Fifteen Minutes of Fame: David Souza and Anoush Moazzeni

The tenor David Souza began his music studies at the Beethoven Music Conservatory in São Paulo (Brazil) and at the Municipal School of Music of São Paulo. He holds a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance from the Music Faculty at the Laval University in Quebec City, Canada in the class of the canadian basse-baritone Michel Ducharme and a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the State of São Paulo University (UNESP) in Brazil. He studied voice Lenine Santos, Marcia Guimarães, Elenis Guimarães, and Grazia Carbone . He was invited to sing at the opening and at the closing concerts at the Canadian edition of Festival Eurochestries 2012 at the Palais Montcalm. As an invited artist he sang opera and zarzuela arias in a series of concerts at the 2012 season of the Symphopop Quebec Orchestra conducted by Jean Picard. In 2012 he won the First Prize for “Solo with Orchestra Competition” and he was also a winner of the “Disk Recording Competition 2012 Edition” at Laval University, where he recorded Brazilian Art Songs with the pianist Anne-Marie Bernard. He also received the prize of best singer of Brazilian popular music at Cotovia Competition in 2000 in Brazil. As a soloist he sang at several recitals of chamber music and concerts with Big Band and Orchestra in Brazil and in Canada and he also sang in Carl Orff’s Der Mond from Carl Orff, and Puccini’s Gianni Schicci and recently Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Monteverdi Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. David Souza was born in Brazil and currently lives in Quebec City, Canada.

Persian born Anoush Moazzeni enjoys a performing career that has frequently taken her around the world. Highlights of recent seasons have included visits to Canada - where she collaborates with the Orchestre OSP de Québec under Jean Picard- Europe, and the Middle East. she has performed at several venues including Roudaki and Avini Hall at home in Tehran; in France at Salle Varèse, Rotonde de l'insa, Musée d'art contemporain de vielleurbanne;and salle Henri Gagnon in Canada. She has scheduled her next concerts in Brazil, NewYork and Tehran for Autumn 2013 and Feb 2014. Versatile recital programs encompass the contemporary and standard repertoires, as well as less familiar fare. Particular areas of interest include Electroacoustic Music, Modern§Contemporary Music and Performance Art . In a career that embraces many aspects of music making, she also appears as a sound designer and concerto soloist as she specialized her Master of Music in Piano Performance in Contemporary music. She interned in Electroacoutic Music, Sound Engineering and Algorithmic composition at Ircam/Centre Pompidou in Paris, in Germany under Mark Nishinaka and in Canada with Aaron Liu-Rosenbaum. She made diverse sound installations and live performances in France, Germany, Netherlands and Canada. As a graduate in Musicology and Piano Performance Ms. Moazzeni has started to translate the ''Silence'' of John Cage to Farsi, to be published in March 2014. Anoush Moazzeni was born in Iran and educated in France, Iran and Canada. She studied piano with Raphael Minaskanian, Dilbar Hakimova, Svetlana HeganianArthuro Nieto-Dorantes and Maurice with later earning admissions to CNSMD de Lyon( Consérvatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Lyon), Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris- John Cortot, ENM(Ecole Nationale de Musique)- Mantes la jolie , Jacobs school of music-Indiana university- USA .

Concert Dates

  • February 23, 2014 - Jan Hus Church, New York City

15 one-minute selections for David Souza and Anoush Moazzeni

Concert program

  • Planos

    Guilherme Afonso

    Guilherme Afonso is a composer from Brazil. He studies composition at Unesp (State University of São Paulo), and has composed music for his fellow students and performers. Guilherme is a great lover of Russian music, mainly that of Shostakovich, and contemporary music. He also plays the guitar.

    “Planos” is a piece that deals with the different meanings of this word in Portuguese. Depending on the context, it can be interpreted as layers in an artwork or as the translation of ‘plan’. Regarding the music of the piece, we have layers. On the text, we have a plan.

  • Interrogação (Question)

    Syrlane Albuquerque

    Syrlane Albuquerque was born in Brazil. In 2003 she moved to US to pursue her degree in Theory of Composition. She went to Dallas Baptist University (undergraduate) and Southern Methodist University (masters), studying with Michael Cox, Simon Sargon and Xi Wang. Her style is a blend of classical and Brazilian music.

    Interrogação (Question) is a poem written by Brazilian poet Solano Trindade (1908-1974). It was his last poem before his death. The first part has questions about life and its suffering; the second part is the answer to those questions. The harmonic structure functions accordingly with the emotions described on the poem.

  • Remanescem

    Rodrigo Baggio

    His music has been performed in many cities around the world such as São Paulo, Brasilia and Tatuí (Brazil), Paris (France), Quebec (Canada), Bremen (Germany), London (England), New York and Vermont (USA). As a performer, he has played concerts in different countries of the globe.

    “Remanescem” is a piece based on parts of a brazilian poem, written by Andréia Bretherick, which evokes the peculiarities of a love relationship. “Remanescem” is the portuguese word for “Remain”.

  • Op.46 Tenor Vocalise in A minor

    Bugra Balci

    Bassist, and composer. He won the Yamaha Best Bass Player Award of Turkey in 2008. Bugra has performed in Turkey, Europe, and the US. He's in 7 albums as a sideman. He is the author of The Virtuoso Bassist series. Bugra was sub-instructor at The Collective School of Music upon his graduation.

    There is no specific performance note. The piece should be played through performer's inner world which would be the most strong, meaningful interpretation.

  • Pois os prados

    David Bohn

    David Bohn received degrees in composition from the University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Illinois. He currently resides in West Allis, Wisconsin, and is the music director at St. John's Lutheran Church in West Milwaukee. He is the President of the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers.

    "Pois os prados" is a setting of the first stanza of "No Dia Em Que Fazia Anos" by seventeenth century Brazilian poet Gregório de Matos.

  • Sol io ardendo all'ombra mi rimango...

    Erik Branch

    Erik Branch is a native of New York City, and received a BA and MA in Music (Composition) from Hunter College. He lives near Orlando, Florida, where he is active as a pianist, musical director, composer/arranger, operatic tenor, and actor on stage and screen.

    The text is the second of the Rime (1623) by the incomparable Michelangelo: I alone remain burning in the shade when the sun strips the world of his rays, all others for pleasure, I for pain, prostrate on the ground, I lament and weep.

  • Armia Krajowa

    Inna Buganina

    Inna Buganina lives in Ulyanovsk, Russia. She worked as a teacher, a journalist. She took lessons in vocal from Ulyanovsk teacher Igor Asanov and composer and teacher Stanislav Stankevich. In recent years she studies composition under supervision of the russian cellist and composer Vsevolod Youdenitch.

    National Army (Pol. Armia Krajowa) is the name of armed units of the Polish underground during World War II, acting within the territory of the pre-war Polish state. Armia Krajowa was the main organization of the Polish underground. The author of the lyrics is the poet Ivan Syvoplyas (Russia, Ulyanovsk)

  • Xavante Nós

    Fermino Gomes

    Fermino Gomes (Patos, PB, Brasil) studied theory with Gazi Sa and João de Barro at Caipira University of Paraiba (UNICPB), Brazil. As well as an active composer, Fermino performs on the viola (Brazilian 10 string-folk guitar) regularly. Fermino currently lives in New York City.

    This piece was inspired by the music of Milton Nascimento & the Xavante people of Brazil. Enlish Translation: Xavante Xavante, We We are not just a mote in the Language Cloud We are not a mote in your eye We are people, strong, beautiful We are brothers

  • Very short

    Jean de Lière

    Jean de Lière (1955) was born in Zeeland, in the south of The Netherlands and received his first lessons in 'soundpainting' with the Italian composer/double bassplayer Fernando Grillo. In the summer of 1979 he attended composition lessons with the Argentina composer Norberto Chavarri. A few years later followed by lessons with Tristan Keuris (Netherlands).

    This is a humble piece of music wondering about shortness of time. Searching for some meaning and recognition...

  • Canto del Primavera

    Daniel Mihai

    Romanian violinist Daniel Mihai chose to follow new music under the tuteledge of Maestro Serban Nichifor and Liana Alexandra. He completed his BA in 2007 and his MA in 2009. He is grateful to these teachers and considers them as "spiritual parents who aided me to grow up." Daniel is currently pursuing PhD courses-extramural form of higher education-UNMB. Daniel Mihai has attended MBA courses in the Faculty of Performing Art, with the objective of improvement and assimilation of all knowledge related to contemporary music, both orchestral as well as chamber soloists/violinist. He completed thesis March, this yeaR 2013, Daniel is also teacher of violin for the National College "Regina Maria" in Constanta. For this composition I reach the simplicity and also the beauty of this amzing season-Spring in a fancy tenor line, pursuing the piano pulsation! The lyrics was choosen by the works of italian Baroque composer well-known- Antonio Vivaldi! I hope to be a great honour to be selected by You, Maestro Souza and You Maestra Moazzeni for this amazing 15 Minutes of Fame! I want to thank you for this objective!

    For this composition I reach the simplicity and also the beauty of this amzing season-Spring in a fancy tenor line, pursuing the piano pulsation! The lyrics was choosen by the works of italian Baroque composer well-known- Antonio Vivaldi! I hope to be a great honour to be selected by You, Maestro Souza and You Maestra Moazzeni for this amazing 15 Minutes of Fame! I wnt to thank you for this objective!

  • Árbol

    Liam Moore

    Liam Moore enjoys writing and playing music in various styles and for various ensembles. He is currently working with a colleague on a piece that explores direct audio-to-video translation. Liam lives in St. Paul, MN.

    Árbol is a setting of half of Pablo Neruda's poem of the same name. The poem conjures beautiful, surreal images and so in the music I have tried to create an aura of dreaminess. The piano is like a hypnotic spiral, spinning around the entranced singer.

  • Jest and Riddle

    Gisela Paterno

    Composer, guitarist and cellist graduated in 2012 of BMus (Hons.) at IUNA's Music Department (National University Institute of Arts - Argentina) in music composition. Her works have been premiered in venues such as Cervantes Theatre (Argentina), National University of Lanus (UNLa), National University of the Arts (IUNA), Palace of the Legislature of Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Conservatory. In 2009 creates GEAM (Artistic Musical Experimentation Group) where she served as coordinator, composer and performer until 2012. Within the genre of orchestral music, she has been invited by the Northern University (UNINORTE) premiering a work of authorship within the framework of the IV International Festival of Contemporary Music in Asuncion (Paraguay) in August 2011.

    This miniature piece is inspired by an Alexander Pope's quote: "Man: the glory, jest, and riddle of the world." Strikingly straight-forward phrase, as all his work, at the beginning of the piece is exposed literally, but then the stress on some words become the develpment of the initial motive. Despite the shortness of the quote, the immensity of it's meaning transcends any length, as I hope the music within.

  • MISSED

    Antoine Quembre

    Antoine Quembre is a 23 years old composer. He started music in France, at Lille 3 University and completed his degree in Quebec at Laval University where he stayed to learn composition with Eric Morin. His compositions has been performed in Aix en Provence at the festival "Architectures contemporaines", and in Quebec at the Salle Henry Gagnon.

    This piece represents the missed meeting of two elements meant to be together. Tenor draws a pattern that slipping away while the piano built reversal of this pattern, completed when the tenor is almost gone. While piano fades gradually, the tenor rebuilt his pattern. Too late, the piano is already gone, they missed.

  • Devagar, devagar

    José Jesus de Azevedo Souza

    José Jesus de Azevedo Souza studied in England at the Purcell School with a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and later studied at the Trinity College of Music and the University of Sheffield. He has since composed a considerable amount of music, some of which has been performed.

    Devagar, devagar…On a text of Rodrigo Sequeira; slowly, slowly a leaf drifts across frozen surroundings.

  • Le Chat

    Anne-Marie Turcotte

    Born in Milan. Graduated in Piano, Composition, Choral music at the Conservatoire of Milan. Prize winner in international composition competitions. Her music has been commissioned and performed by important orchestras and festivals. Some of her works are published by Ricordi, Edipan, Edizioni Musicali Sinfonica, Bèrben.

    Le Chat, a short and enigmatic poem by Guillaume Apollinaire, describing the wish of a quiet life: Mine be the house where you would find: a woman in her right mind, a cat to walk among the books, and friends about at any time - I bear no fruit without these roots. (translation by Edwin Morgan)