Osusp celebrates Chiquinha Gonzaga in celebration of International Women’s Day. Composer Ernst Mahle is honored in a concert that celebrates popular cultures.
By Elcio Silva – Cover Photo Cecília Bastos / USP Images
2/29/2023 – 5:45 pm
The University of São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (Osusp) opens the 2024 season on Saturday, March 9, at 4:00 pm, at the Camargo Guarnieri Cultural Center with a performance celebrating composer, conductor, and pianist Chiquinha Gonzaga. The free concert celebrates International Women’s Day and features Maria Teresa Madeira on piano. Tickets can be purchased through the appticket platform.
The performance, held in a conductor-less format, features pianist Maria Teresa Madeira, who has three albums dedicated to Chiquinha Gonzaga’s work. The pianist, who is also a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), has conducted several orchestras inside and outside the country. She was responsible for recording all the piano pieces for the TV Globo series “Chiquinha Gonzaga.”
The first Brazilian female conductor, Chiquinha Gonzaga, had a strong influence on the formation of Brazilian popular music and faced gender barriers to establish herself as a composer, conductor, and pianist in the late 19th century. She was a pioneer in creating the famous Carnival “marchinhas,” with her classic “Ó abre alas.”
“Chiquinha Gonzaga is a watershed in Brazilian music and also in my story. Through her work, I was able to understand the strength of Brazilian music in various ways,” explains the soloist. According to her, “Chiquinha was a fantastic melodist and knew how to explore musical genres without prejudice, composing with freedom and creativity.”
The pianist will be accompanied by a small orchestra, composed of musicians from Osusp. The repertoire consists of instrumental arrangements of Chiquinha Gonzaga’s own compositions. The selected works range from waltzes, such as Cananéia, to songs like “Lua branca.” The audience will also hear some of her Brazilian tangos, gavottes, habaneras, and works originally written for theater plays, such as the Prelude from “A Corte na Roça.”
Ernst Mahle and Popular Cultures
On March 23, Saturday, at 4:00 pm, the honoree is the German-Brazilian composer and conductor Ernst Mahle. The free concert will feature Osusp flutist Renato Kimachi in a solo performance that blends classical and traditional with popular cultures.
Born in Germany in 1929, the 95-year-old German composer and professor is still active. He arrived in Brazil at the age of 22 and was naturalized in 1962. He is one of the founders of the “Maestro Ernst Mahle” School of Music in Piracicaba, alongside his wife Maria Aparecida Romero Pinto Mahle, known as “Cidinha.” He was awarded the title of Citizen of Piracicaba in 1965. Mahle occupies chair No. 6 at the Brazilian Academy of Music.
The concert, also without a conductor, features flutist Renato Kimachi as the soloist. “I feel honored to be invited to act as a soloist in this concert whose theme is popular, folkloric music from composers around the world. It will be a pleasure to interpret a work by composer Ernst Mahle,” exalts Kimachi.
The flutist also highlights Mahle’s legacy. “In addition to his importance in the musical field as a composer, he created the School of Music in Piracicaba (EMP), one of the most important music education institutions in Brazil, from which several of the great names in music in Brazil and abroad have graduated.”
The selected works are a mix of the cultures that compose the composer’s life in a diverse repertoire with references to Mahle’s Germanic heritage and his influences and passions for Brazilian music.
Service
Osusp opens 2024 season with Chiquinha Gonzaga and Ernst Mahle
The University of São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (Osusp) opens the 2024 season on Saturday, March 9, at 4:00 pm, at the Camargo Guarnieri Cultural Center with a performance celebrating composer, conductor, and pianist Chiquinha Gonzaga in celebration of International Women’s Day. On March 23, Saturday, at 4:00 pm, the honoree is the German-Brazilian composer and conductor Ernst Mahle and the popular cultures. Tickets are free and available on the appticket platform.
Chiquinha Gonzaga Concert
https://appticket.com.br/osusp-convida-maria-teresa-madeira
Ernst Mahle Concert
https://appticket.com.br/concerto-osusp-celebrando-ernst-mahle