Pedro Carneiro will perform at Letterkenny Arts Centre on Tuesday March 28. Pedro, the celebrated Portuguese musician, is one of the very few percussion players to have made an international career as a soloist.
Carneiro has performed and conducted the world première of over 50 works, has performed regularly throughout Europe, the Far East and the US and has appeared with a wide range of acclaimed musicians such as the harpsichordist Elisabeth Chojnacka, cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras, pianists Valentina Lisitsa and Artur Pizarro, the Chilingirian and Shanghai string quartets, composers Steve Reich, Egberto Gismonti, James Dillon, Emmanuel Nunes and Django Bates.
Taking up piano playing at the age of five, Carneiro later studied cello and trumpet before being accepted at the Conservatório Nacional in Lisbon, where he studied under his father. A scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation took him to London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied percussion and conducting with David Corkhill and Alan Hazeldine, graduating in 1997 with the Head of Department Award.
Since then Carneiro has performed regularly in major festivals and venues such as the BBC Proms, Rhythm Sticks Festival in London, Sonorities Festival in Belfast, Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, the New Zealand International Festival, the Capital Theatre in Beijing and Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Rooms, London. He is a regular guest soloist with numerous orchestras including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, to name but a few.
In recent seasons Carneiro has performed the world premières of several new solo and chamber works written specifically for him by composers such as Erkki-Sven Tüür, John Psathas, João Madureira, Ian Wilson, Gabriel Erkoreka, Áskell Masson, Thanos Mikroutsikos and others. An accomplished composer, the end of 2003 saw Carneiro finishing his piece When the Dusk was Wet with Dew… for solo percussion, inspired by the poetry of Sara Teasdale and Portuguese painter Paula Rego and commissioned by Phoenix Dance Theatre, UK.
Now only 29 years of age, Pedro is currently the visiting professor of solo percussion studies at the Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra in Lisbon. Most recently, in 2004 Pedro was awarded a Distinction from the President of the Portuguese Republic.
Programme:
For his Music Network tour of Ireland, Pedro will perform a selection of works for solo marimba and percussion.
Concert starts at 8.30pm, Doors open 8pm. Admission is €12/€10. For booking and further information contact Letterkenny Arts Centre on 074 91 29186.