José Antônio Rezende de Almeida Prado, Brazilian composer and pianist, died from pulmonary edema.he was , 67

José Antônio Rezende de Almeida Prado or Almeida Prado  was an important Brazilian composer of classical music and a pianist.^[1] On Almeida Prado's death, his personal friend, conductor João Carlos Martins stated that Prado had possibly been the most important living Brazilian composer.^[1]
Prado wrote over 400 compositions and won various prizes for his work. ^[1]
He was born in Santos, São Paulo in 1943. He died in São Paulo in 2010, having lived there for the latter part of his life.

(February 8, 1943 – November 21, 2010)

 Training

In Brazil, Almeida Prado studied with Dinorá de Carvalho (piano), Osvaldo Lacerda (harmony) and Camargo Guarnieri (composition).
Upon winning first prize for his cantata Pequenos Funerais Cantantes, based on a text by Hilda Hilst, at the I Festival de Música da Guanabara in 1969, he continued his studies in Europe. He studied with Olivier Messiaen and Nadia Boulanger in Paris from 1970 to 1973, besides brief studies with György Ligeti and Lukas Foss in Darmstadt.

Professional Activities

Returning to Brazil in 1974, Almeida Prado first taught at the Conservatório Municipal de Cubatão, and then, hired by Zeferino Vaz, he became a professor at the UNICAMP Institute of the Arts, retiring in 2000. After his retirement he settled in São Paulo, where he occasionally taught music courses and presented a radio program at Cultura FM.

In January 2007, his cantata Hiléia, Um Mural da Amazônia, based on the poem of the same name by Ives Gandra Martins, was performed at Carnegie Hall by the Orquestra Bachiana Filarmônica de São Paulo conducted by João Carlos Martins.

Selected works

• Orchestral music: Cidade de São Paulo (1981); Sinfonia dos orixás (1985–86); Sinfonia Apocalipse (1987); Variações concertantes para marimba, vibrafone e cordas (1984); Concert Fribourgeois (1985) e Concerto para piano e orquestra (1983).
• Choral music: Ritual para a Sexta-feira Santa para coro e orquestra (1966); Paixão de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo segundo São Marcos (1967); Pequenos funerais cantantes para coro, solistas, orquestra (1969); Carta de Patmo para coro, solista e orquestra (1971); Thèrèse ou l’Amour de Dieu para coro e orquestra (1986); Cantata Bárbara Heliodora para solistas, coro misto e orquestra de câmara (1987); Cantata Adonay Roi Loeçar para solistas, coro e orquestra de câmara.
• Solo instrumental music: Sonata para violoncelo (1980); Três Sonatas para violino e piano; Sonata para viola e piano (1983); Réquiem para a paz (1985); Sonata para flauta e piano (1986); Trio marítimo para violino, viola e piano (1983); Livro mágico de Xangô para violino e violoncelo (1984).
• Piano music: Cartas celestes (1974, 1982–83); Nove Sonatas; Noturnos; Prelúdios; Momentos; Ilhas; Rios; Itinerário idílico e amoroso ou Livro de Helenice (1976); Três Croquis de Israel (1989); Rosário de Medjugorje (1987); Quinze Flashes de Jerusalém (1989).

Publications

• Prado, José Antônio R. De Almeida, Cartas Celestes: uma uranografia sonora geradora de novos processos composicionais. Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes, Departamento de Música: 1986. Tese (Doutorado).

To see more of who died in 2010 click here