Antônio Meneses

Brazilian cellist and teacher Antônio Meneses was born in Recife on 23 August 1957 and grew up in Rio de Janeiro. He began to play the cello at the age of twelve. His teachers were Nydia Otero and then Antonio Janigro.

Meneses won first prize in the 1977 ARD International Music Competition in Munich, and five years later in Moscow, he won first prize and gold medal in the Tchaikovsky Competition. This led to a high profile career as a soloist, with appearances in Aldeburgh, Berlin, Detroit, Edinburgh, London, New York, Prague, Puerto Rico, Salzburg, Vienna and elsewhere. He also gave recitals and played chamber music with the Vermeer, Emerson and Amati quartets, and with the Beaux Arts Trio.

He made many recordings, and commissioned works from Brazilian composers.

He taught cello at the Bern Academy of Arts from 2008 until 2023.

Antônio Meneses was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme in June 2024 and he died in Basel, Switzerland on 3 August 2024, aged sixty-six.

 

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