Calimerio Soares

Calimerio Soares was born in 1944 in São Sebastião do Paraiso, Minas Gerais (Brazil), where he began his musical studies, which he pursued at the Conservatory of Music of Ribeirão Preto. Holding a B.Mus. in piano and in teaching from the Federal University of Uberlândia, he also holds a PhD degree in musical composition from the University of Leeds (England), where he studied with Philip Wilby, David Cooper and Julian Rushton. In Brazil, he studied harpsichord with Helena Jank, and contemporary piano literature with Paulo Affonso de Moura Ferreira and musical composition with Estércio Marquez Cunha. He has specialised in organ in the USA with Mallory W. Bransford and in harpsichord in Wales with Andrew Wilson-Dickson.

As a Professor of Music at the Federal University of Uberlândia, he taught for many years at the Department of Music and Drama. During his professional career he formed several early music groups as well as contemporary music ensembles. As a Scholar, he has been contributing with several articles, books and CDs reviews on organ and harpsichord to important academic reviews and musical magazines both in Brazil and abroad.

Many of his compositions have been performed and recorded by outstanding musicians in Brazil as well as in several countries, with special attention on to the XII Bienal de Música Brasileira Contemporânea (Rio de Janeiro, 1997), the World Music Days/ISCM (Moldova, 1999), the VII ENCOMPOR (Porto Alegre, 2001), the 4th Latin American Composers and Performers Meeting (Belo Horizonte, 2002) and the XV Bienal de Música Brasileira Contemporânea (Rio de Janeiro, 2003). He is a member of the Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Música (ANPPOM), of the Akademie Brasil-Europa (ABE) and an honorary member of the Pro-Música Association of Uberlândia.

Toccata Breve (1980) and Toccata Longa (1992) were performed during the 2007 AFNOM festival in London.