Antonio Meneses

Cello

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  Born in Brazil into a family of musicians, Antonio Meneses began his cello studies at the age of ten. He won the first Prize at the 1977 International Competition ARD in Munich and was awarded first Prize and Gold Medal at the 1982 Tchaikowsky Competition in Moscow.

  Antonio Meneses has performed with most of the world’s leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic, Moscow and Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington D.C.), in Buenos Aires, Warsaw, Brazil, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. He has collaborated with conductors including Claudio Abbado, Gerd Albrecht, Herbert Blomstedt, Andrey Boreyko, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Neeme Järvi, Mariss Jansons, Herbert von Karajan, Riccardo Muti, Eiji Oue, André Previn, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Kurt Sanderling, Vladimir Spivakov, Yuri Temirkanov and Christian Thielemann.

  Antonio Meneses has made many recordings, including the classic Deutsche Grammophon Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote and Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with Anne-Sophie Mutter, both with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Herbert von Karajan.

  Other recordings include the D’Albert Concerto and works of David Popper with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, Cello Concertos by Carl Philip Emanuel Bach with the Munich Chamber Orchestra for Pan Classics, six Bach suites (Nippon Phonogram), Tchaikovsky Piano Trio (EMI/Angel), and the Concertos and Fantasy for Cello and Orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos (Auvidis France).

  Antonio Meneses was a member of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio between October 1998 and September 2008, and is a devoted chamber musician. He has collaborated with the Vermeer Quartet on tour, and enjoys performing duo recitals with pianists such as Gérard Wyss and Menahem Pressler (with whom he toured Japan in December 2010, and Europe in November 2011 and January 2012).

  Recent and future highlights include performances with the Northern Sinfonia; appearances at Aldeburgh and at the Edinburgh International Festivals; ongoing touring projects with Maria João Pires; and an exciting new residency with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, with whom Meneses will premiere a concerto written for him by the Brazilian composer Marco Padilha. His most recent CD of the Elgar and Gál Cello Concertos was released in May 2012; and his first recording with Maria João Pires, including Beethoven, Bach and Brahms will be released in the coming months for Deutsche Grammophon.

  Antonio Meneses is represented United Kingdom and sundry territories by Catherine Strange at Rayfield Allied.
  This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.

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  • Elgar/Gál - Cello Concertos
    With the Northern Sinfonia, Claudio Cruz, conductor. AVIE – AV2237 (2012)

    Meneses has obviously immersed himself in the challenging solo part to produce a performance of considerable insight and confidence, distinguished by beautiful, aristocratic tone and great sensitivity to the work’s many and sometimes mercurial changes of mood. [...] Meneses invests the work with its full measure of elegiac dignity and poetry - aided, as in the Gál, by the sensitive and responsive playing from the Northern Sinfonia. [...] I would rate this one of the best current versions of the Elgar available [...] Altogether a very strong disc.

    Calum MacDonald, International Record Review

    a superb first recording of [Gál’s] Cello Concerto [...] Fortunately, it could hardly be more eloquently served than here: the commanding Brazilian virtuoso Antonio Meneses surmounts every hurdle with ease [...] Meneses proves immensely assured, big-hearted protagonist, and he forges a winningly characterful partnership with Cruz and the Northern Sinfonia [...] a hugely sympathetic and impressively stylish display. Boasting crystal-clear yet warm-toned sound, this enterprising issue can be welcomed with open arms.

    Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

    The Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses, accompanied by the Northern Sinfonia under Claudio Cruz, is eloquent and persuasive in the first recording of Hans Gál Cello Concerto.

    The Times

  • Wigmore Hall recital with Maria João Pires
    Schubert Arpeggione Sonata, Brahms 3 Intermezzi, Mendelssohn Song without words and Brahms Cello Sonata No.1

    Every twist in the kaleidoscope was executed with extreme finesse…Meneses exposed the dark glory of his cello’s lowest register; dynamics swelled and ebbed like ocean waves; and there was muscle in the finale’s contrapuntal argument.

    Geoff Brown, The Times

    Meneses’ warm sound…a majestically laid-back account of Brahms’s first cello sonata, followed by a Bach Pastorale which showcased the mellow amplitude of Meneses’ sound.

    Michael Church, The Independent

    a player of aristocratic reserve, able to turn a melody with lovely grace…[the Arpeggione Sonata] sits perilously high for the cello, but Meneses tiptoed round its awkward corners with fastidious exactness…his warmly eloquent understatement…close to perfection.

    Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph

    The new year opened in style at Wigmore Hall last night with Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses…Meneses and Pires admirably captured both the surface beauty and the heartache beneath…deeply expressive.

    Barry Millington, London Evening Standard

    Meneses’s natural poise…lent [Brahms’s Cello Sonata No 1] an elegant sheen.

    Hannah Nepil, Financial Times

  • Beethoven Cello Sonatas and JS Bach Cello Suite No.1, Maria João Pires, Wigmore Hall
    13 April 2011

    a performance which brought a real sense of community, of intimately shared music-making. Nobody coughed. I didn’t look at my watch once. And, at the end, I didn’t even want to go home.

    Hilary Finch, The Times

    luminous quality enhanced his stylish rendering of Bach’s First Cello Suite

    Barry Millington, London Evening Standard

  • Haydn and Pereira, Northern Sinfonia,
    AVIE AV2176, August 2010

    Antonio Meneses’s naturally lyrical style proves perfect for Haydn’s cello concertos, and his technical prowess serves the challenges of the passagework with impressive fluidity. His rather self-effacing virtuosity achieves the ultimate object of allowing the music to speak for itself. (…) Meneses offers a brilliant account of the solo part (Pereira) and again harnesses the orchestral forces with precision in a clear recording.

    Joanne Talbot, The Strad Magazine

  • Soirées Internationales (Villa-Lobos, N Boulanger, Camargo Guarnieri and Martinů) Celina S
    AVIE 2162, 2009

    Meneses (himself and ‘international Brazilian” plays con amore with warm tone (…) Overall, a well-planned and lovingly played recital.

    Phillip Scott, Fanfare Magazine

    Meneses and Szrvinsk have no rivals in Mozart Camargo Guarnieri’s lyrical and vivid First Sonata (1931) but it is hard to imagine the work done better. Recommended.

    Guy Rickards, Gramophone

    Meneses’s fine tone and classical bearing as he takes over the soprano part contribute to a more Bachian experience than usual.

    Robert Maycock, BBC Music Magazine (Four stars)

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    Photo Credit: Studio fotografico Gielle

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    Photo Credit: Studio fotografico Gielle

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    Photo credit: Marco Borggreve

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