Department of Music

The University of Virginia McIntire Department of Music presents Fernando Rocha in concert on Friday, February 5th at 8:00 p.m. in Old Cabell Hall.

This concert features a series of collaborations developed at UVa between Visiting Scholar Fernando Rocha and members of the Music Department. The program includes the premiere of 3 pieces (2 in collaboration with Ph.D student Eli Stine and one with professor Peter Bussigel). There will also be pieces by Mathew Burtner (chair of the Department), Portuguese composer João Pedro Oliveira (Fernando Rocha’s colleague at UFMG/Brazil), and Xenakis’ Rebonds, a classic of the percussion repertoire.

The program is part of a project called ‘The concert as a work of art: A holist approach to the creation and performance of a full length solo percussion concert.’ The project approaches the concert as an integrated performance, one which includes individual pieces but which is conceived of as a connected whole. With this idea in mind the choice of repertoire considers the trajectory of the concert as a whole.

Fernando Rocha is professor of percussion at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), in Brazil. He is spending the 2015/16 academic year at the University of Virginia as a Visiting Scholar at the McIntire Department of Music, sponsored by Brazilian Agency CAPES. He holds a Doctor’s Degree (Doctor of Music) from McGill University, a Master’s Degree (MM) from UFMG, and a Bachelor’s Degree (BM) from São Paulo State University, where he studied with professors John Boudler and Carlos Stasi. His doctoral studies were focused on the performance of pieces for percussion and electronics. At McGill University he studied with D’Arcy Philip Gray and Aiyun Huang and participated as a research assistant in the McGill Digital Orchestra Project, working with Professors Sean Ferguson and Marcelo Wanderley.

As a performer, Fernando Rocha has premiered percussion works by composers such as Douglas Boyce, Lewis Nielson (USA), Almeida Prado, Silvio Ferraz, Roberto Victorio, Sérgio Freire, Maurício Dottori (Brazil), Nicolas Gilbert, Brian Cherney, D. Andrew Stewart, Geof Holbrook (Canadá), João Pedro Oliveira (Portugal). He has also performed many Brazilian premieres, including works by David Lang, John Luther Adams, Martin Matalon, Frederic Rzewski, and Mauricio Kagel. Both as a solo and a chamber music performer, he has appeared in the most important music festivals in Brazil and has also played in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, USA, Portugal, France, Germany and Canada. Ongoing work as a chamber musician includes participation in the contemporary ensemble Oficina Música Viva, which just released a CD with works by Portuguese composer João Pedro Oliveira, the Duo Qattus with cellist Elise Pittenger, with performances in Canada, the US, and Brazil, and the ensemble Tectum, dedicated to the creation of new works for percussion and electronics. Fernando Rocha is also the Musical Director of the contemporary ensemble Sonante 21 and the UFMG Percussion Ensemble.

Some recent appearances as a lecturer/performer include the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC/2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014), Transplanted Roots Percussion Conference (Canada, 2015), ZEITKUNST Festival für Neue Musik und Literatur der Gegenwart (Berlin, 2014), the Uruguay Percussion Festival (2012), the Roots and Rhizomes, Percussion Conference at University of California, San Diego (USA, 2007), the “Percussive exchanges” (Echanges percutants! Journées de la percussion du Québec), in Montreal (2007) and the Sound Symposium, in Newfoundland (Canada, 2008), the Patagônia Percussion Festival (Argentina, 2009), the Latin-American Percussion Festival in Uberlândia (Brazil, 2009 and 2014), the Contemporary Music Biennial of Mato Grosso (Brasil, 2010) and Chile Percussion Festival (2011). In 2007 his electronic music concert/clinic at PASIC was featured in the Oct/2007 edition of the Percussive Notes magazine. Fernando Rocha is also the curator of the Contemporary Music Series of Instituto Inhotim (2012 to 2015). In 2004 and 2014 he was also the host of the International Music Festival (FIM) in Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Each edition of the festival presented about 20 percussion concerts and workshops with musicians from Brazil, USA, Portugal, Argentina, France, Italy, Canada and Senegal.
In addition to working with contemporary music, he has played jazz vibes with renowned Brazilian musicians, such as flutist Mauro Rodrigues, drummer Nenen, and guitar player Magno Alexandre. In 1997 he was awarded a scholarship to study jazz vibes with Joe Locke and Stefon Harris in New York, where he played with Bobby Sanabria’s Big Band. Fernando Rocha plays and endorses SABIAN cymbals.

Professor Rocha will work with the Percussion Ensemble composition faculty and students during his time at the University. 

Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda.  (map) Parking is available in the central grounds parking garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Rd, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner.  Handicap parking is available in the small parking lot adjacent to Bryan Hall.

All programs are subject to change. For more information please call the McIntire Department of Music at 434.924.3052.