Cláudio Santoro

Cláudio Santoro

Cláudio Franco de Sá Santoro (Manaus, 23 November 1919–Brasília, 27 March 1989) was an internationally renowned Brazilian composer and violinist.

Contents

Biography

Early life

A native of Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, Claudio Santoro started to study violin and piano as a child. His efforts made the Government of Amazonas send him to study in Rio de Janeiro, at the Musical Conservatory of Rio de Janeiro.

Career

At the age of 18, he was already a teacher of the violin course at the conservatory. He was a pupil of Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, composer that influenced Santoro. He also studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He co-founded and played in the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. His prolific output was mostly instrumental and includes fourteen symphonies, three piano concertos and seven string quartets.

He was invited by the Government of the German Federal Republic for the Program "Resident Artist in West Berlin" (1966/67) and by the Brahms Foundation as Resident Artist of the Brahms House (Baden Baden).

Among the carried out positions, titles and activities. stand out: Founder and Principal of the Chamber Orchestra's of Radio MEC and the University of Brasilia, the Symphonic Orchestra's of the Radio Club of Brazil and the National Theater of Brasilia; Titular, Coordinating professor for the Musical Subjects, Director and Organizer of the Music Department of the University of Brasilia; President of the Order of the Musicians of Brazil (Brasilia Section); Musical Director of the Cultural Foundation of the Federal District; Member of the Managing Council of the Inter-American Music Council; Organizer and Director of the Center of Diffusion and Information for the music of Latin America together with the Institute of Comparative Studies of Music and Documentation (former West-Berlin); Member of the Brazilian Academy of Music, the Brazilian Academy of Arts and the Academy of Music and Letters of Brazil, of which he was President.[1]


Between 1970 and 1978 he was Professor of Conducting and Composition, Director of the Orchestra and the Music Department of Heidelberg-Mannheim's State Superior Music School, in Germany. Guest conductor of the most important orchestras of the world such as Philharmonic of Leningrad, Moscow State Orchestra, RIAS Berlin, ORTF Paris, OSSODRE Montevideo, Beethovenhalle Bonn, Symphonic of the Radio of Prague, Philharmonic of Bucharest, Symphonic of Orchestra of Porto, Philharmonic of Sofia, PRO ART (London) Île de France (Paris), Symphonic of the Leipzig Radio, Symphonic of Magdeburg, Philharmonic of Warsaw etc. besides of all the Brazilian Orchestras.


Claudio Santoro died in Brasília in March 1989 while conducting the rehearsal of a concert scheduled to commemorate the 14 July bicentennial of the French Revolution. His 70th birthday would have been in November.

  1. ^ "Claudio Santoro Short Bio.". http://www.claudiosantoro.art.br/San_Eng/open.html. Retrieved 2011-08-21. 

Renown

He received a prize from the Lili Boulanger Foundation, in Boston. Amongst the judges were the composers Igor Stravinski and Aaron Copland.

References

  • Stanley Sadie; Alison Latham (1994). The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-039303753-1. 

External links

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