Composer Spotlight-João Pedro Oliveria

Get to Know....João Pedro Oliveria

Flutists obliviously enjoy João’s works; he has been our most frequent finalist! Three of his compositions have been finalists in the FNMC Composition Contest; A Escada Estreita for alto flute and electronics (or alto and bass flute and electronics) and Entre O Ar E A Perfeio, for flute, piano, and electronics in 2014 and Burning Silver for flute, guitar, and electronics was a finalist in the chamber music category in 2015. João is currently composing a flute concerto; we’re looking forward to hearing it!
 
Q&A with João…
What about New music for the flute appeals to you?
Flute is one of the most versatile and interesting instruments. It has an amazing richness of colors, timbres, and special effects. Composing for flute becomes almost like an adventure in an unexplored land, trying to find new landscapes, colors, and sound images.
 
Who is your favorite “new music” composer and why?
I have a great admiration for the music of Jonathan Harvey. His spirituality and inner self reflects in a very direct way in the music he composed. The treatment of timbres, the orchestration, and the work with electronics is one of the most successful in contemporary music.
 
What are your favorite “new music” pieces and why?
There are several. For example, Dhomont’s Le Trevail du Rêve is masterpiece of acousmatic music. Lachenmann’s Fassade has an amazing treatment of the timbre possibilities of the orchestra. Elliot Carter’s Symphonia Sum Fluxae Praetium Spei has an intensity of gestures and phrase relations that transmits a special energy to the listener.
 
Describe your musical background and activities.
Background in architecture and organ performance. Presently I am interested in the relation between sound and images, working on pieces with video or videomapping in instruments. For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyuxBjw7C74
 
Do you have any upcoming events that you would like our friends and followers to know about?
I am preparing the composition of a flute concerto.
 
More about João…
 
João Pedro Oliveira studied organ performance, composition and architecture in Lisbon. He completed a PhD in Composition at Stony Brook University. His music includes one chamber opera, several orchestral composition, a Requiem, 3 string quartets, chamber music, solo instrumental music, electroacoustic music and experimental video. He has received over 40 international prizes for his compositions, including the prestigious Bourges Magisterium Prize, the Giga-Hertz Award, 1st Prize in Metamorphoses competition, 1st Prize in Musica Nova competition, etc.. He is Professor at Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) and Aveiro University (Portugal). He published several articles in journals, and has written a book about analysis and 20th century music theory.
www.jpoliveira.com
 
João’s Additional Works for Flute…
 
Etude for Five Instruments
Instrumentation: flute, clarinet, piano, cello, percussion
Year: 1984
Duration: 12’
 
Le Chant de L’Oyseau-Lyre
Instrumentation: flute, oboe, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, cello
Year: 2002
Duration: 11’
 
Prisma
Instrumentation: Flute, accordian, piano percussion
Year: 2008
Duration: 9’
 
…there are those who say that life is an illusion…
Instrumentation: flute, oboe, trumpet, percussion, violin, cello, electronics
Year: 1999
Duration:10’
 
Timshel
Instrumentation: flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, electronics
Year: 2007
Duration: 15’
 
Towdah
Instrumentation: flute, bass clarinet, piano, percussion, electronics
Year: 2009
Duration: 13’
 

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