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The Brazilian cellist, Antonio [Antônio, Antonio] Meneses, was born in into a family of musicians, and began his cello studies at the age of 10. At the age of 16, he met the famous Italian cellist Antonio Janigro and was asked to join Antonio Janigro's classes in Düsseldorf and later in Stuttgart. In 1977, Antonio won the first Prize at the ARD International Competition in Munich and in 1982; he was awarded first Prize and gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
Regularly appearing in the music capitals of Europe, the Americas, and Asia, Antonio Meneses has performed with most of the world's leading orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Wiener Symphoniker, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonieorchester, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington D.C.), in Buenos Aires, in Warsaw, in Brazil, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. Among the conductors with whom he has collaborated are Herbert von Karajan, Riccardo Muti, Mariss Jansons, Claudio Abbado, Andre Previn, Andrew Davis, Semyon Bychkov, Herbert Blomstedt, Gerd Albrecht, Yuri Temirkanov, Kurt Sanderling, Neeme Järvi, Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Spivakov, and Riccardo Chailly.
Antonio Meneses is also a frequent guest at many important music festivals, including Puerto Rico (Festival Pablo Casals), Salzburg, Lucerne, the Vienna Festwochen, the Berlin Festwochen, the Prague Spring Festival, New York (Mostly Mozart Festival), Seattle, la Grange de Meslay, the Festival de Colmar, and the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival.
A devoted chamber music performer, Antonio Meneses has collaborated with the Emerson Quartet and the Vermeer Quartet on tour as well as with pianists such as Nelson Freire, Menahem Pressler, Cristina Ortiz, Gérard Wyss, and Maria-João Pires. Meneses has been a member of the Beaux Arts Trio since 1998.
As a recording artist, Antonio Meneses made two recordings for Deutsche Grammophon with Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker: Johannes Brahms' Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Richard Strauss' Don Quixote. Antonio has also recorded the Eugen d'Albert Concerto, works of David Popper - both with the Basel Symphony Orchestra - and Cello Concertos by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach with the Münchener Kammerorchester (Pan Classics), The Six Cello Suites (BWV 1007-1012) of J.S. Bach (Nippon Phonogram), Tchaikovsky Piano Trio (EMI/Angel), Concertos and the Fantasy for Cello and Orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos (Auvidis France), complete works for Cello and Piano by Heitor Villa-Lobos with Cristina Ortiz, and Encore pieces with Gérard Wyss (Pan Classics), The Six Cello Suites (BWV 1007-1012) by J.S. Bach (Avie), and his most recent recording Robert Schumann/Schubert (Avie) was released in 2006.
In addition to a busy concert schedule, Antonio Meneses gives master-classes in Europe, the Americas, and in Japan. Antonio will start teaching at Hochschule der Künste Bern in 2007.
Antonio Meneses plays Alessandro Gagliano cello made in Naples ca. 1730. |
