Over the past 16 years, guitarist Ricardo Silveira has earned a reputation as one of Rio’s most admired and respected international musicians. Born in Rio, Ricardo grew up listening to Bossa Nova, Samba and the insistent rhythms of Carnival. He’s a graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied alongside jazz greats Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell.

Silveira has played guitar on hundreds of recordings over his 25-year career and has recorded with such notables as Milton Nascimento, Vanessa Williams, Gilberto Gil, Diana Ross, Moacir Santoss, Gal Costa, Ivan Lins, João Bosco, Greg Karukas, Chico Buarque and Don Grusin, just to name a handful of the incredible artists who appreciate Ricardo’s playing.

This week’s playlist includes songs from the jazzy side of the Brazilian music spectrum – all in keeping with our ‘Summer Sambas’ theme this month. Rio sax star Leo Gandelman puts a tropical turn on Sting’s ‘Fragile’ and Vanessa da Mata & Ben Harper bring a bilingual duet that’s perfect for a hot August night! Plus Vanessa Williams, and Rio-cool tunes from Toco (with Rosalia de Souza), Mike Catalano and Emilio Santiago. Plus a preview of this month’s FREE Featured CD at Connectbrazil.com. (keyword FREECD)

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Our Facebook fan page for The Sounds of Brazil is growing every day, and I’d love it if you’d become a friend, too! Type keyword Facebook at Connectbrazil.com or look for our fan page for The Sounds of Brazil next time you’re online- and make it official!

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Adding the ecard for Saturday’s tribute concert. Hope to see you there!

Hi all!

Guess what I came across last night? A copy of Chicago pianist Breno Sauer’s 1966 release ’4 No Sucesso’. I’ve added the song ‘Canto do Ossanha’ to all three of our webcast channels at Connectbrazil Radio and you can click here to listen to it right now. Breno has been a pioneer for Brazilian Jazz in Chicago for decades and there’s a special tribute concert for him this Saturday August 14th at Mayne Stage in Chicago. And here’s a Facebook link.  Hope to see you there.

If you’re not familiar with Breno and the role he’s played in shaping Brazilian jazz, you can read these liner notes from  4 No Sucesso’s CD release in 2002. What a story!

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I come from a musical family from Porto Alegre, in the very south of Brazil. My father and three brothers, all of them were musicians – drummers, guitarists and accordionists. I began playing all three instruments, but I ended up deciding to play the accordion myself.

I started out professionally by playing Musica Regional. If you don’t know exactly what Regional is, it’s a type of group made up of two guitars, cavaquinho, accordion, flute and pandeiro and they used to accompany the ‘calouros’, as the new crop of singers were called, on the radio.

After playing the accordion for some years I began to listen to an american group, the Art Van Damme Quintet. I was totally influenced by that sound and so I formed my first group with the exact same line up – electric guitar, vibraphone, bass, drums and accordion.

Like I said, my first professional instrument was the accordion, but because of a heart problem, I lamentably had to give it up. That was when I started to play the vibraphone, which I played for many years. I only gave the vibes up in 1967 when the quartet broke up and there was no pianist to give me the necessary base for my vibes playing, so I was obliged to start playing piano, which is the instrument I’ve played until today!

My first recordings were for the Columbia do Brasil label – ‘Breno Sauer Quinteto’, ‘Viva O Samba’ and ‘Viva O Ritmo’. Then I recorded for RGE – ‘Sambabessa’ and ‘Agostinho, Sempre Agostinho’ which we recorded accompanying the singer Agostinho dos Santos.

From there on we had a new formation, the Breno Sauer Quarteto, which dispensed with the accordion and was very much influenced by the Modern Jazz Quartet. This line up was the one we recorded in Rio for Musidisc – ’4 Na Bossa’ in 1965 followed by ’4 No Sucesso’ in 1966. Later, in Mexico, but with the same group, we recorded with Leny Andrade, Pery Ribeiro and the great flautist Altamiro Carrilho.

People talk about the musical movement in Porto Alegre in the early 60s, Manfredo Fest, Primo Jr, Elis Regina, but I don’t know about that… in reality everyone already had to go north to Rio and São Paulo.

It wasn’t necessary to actually move to Rio to be successful, but at that time there was a whole thing going on; the Rio-São Paulo connection. Well, Rio could launch a new artist’s career but São Paulo was where you made money! Certainly, though, this to and fro between Rio-São Paulo helped musicians to be prepared for the big move north – to the USA and to Mexico. Rio and São Paulo were really the reference point for brazilian music outside of Brazil.

In 1967 the opportunity arose for my group to tour Mexico, along with Primo Jr. and we ended up staying there for five years, playing as the Breno Sauer Quarteto, but eventually both the pianist and bassist went home to Brazil. João Gilberto was already there recording in Mexico City, doing shows and stuff but not actually living there. Carlos Lyra was also there when we arrived and there had been talk of us doing his play ‘Pobre Menina Rica’, but Carlinhos went home to Brazil before that could happen. The Tamba Trio were also in Mexico for two periods, once with my great friend Luiz Eça and secondly with the maestro Laércio de Freitas at the piano. Incidentally, my daughter Andrea had a doll at the time with really long legs that she called Laércia after him, she thought he was great!

After travelling extensively throughout Mexico and the northwestern USA, our drummer Portinho decided to try his luck in the big city and moved to New York. All this time I was travelling with my family, (one daughter from my first marriage, my wife Neusa who still sings with me, and our daughter Andrea), and by 1974 we ended up in Chicago. We settled there because it really was time that the kids went to school and stuff… and here we are until today.

Once in Chicago, I started a new group and began to play a lot – this time with american musicians, and some very good ones, too. The first Chicago group was really international – Ron De War (ts, american); Akio Sasajima (g, japanese); Paulinho Garcia (b, brazilian); Phil Gratteau (ds, american), Neusa Sauer (vox, brazilian); Roberto Sanchez (cga, cuban) and myself on piano. However, this group didn’t really have the identity or the sound – I went through a lot of drummers. I even brought them from brazil. Here, in the States, I found it very difficult rhythmically, you know, the brazilian ‘suingue’. Finally, I got to point where I found the sound that I wanted and that was the band you will have heard.

In Chicago we recorded another four independent albums this time with a similar line up – trumpet, sax, piano, bass, drums, percussion and a vocalist with the initial name of Made in Brasil. This all came about when we decided to go into a studio here in Chicago to record a direct-cut session, a premixed live recording, just for us to hear how the group flowed together, you know, if there were any defects we needed to iron out and stuff. And this served as a demo for us. At the time we were playing under the name Made in Brasil. Anyway, the owner of the studio loved the sound of that band so much that he got in touch with PAUSA Records, sold them the demo and they released the record on the spot – just like that! And there we were, afraid to say anything that would make us look dumb, so we just went along with it, kept our mouths shut and let the record come out. At this point Victor Meshkovsky appeared on the scene and it turned out that he had a group with the same name, Made in Brasil – only this name had been registered by him! As a result of this we changed our name to Som Brasil – this time registering our name and keeping quiet about the Made in Brasil thing! That really was a painful time – muito painful…

With Som Brasil I also changed the format of the group once more. I had David Urban, then Art Davis (tp); Peter O’Neill or Jim Galereto (ts, ss, fl); Paulinho Garcia, then Kurt Bley (b); Luiz Ewerling (ds); Neusa (vox) and myself on piano. With this line up I wanted to approach the sound of the Jazz Messengers, but playing brazilian music. The band spent a number of years playing what I think was some really excellent music.

In terms of what I’m doing today, I was never really into Musica Gaùcha, (that is music from the south of Brazil near the argentine/uruguayan borders) but I certainly never felt any the less gaùcho for that! But two or three years ago, here in Chicago, we started getting a big demand for musicians to accompany dancers – tango etc and singers as well. Because I’m a gaùcho from Porto Alegre I know this music very well, especially if you’re talking about the more interesting side of it – Astor Piazzolla, Marianito Mores and those guys. However, our move towards this kind of music is a result of market forces…

I do have many fond and funny memories of recording these Musidisc albums ’4 Na Bossa’ and ’4 No Sucesso’. At that time a lot of the best studios in Brazil had started to record with more modern equipment and utilising new techniques for recording – overdubs and things like that, and with more channels to record through the desk. This was obviously a great help to artists who could go back over mistakes and use the infamous ‘punch in’ and ‘punch out’ facility to drop into the recording. Well, we had so much fun with that button, I can tell you! The thing was, none of us were really singers so we had these constant fights as to who was in or out of tune and who needed those ‘punch-ins’ but it was worth all the effort.

We had so much success with the first album that Musidisc invited us to do an LP of popular tunes, more international stuff, which was a real surprise to us. We had no time to really rehearse the tunes but because we had been playing non-stop as a quartet the band was just so tight that it really came together on the day of recording. In the end we went to Mexico and so we never really knew whether ’4 No Sucesso’ was a success or not!

I think for me the future of (good) brazilian music is… well, I’d like to have something good to say about it but it’s probably best to wait some more and keep our fingers crossed!

- Breno Sauer, Chicago, 4th September, 2001

Afternoon! Here’s more information on the Som Brasil Tribute concert this Saturday, August 14th at Mayne Stage. If you’re a Brazilian Jazz fan, I hope that you can make it!

In the late 70’s early 80’s and beyond, “Made in Brasil” which later became “Som Brasil” delighted Chicago music lovers with energetic and fascinating Brazilian Jazz.

Made in Brazil (Som Brasil Band) is Neusa Sauer’s happy, beautiful vocals and husband Breno Sauer’s sophisticated and brilliant keyboards. In the beginning Paulinho Garcia, now Chicago’s first call guitarist singer of Brazilian Music, played bass, Geraldo de Oliveria percussion and Dede Sampaio drums. The rhythm section changed but Neusa and Breno Sauer were and are Made in Brasil.

Saturday Aug 14th we honor pianist Breno Sauer with an evening of Brazil Chicago all stars. Paulinho Garcia says: “A rare chance to see and hear the group that started everything.”

Set 1: Opening the show will be Luciano Antonio’s Copacabana Trio with Neusa Sauer vocals and Geraldo de Oliveria percussion

Singer guitarist composer Luciano Antonio is delighting fans of Brazilian Music with his fresh, creative and innovative sound. The music of Jobim, Toquinho and other giants of Brazilian music blended with originals that grow from that rich musical soil. Neusa Sauer’s vocals and Geraldo de Oliveria’s percussion blend with Luciano to make the warm sounds of The Copacabana Trio. Luciano Antonio’s Quintet features the great Rob Block on guitar, Eddie Gerber bass, Felipe Fraga drums, Geraldo de Oliveira percussion.

Set 2:

Paulinho Garcia is Chicago’s most in demand Brazilian musician. His warm easy voice and beautiful guitar have made Paulinho Garcia a Chicago and world favorite. Paulinho begins set 2 solo and than is joined by Sax and Flute master Greg Fishman for the music of their group, Two For Brazil. Paulinho will continue set 2 and be joined by 3 Brazilian percussion masters,Dede Sampaio, Heitor Garcia and Geraldo de Oliveria. Expect a Brazilian percussion explosion!

Set 3: Made in Brasil

Reunited for the first time in years, Neusa Sauer vocals, Breno Sauer at the Mayne Stage 9 foot Steinway, Paulinho Garcia bass, Dede Sampaio drums and Gerald de Oliveria percussion. Please join us for a night of joy through music, Brazilian style.

By Scott Adams

New month, new theme: August brings the ‘Dog Days’ – hardly an America thing, going all the way back to the Roman Empire – but a typically Brazilian perspective gives us a much more pleasant spin: ‘Summer Sambas’ makes its return to the airwaves and our webcast channels at Connecbrazil.com. Nice line-up, too, beginning with Diva Gal Costa this weekend, followed by guitarist Ricardo Silveira, Basia and New Bossa siren Rosalia de Souza. Don’t miss a single song – type keyword RADIO at Connectbrazil.com or click here for the 24/7 webcast.

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August is ‘vacation time’ for most of us, but there’s been no time off here, as we work hard to meet our early September launch of Brazil Club for Chicago fans.  You’ve probably heard of it already.

We’re working with a top Chicago web design team to create a brand new online home and the focus is on music and community. Many of Chicago’s best Brazilian musicians are already promoting Brazil Club, so be sure to sign up today, if you haven’t already. It’s free and like we say… ‘Sun, Style, Samba’! Click here.

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Apart from Sergio Mendes’ Bom Tempo’ and a few other choice releases, it’s been a quiet summer for Brazilian music. Things could change soon through. Rio’s keyboard master Marcos Ariel sent me several new songs from an upcoming album recently. He’s looking for a new US label, and the music is solidly in the same vein as his other recent recordings, including My Only Passion, Magic Eyes and Four Friends. Hopefully it won’t be long before I can play them for you!

Ditto for singer Patrica Talem and her sophomore recording, just completed in Los Angles with Yellowjackets members Russell Ferrante and Jimmy Haslip. Word is that it’s a ‘live in studio’ project. Fans will recall that her 2009 debut garnered her critical acclaim and two BIP nominations.

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Don’t forget to check out our new FREE Featured Album of The Month for August. Times are tight, but that doesn’t mean you should have to go without great Brazilian music. Keyword FREECD or click here.

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Musical birthdays this week include guitarist Baden Powell, Caetano Veloso, Fafa de Belem, Axé legend Clara Nunes, Beto Guedes and percussionist Marcos Susuano. Samba celebrates a milestone on Thursday the 12^th – the founding of the very first Escola de Samba (Samba School), Deixa Falar, in 1928. See what happened this month in Brazilian history here.

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Stop the, er, presses: Former Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen has back peddled on her public campaign for a new International law requiring all of the world’s children to be breast-fed.

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We’re #1! Our webcast channel ‘Brazilian Blend’ is now the #1 most popular for Brazilian music online, according to Live365.com listeners. And its in the top 4% of all of Live365’s 5,000+ stations. If you haven’t tuned in, you can right here.

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Chicago: Brazil Club’s Interactive Calendar shows that Saturday August 14^th is a date that you should circle if you’re a Brazilian jazz fan: a special tribute concert for Bruno and Neuza Sauer and Mayne Stage in Rogers Park, 8 pm.

Together, they pioneered Brazilian jazz here in Chicago as the group ‘Som Brasil’ and later ‘Made In Brazil’ – giving us decades of great music and providing a helping hand to other newly-arrived Brazilian musicians to Chicagoland.

Back in 1991, as I was laying the groundwork for my radio show, I caught up with Nueza one day at the Brazilian Consulate to tell her of my idea. The problem was, I didn’t what to call it. “That’s easy,” she said. “Call it Som Brasil – “The Sound of Brazil!” And that’s how it happened.

So Saturday night, it’s an opportunity for all of us – fans and musicians – to give a little back to these Chicago stalwarts. I hope to see you there!

Piano is in Helio Alves’s DNA. Playing since age 6, the Jazz and Bossa Nova veteran will treat New York City audiences Aug. 11 at the Zinc Bar.

Alves was born in Sao Paulo in 1966 and gravitated to jazz in his teens. He moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music and received his degree in 1990. In Boston he would meet trumpeter Claudio Roditi, who advised the 24-year old pianist to move to New York – which he did in 1993.

Since then, the pianist and composer has been praised as a sideman with Joe Henderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Paquito D’Rivera, Gato Barbieri, Dave Samuels, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, Oscar Castro-Neves, and more. He has also recorded two albums with Roditi, ‘Samba Manhattan Style’ (1995) and ‘Double Standards’ (1997).

From 1995-97, Alves toured with Joe Henderson’s DoubleRainbow Quartet, celebrating the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, and was featured in the Grammy-winning release, ‘Joe Henderson’s Big Band’ (Verve, 1996). Alves was the pianist on Grammy-winning releases by Yo-Yo Ma (‘Obrigado Brazil,’ 2003) and Paquito D’Rivera (‘Brazilian Dreams,’ 2002), and on the Grammy-nominated ‘Samba Jazz Fantasia’ (Malandro Records, 2002), by Duduka Da Fonseca, and ‘Forests’ (Zoho Music 2008) by the Brazilian Trio, his band with Da Fonseca and bassist Nilson Matta. His playing has also appeared on albums by Rosa Passos, Joyce, Herbie Mann, Gal Costa, and many others.

Alves will be playing three shows at The Zinc Bar, located at 
82 West Third Street. For tickets or more information, click here.

Suavemente! That is the term once used to describe the sound of New York-based French vocalist, song stylist, and poet Pascalito. And the performer brings his show and his band to The Metropolitan Room in New York City on Aug. 11 at 7 p.m.

Pascalito was born Pascal Sabattier, in Paris, to a musical family of Mediterranean Jewish roots. 
He grew up listening to an eclectic mix of singers from Charles Aznavour, Claude Nougaro, Henri Salvador, Chet Baker, and Caetano Veloso. His voice and charismatic stage presence have made him a rising talent on the New York jazz and world music scene. Two original songs from his debut album ‘Le Blues d’Orphée’, released in 2007, were featured in the hit TV shows “Burn Notice” (USA) and “Damages” (FX).
His new album ‘Neostalgia’ was recorded in New York with a cast of international musicians from Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Texas. It was co-produced, recorded and mixed by Swiss producer/arranger Thomas Foyer and mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Alan Silverman.

Through lyrical songs with poetic narratives and rich instrumentation, ‘Neostalgia’ takes listeners on an atmospheric journey at the crossroads of different cultures and generations, blending the influences of Latin Jazz, Bossa Nova, French Chanson, Blues, and Pop to create a colorful signature sound. Pascolito’s band features: Sarina Suno (violin); Luca Hara Garacci (guitar); José Moura (bass); and Mike Ramsey (percussion).

The Metropolitan Room is located at 34 West 22d Street. For tickets or more information call 212-206-0440 or click here.

Sergio Mendes has been getting nice reviews for his new album and the artist recently sat down with L.A. Weekly to talk about his five decades in Brazilian music. The artist also touched on his recording history with some of the greatest names in jazz and Brazilian sound, his life in the United States, and his music-making process.

Here is a bit on his life in the U.S. and the beginnings of his career:

• L.A. WEEKLY: You’ve been living in L.A. for many, many years. Do you consider your music Brazilian, international or part of the West Coast sound?

• I’ve been in the U.S. since 1964, but I go back every year to Brazil, spend time with the family. When I first came to L.A., I liked the weather and I played some clubs here and I met Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert. [Their] A&M Records was just starting. I like it here. I came to New York first with the bossa nova festival at Carnegie Hall with Stan Getz, then I went back to Brazil, and after that L.A. has been my second home.

• The songs that made me famous were most of them Brazilian songs. “Mais que Nada” was my first hit: It became internationally famous. I was living in Glendale, rehearsing, and that’s when I met Jerry and Herb and things started happening. Of course living here, the sun and everything else affected a lot. Also the great musicians that are here, that I’ve had the chance to work with.

• It’s a little different than if I decided to go to Wyoming, but the music is basically Brazilian music. That’s why I called it Brazil ’66.

What are your thoughts on Sergio Mendes and his stellar career?

‘Summer Sambas!’ August’s theme is a perfect match for the hottest month of the year, and Dog Days not withstanding, we’ve lined up four consecutive weeks of Brazilian sounds to stay cool with on The Sounds of Brazil radio program and on our 24/7 webcasts all week long. Click here for our weekly guide and Interactive Playlists for each show:.

Important dates this month (visit our Datebook for more):

 07 – Gal Costa

14 – Ricardo Silveira

21 – Basia Nova

28 – Rosalia de Souza

Be sure to check out our Free Featured Album of the Month, too!  To enjoy our free 24/7 Internet Radio stations, plus special show ‘previews’ and Interactive Playlists for each weekly show, please click here.

And please, take a sec to become our friend next time you’re on Facebook! Here.

What to do if you had only 48 hours in the Marvelous City? The options are limitless, but the Independent (UK) offers up some nice options for readers this week as part of its ongoing “48 Hours” travel series.

From shopping to dining to beaches to hiking the series offers some nice options for those planning a trip to Rio de Janeiro. One of our favorites was this section entitled “Cultural Afternoon” focusing on some nice cultural hot spots as well as new places on the horizon:

• In anticipation of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, Rio hums to the sound of regeneration – that’s to say, demolition and construction. Copacabana is aiming to shake off its seedy image with a new Museum of Image and Sound which New York-based architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro (responsible for the Big Apple’s new High Line park) began work earlier this year. Until that is unveiled, make for the Instituto Moreira Salles at 476 Rua Marques de Sao Vicente in Gavea, where the modern garden and ceramic fresco were designed by Roberto Burle Marx, responsible for the city’s iconic mosaic pavements. The house was built for the father of acclaimed film director Walter Salles, and now homes engaging cultural exhibitions, from film to music and visual arts. Open daily except Monday: weekends 11am-8pm, from 1pm on other days, admission free.

And “A Walk in the Park” also sounds like a must if you have only two days in Rio. Where else can you hit the beach, admire some cosmopolitan culture, and walk through a rainforest – all in the same city?

• Why settle for a walk in the park when there’s a rainforest on the doorstep? The precipitous folds of Tijuca Forest form a verdant national park harbouring waterfalls, wildlife, leafy trails and, of course, that statue. The crowning glory of the 710m-high Corcovado Mountain, Christ the Redeemer, was clad in scaffolding until earlier this month when a £2.7m restoration was unveiled. If the walk up is too daunting, take the train that climbs through the rainforest from Cosme Velho train station; be prepared to queue; daily 8.30am-7pm.

If you had 48 hours in Rio, what would be that one must-see location you would have to visit?

By DAVID CHEW, guest contributor

Last Updated: July 30, 2010; 8:00 pm CT

Englishman David Chew is the founder of the Rio International Cello Festival and principal cellist in the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. He recently was awarded the UK’s OBE medal for his four decades of work in Brazilian music. He lives with his wife and family in Rio de Janeiro and has agreed to share some of his stories in music with our readers. This is the final part in this series.

– Sean Chaffin, Mosaic Brazil editor

PART IV – Tom Jobim and forming a new orchestra in Rio

Radames Gnatalli and Antonio Carlos Jobim were great friends, and I believe often worked together as Radames was a concert pianist and played Sergei Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky in his youth. Tom Jobim was also a fine pianist. I was called during 1982 to perform at the Sala Cecilia Merelies Concert Hall to perform as part of a live concert with Jobim. Naturally, he was accompanied by his favorite musicians including the guitarist who toured with him regularly, Raphael Ribeiro.

I was so excited that I forgot that I couldn’t yet speak fluent Portuguese and went up to Mr. Jobim at the interval of our rehearsal and talked so much with him about his time and my time in London. I remember that all the way through rehearsal he had a bottle of Scotch at hand, on top of the piano. He asked me if I cared, and I told him about my whiskey collection and my passions for Villa-Lobos music. We certainly had lots in common and I wish I could have spoken more fluently in Portuguese. However, his English was impeccable and music was certainly our common language. I still remember with what ease he played and sang. How natural it all sounded. And as I’d had six years of playing popular music in London, it all felt so easy to me. I started to feel from that moment on that my home, and certainly my musical ambience, was to be Rio de Janeiro. I was feeling the Carioca blood flowing through my veins.

I had been living in Rio for some five years and I had certainly become more Brazilian, and had played with many famous Brazilian musicians both in the orchestra and through me being involved in playing Brazilian Choro music and MPB. I had become used to the more relaxed way of life, a little too much at times, and I often became frustrated that I was working so little. Naturally, I started to dream up projects and go chasing after support to play more, and not just Brazilian music. The need to play chamber music and British string music was a craving as that is what I had been brought up playing. Even whenever asked to write music, I write in the style of Vaughan Williams.

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In Rio, I become a very close friend of the then active and influential British Council of Rio de Janeiro director, Michael Potter, MBE. He is a very cultured man and a lover of all music. He corrected my spellings on many occasions, especially when I had important letters to write, and I think I repaid him over a chopp (beer) or two. Fortunately, in those days directors listened to people and certainly had time to see you and even go to lunch. I think now with our more restrained budgets for culture and a more technical orientated way of life, everything is resolved before one even has the chance to either know or look into the eyes of our fellow human beings.

Michael certainly was a top executive, as anyone in his position has to be, but somehow I sensed a feeling of adventure in his eyes. I was a little stagnant after my hectic life in London, so one day Michael as the representative of British culture in Brazil told me that Britain’s most important composer, the great Sir Michael Tippett, OM, was to come to Brazil to perform in São Paulo. I was asked if I could organize his trip activities in Rio. What a shame coming all this way and not to do anything in Rio? That set my wheels in action. I went home and read all about Sir Michael, and discovered he had written a work for string called A Little String Music. I immediately had lunch with Mr. Potter, and am ashamed to say I made up a little white lie. I had actually been to the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra offices in town and offered a concert with Sir Michael. This was a year a head of his visit, and can you believe the orchestra, my orchestra, had no interest. I was quite ashamed to tell the director of the British council this. So when asked if there was an orchestra for Sir Michael, I told him yes, mine, and I named my new then non-existent orchestra the Brasil Consort. A new orchestra was born, and I had even put it all down as a project.

Sir Michel came to Rio the following year to conduct my newly-formed string orchestra, which later went on to record several CDs and many hundreds of concert series. I became quite close during that week with Sir Michael, and he even gave me a big slobbery kiss on my cheek. What a fantastic week performing with Britain’s most renowned composer. If I had stayed in London, I probably would never have met him. But In Rio, all is possible.

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For more information on David Chew and to purchase his music, visit his website. To purchase Brazilian CDs including some of the music that inspired him and to listen to the Sounds of Brazil radio show, visit Connect Brazil.

Click here for Part IV in this series.