianists in Brazilian classical music. He received his initial musical training in Brazil from prominent names such as Dinorá de Carvalho, Osvaldo Lacerda, and Camargo Guarnieri, and gained national recognition by winning first prize at the Guanabara Music Festival in 1969 with the cantata "Pequenos Funerais Cantantes", based on a text by Hilda Hilst.

Later, he refined his knowledge in Europe between 1970 and 1973, studying with legendary figures such as Nadia Boulanger, Olivier Messiaen, and György Ligeti. Returning to Brazil in 1974, he also dedicated himself to teaching, serving for many years at the Unicamp Arts Institute and leaving a mark on generations of musicians and composers with his avant-garde vision and intense creative output.

His vast body of work exceeds three hundred compositions and encompasses choral, symphonic, and instrumental pieces, with international acclaim for his series of piano pieces "Cartas Celestes". Almeida Prado passed away in São Paulo on November 21, 2010, leaving a lasting legacy in contemporary Brazilian music and being immortalized as a member of the Brazilian Academy of Music.

Discography

• Isis Moreira, Pianista - Almeida Prado: Variações, Recitativo e Fuga; Momento / Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras Nº 4 (1974)
• Francisco Mignone, Almeida Prado, Gilberto Mendes – I Bienal de Música Contemporânea Brasileira - Disco 3 (1975)
• Ney Salgado, Almeida Prado, Villa-Lobos – Almeida Prado - Cartas Celestes (1977)
• Almeida Prado, Roberto Szidon – Almeida Prado (1978)
• Antonio Barbosa, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Almeida Prado – Untitled (1981)
• Almeida Prado, Fernando Lopes – Cartas Celestes (1982)
• Almeida Prado - Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de Campinas, Benito Juarez – Sinfonia dos Orixás (1985)
• Sinfonia Apocalipse (1991)
• Heitor Villa-Lobos, James Sellars, Josè Antonio Almeida Prado – Musica Brasileira (1996)
• Encontro (1996)
• O Som de Almeida Prado (2000)
• Jorge Antunes, Edino Krieger, Almeida Prado, Ronaldo Miranda, Egberto Gismonti, Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Municipal, Silvio Barbato – Sinfonias Brasil 500 Anos (2000)
• Obras para Piano & Piano e Violino (2002)
• Almeida Prado – Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Celso Antunes, Cláudio Cruz – Sinfonia dos Orixás e Outras Obras Sinfônicas (2013)
• Tali Morgulis – Villa-Lobos, Ginastera, Prado, Piazzolla – Archipelago Of Light (2013)
• Almeida Prado, Aleyson Scopel – Cartas Celestes • 1 (2016)
• Almeida Prado, Aleyson Scopel – Complete Cartas Celestes • 2; Cartas Celestes 4-6 (2017)
• Prado: Complete Cartas Celestes, Vol. 2 (2017)
• Almeida Prado, Aleyson Scopel – Complete Cartas Celestes • 3; Cartas Celestes Nos. 9,10, 12 And 14 (2018)
• Almeida Prado, Aleyson Scopel – Complete Cartas Celestes • 4; Cartas Celestes Nos. 13 And 16-18 (2018)
• Prado: Complete Cartas Celestes, Vol. 4 (2018)
• Prado: Cartas Celestes, Vol. 3 (2018)
• George Rochberg, Michael Anderson, Leo Brouwer, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Phillip Evans, Almeida Prado, Thomas L. McKinley, John Sharpley, Roberta Rust – Direct Contact (2019)
• José Antônio de Almeida Prado, Sonia Rubinsky, Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais, Fabio Mechetti – Almeida Prado: Obras para Piano e Orquestra (2020)
• Prado: Piano Concerto No. 1, Aurora & Concerto Fribourgeois (2020)
• Almeida Prado, Aleyson Scopel – Complete Nocturnes • Ilhas (2022)
• Complete Nocturnes & Ilhas (2022)
• José Antônio de Almeida Prado, São Paulo Symphony Choir And Orchestra, Neil Thomson – Sinfonia dos Orixás (2023)
• Cantiga de Amizade - Integral da Obra para Violino e Piano (2023)
• Cartas Celestes N. 10, para Piano (2023)
• Sinfonia dos orixás & Pequenos funerais cantantes (2023)
• José Antônio de Almeida Prado, Emmanuele Baldini, Rafael Cesario – Works For Violin And Cello (2024)
• Contemplation (2026)
• Niza de Castro Tank, Almeida Prado, José A. Pinotti – Espiral
• Henrique David Korenchendler, Ronaldo Miranda, Ernst Mahle, Guerra Peixe, Esther Scliar, Almeida Prado – II Bienal de Música Brasileira Contemporânea - Disco 1