Nobre, Marlos (1939–)

Marlos Nobre is a Brazilian composer, conductor, and pianist. Born on February 18, 1939, Nobre began his musical studies at the age of five in the Pernambuco Conservatory in Recife and graduated in piano and theory in 1955. For his piano work Nazarethiana, he won an award and a scholarship for study in Teresópolis in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where he studied composition with Hans Joachim Koellreutter. Subsequent studies with Camargo Guarnieri, Alberto Ginastera, and Aaron Copland proved decisive in the development of his compositional style.

In 1962 Marlos Nobre established residence in Rio de Janeiro, where for several years he was director of the Radio Ministério Educação e Cultura, whose broadcasts showcased the works of Brazilian composers, including his own. Nobre's work with various major musical organizations within Brazil and in Europe has made him one of the best-known contemporary Brazilian musicians. His most significant major commissioned work is Cantata del Chimborazo, written for the celebration of the bicentennial of the birth of Simón Bolívar. Works such as Rhythmetron and Ukrinmakrinkrin have demonstrated enormous rhythmic vitality and a powerful creative imagination. In 1992 he led the Royal Philharmonic in the premiere of his Columbus oratorio, commemorating the quincentennial of the discovery voyage.

In the 1980s and 1990s Nobre served as visiting professor at Yale, the Juilliard School, and Indiana University, and as guest composer at the University of Georgia and Texas Christian University. In addition to composing commissioned works, he has appeared both as conductor and pianist with major orchestras in South America and Europe. Among his many awards for composition are the Gold Medal of Merit of the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation of Pernambuco (1999) and the Tomás Luis de Victoria Prize of Spain (2006). As of 2007 he was president of the National Music Committee of IMC/UNESCO, director of contemporary music programs at Radio MEC-FM of Brazil, and president of the Musica Nova Editions of Brazil.

See alsoMusic: Art Music; Radio and Television.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gérard Béhague, Music in Latin America (1979).

David P. Appleby, The Music of Brazil (1983).

Additional Bibliography

Barce, Ramón. "Marlos Nobre." Ritmo 634 (1992): 48-49.

Bethell, Leslie, ed. A Cultural History of Latin America: Literature, Music and the Visual Arts in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Brown, Royal S. "An Interview with Marlos Nobre." Fanfare 18, no.1 (1994): 60-65.

Cáurio, Rita. Brasil musical (básico). Rio de Janeiro: Art Bureau, 1989.

Moore, Tom. "An Interview with Marlos Nobre." December 2002. Available from Música Brasileira (June 2007), http://www.músicabrasileira.org/marlosnobre/.

                                     David P. Appleby