Carambola: a long wait!
In 1993, while a student at The Juilliard School, I met Brazilian composer Raimundo Penaforte. I asked him if he had any piece for trumpet and piano. He showed me "Carambola", a piece yet to be premiered. A year later, at my first Juilliard recital, I performed "Carambola" and "Tema pro Steve" (Elegia), a newly composed work he wrote for the occasion. Later that year, Penaforte composed seven more pieces for a suite which he titled "Sweet New York". Each piece for a different trumpet, including the flügelhorn. I premiered the suite on my Juilliard's graduation recital. That made the simple idea of recording a CD become inevitable.
When I returned to Brazil, I searched for a pianist willing to play and record those pieces. The pianist Carlos Assis accepted the challenge without hesitation. By then, beside Penaforte's pieces, I had also acquired Osvaldo Lacerda's "Rondino". That same year, Mr. Lacerda sent me his newly composed "Sonata". In January of 1997, we began the late night recordings –because of the daily noises– at Teatro Guaíra, in Curitiba.
In August of 1997, I joined the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP.) Due to my new job responsibilities, the recordings had to be postponed. By the time we reassume recordings, I had added two new pieces to the repertoire: "Divertimento para Trompete e Piano" by Hudson Nogueira, and "Contradança" by Alexandre Brasolim de Magalhães. The CD was finally completed in March of 1999.
It is with great satisfaction that I now present to you CARAMBOLA.
SWEET NEW YORK by Raimundo Penaforte
1. Dreams, Rice and Beans
2. 46th Street
3. Tema pro Steve (Elegia)
4. Jobiniando Nova Iorque
5. Waltzin’ Soho
6. Grand Central Shuttle
7. Off Broadway
8. Suite 2720
9. DIVERTIMENTO by Hudson Nogueira
SONATA by Osvaldo Lacerda
10. Andantino con moto
11. Andante
12. Vivace
13. RONDINO by Osvaldo Lacerda
14. CONTRADANÇA by Alexandre Brasolim de Magalhães
15. CARAMBOLA by Raimundo Penaforte
About the Artist:
Fernando Dissenha has been the solo trumpet of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) since 1997. He has toured Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, United States, Germany and Switzerland with this orchestra. As a chamber artist, he has performed with the São Paulo Brass Quintet in several music festivals. Mr. Dissenha teaches at EMBAP, Tom Jobim's Music Studies Center, and the Faculdade Cantareira, in São Paulo.
In 2003, Dissenha released his solo CD Carambola. The International Trumpet Guild Journal described it as "a wonderful recording." Regarding his performance, the ITG said: "He possesses flexibility, both technical and musical, to an amazing degree: one moment he is floating in the extreme high register with complete ease, then quickly articulating down low with clarity and precision. His tone contains both bright and dark elements, and he can paint phrases with a wide range of colors." Dissenha played principal trumpet on the 2004 Latin Grammy Award winning CD: Jobim Sinfônico. He can be heard on several OSESP recordings on the Bis label.
As the winner of Juilliard’s Trumpet Concerto Competition in 1993, Dissenha played the Hummel Concerto and was featured as soloist with The New York String Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall. The New York Times described this performance as "a bright and virtuosic reading." He also performed as guest artist with the American Brass Quintet, and with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Gerard Schwarz, Stanislaw Skrowaczewsky, Kurt Masur, Sidney Harth, and Otto-Werner Mueller, among others. He has been featured as soloist with the Orquesta Sinfonica Venezuela as well as several Brazilian orchestras.
In 1991, he was awarded the Vitae scholarship to study at Hartford University, in Connecticut. That year he attended the Anzio Music Festival in Italy. In February of 1992, he was accepted at The Juilliard School where he studied with Chris Gekker and Mark Gould. In 1996, he graduated from Juilliard with a Master's Degree in music.
Fernando Dissenha obtained his Bachelor's Degree at Paraná’s School of Music and Fine Arts (EMBAP). His former teachers were Pedro Vital, Antônio Aparício Guimarães, and Edgar Batista dos Santos. Prior to joining the OSESP, Dissenha was a member of Paraná’s Symphony Orchestra. Fernando Dissenha was born in São José dos Pinhais, in the state of Paraná, Brazil.
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