The Brazilian Classical Song

The Brazilian Classical Songbook is one of longing. Hauled from either Portugal or Africa, the immigrants brought along a lust for their homeland, a yearning for which the Portuguese has a word for unrivaled by any other language: the famous saudade. Such saudade is found in almost every song; it speaks as a longing from a past all but lost, as it were grief for a lost love. In addition to their native musical education, most of the Brazilian composers presented here also studied in Europe. While their music is thereby suffused and enriched with European influence, the original mood of longing infuses their compositions. Brazilian-born Soprano Katia Guedes studied singing at the University of São Paulo. After graduating she received a Konrad-Adenauer scholarship to study at the Stuttgart College of Music and at Berlin’s prestigious "Hanns Eisler" University of Music by Inge Uibel. Katia Guedes won numerous prizes as a soloist and gave many recitals all over the world. She performed with the Ensemble Mosaik, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, Modern Art Sextett, United Berlin, Resonanz, Courage, Klangforum-Wien, Orchestra of the State São Paulo and Berliner Symphoniker. She performs regularly in opera productions in Brazil and Germany. Pianist Evelyn Ulex born and raised in Berlin, Germany, studied at the Hanns Eisler University and the University of the Arts in Berlin. She graduated from the UdK and further studied with Boris Bloch at the Folkwang Hochschule where she got her Artist Diploma. Ms. Ulex, top medal winner of the Bach Competition in Leipzig and finalist of the Frienna Awerbuch International Piano Competition in New York City, is an established pianist in both the United States and Europe. Some of her special projects are: “Sight & Sound", a concert with paintings by Ade Frey, “The TransAtlantic Ensemble” with american clarinetist Mariam Adam and "200 Years of Brazilian Classical Songs" with Katia Guedes. Ms. Ulex is a Steinway artist who works out of New York City and Berlin.