Yamandú Costa Joins Calgary Philharmonic

Brazilian Guitarist Yamandú Costa comes to Calgary to perform with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and fellow countryman CPO Music Director Roberto Minczuk in "Billy the Kid and a Guitar Sensation," February 10 at 8pm in the EPCOR CENTRE's Jack Singer Concert Hall.

Yamandú Costa, winner of the Brazilian Popular Music Contest, will ignite audiences as he plays his unique 7-string guitar during Suite for Seven String Guitar and Orchestra, a piece specifically written for him by the famous Brazilian arranger Mauricio Carrilho. This evening will also feature Bizet's Carmen Suite No. 1, Copland's groundbreaking ballet score, Billy the Kid and Ginastera's mesmerizing Estancia Dances.

The CPO will also be performing in an open dress rehearsal of that concert at 11am on February 10 as part of the CPO's Saturday Morning at the Symphony program. "Percussion with Pizzazz" patrons are encouraged to come early and join host Jan Amsel in the concert hall lobby at 10am where she will welcome audiences to the loudest and most intriguing section in the Orchestra. Drums, xylophones, cymbals and other instruments will be featured in this morning of crash-banging fun! This interactive morning will have guests become part of the percussion section as they receive paper bags filled with everyday items that are transformed into various percussion instruments.

Yamandú Costa was born in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, where he began his guitar studies with his father Algacir Costa, band leader of "Os Fronteiriços", when he was 7 years old. Later, he perfected his technique with Lúcio Yanel, Argentine virtuoso who was then settled in Brazil.

Until the age of 15, Yamandú´s only music school was the folk music from the south of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Nevertheless, after he heard Radamés Gnatalli´s work, he decided to get in contact with the music of other renowned Brazilian musicians, such as Baden Powell, Tom Jobim, Raphael Rabello, among others. When he was 17, he played for the first time in São Paulo at "Circuito Cultural Banco do Brasil" (BB Cultural Tour). The event was produced by "Estúdio Tom Brazil" (Tom Brazil studio), and from then on he was recognized as one of the most gifted guitar players of Brazil.

One of the greatest geniuses of Brazilian music of all times, young Yamandú deserves the highest praise. Whenever he is on stage, audiences are captivated by his impressive performances showing the deep connection between Yamandú and his guitar. The recognition he has earned throughout the years reveals what he can offer the audience - recreation of the magic of music - once from his fingers the music he plays travels through his body and soul and is almost miraculously transformed.

Yamandú Costa is a guitar player, composer and arranger that does not fit into a single music style, yet he creates his own when he combines all of them playing his 7-string guitar. Yamandú fully deserves his beautiful name which in "tupi-guarani", the native language of Brazilian indians, means "the precursor of the waters of the world".

Roberto Minczuk is Music Director of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra starting with the 2006-2007 Season, succeeding Hans Graf in that position. He is also the newly announced Artistic Director of the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira in Rio de Janeiro. Until May of 2006, he served as Principal Guest Conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra in Brazil - having recently completed a nine year tenure as Co-Artistic Director of that same orchestra and a two year period as Associate Conductor of the New York Philharmonic. A protégé of Kurt Masur, Maestro Minczuk has swiftly established himself as one of the most important emerging talents of his generation. Since his debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1998, he has been invited to conduct extensively in North America, with highly successful appearances at nearly all of the major North American orchestras and many of the European capitals as well.

Mr. Minczuk began his career as a prodigy of the French horn and already by the age of sixteen could count among his significant accomplishments the appointment of Principal Hornist of the São Paulo Symphony. While a student at The Juilliard School, he made solo appearances with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall and with the New York Philharmonic as part of the orchestra's Young People's Concerts.

Roberto Minczuk has won many prestigious awards and prizes. At the recommendation of Kurt Masur, he received the 2000 Martin E. Segal Award as one of Lincoln Center's most promising young artists. Other awards include the 1997 Revelation of the Year Award given to the most outstanding young artist by the Performing Arts Critics Association in São Paulo, and the 1991 Moinho Santista Youth Prize (the most important prize in Brazil) awarded in various disciplines for extraordinary achievement in a chosen field. -- www.cpo-live.com