Claudio Cruz & Gabriel Marin
Biographie Claudio Cruz & Gabriel Marin
Claudio Cruz
is the Music Director of the Youth Orchestra of the State of Sao Paulo and first violin of Carlos Gomes string Quartet.
He started his musical studies with his father, luthier João Cruz. Later, he studied violin with Erich Lehninger (Max Rostal student), and Maria Vischnia (first prize winner of Carl Flesch Competition). He also attended master classes by Joseph Gingold (USA), Chaim Taub (Israel). He studied theory and conducting with George Olivier Toni.
Claudio Cruz is the winner of several competitions. He received the Grammy Award in 2002, for a recording of Astor Piazzolla. In Brazil, he received awards given by the São Paulo Association of Art Critics in 1985 and 1997, the Carlos Gomes Award 2002 and 2006, and the Bravo Award in 2011.
He was the Concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo for 23 years. He was also the Music Director of the Villa-Lobos Chamber Orchestra, the Ribeirão Preto Symphony Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of Campinas. In 2018, he was the Conductor of the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theater Symphony Orchestra.
He has been invited to important festivals like International Festival of Campos do Jordão, International Festival of Juiz de Fora, “La Folle Journée” in Nantes, France and Carinthischer Sommer in Ossiach, Austria.
He has performed in France, Japan, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Uruguay, Argentina, Holland, Switzerland, Chile and the United States.
He played chamber music with important artists like Slomo Mintz, Dimitri Sitkovetsky, Nelson Freire, Ronald Brautigan, Antonio Meneses, Regis Pasquier, Michel Dalberto, Antony Pay, Ingrid Haebler, and Bruno Giuranna, to name a few. He also conducted important soloists like Midori, Boris Belkin, Dang Tai Song, Nelson Freire, Antonio Meneses, Jean Louis Steuermann, Benjamin Schmid, Vladimir Feltsman, and Maria João Pires, among many others.
He has conducted the most important Brazilian orchestras, such as the Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo, the Symphony Orchestras of Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Curitiba and Porto Alegre.
In his discography, we can find recordings in Italy, for violin and piano, “Violin Music in Brazil”, pieces of Henrique Oswald, Villa-Lobos, Edino Krieger and Ronaldo Miranda (Dynamic-Genova Italy), and three CDs with the Villa-Lobos Chamber Orchestra (Warner Classics).
CDs with the Amazônia String Quartet by Villa-Lobos Quartets No. 7, 8 9, 10 and 11 (Kuarup); Lorenzo Fernandez Quartets No. 1 and 2 (Alcoa series); “Brazilian Composers” Alexandre Levy, Carlos Gomes and Alberto Nepumoceno (ORF- Graz Austria); The Croats composer Dora Pejacevic (Re nova classics Vienna Austria); “Adios Nonino” Piazzola tangos (Kuarup), and 2002 Grammy Awards. In 2004, he recorded with the Campinas Symphony Orchestra a CD of Carlos Gomes Overtures and Arias. In 2008, two CDs with Ribeirão Preto Symphony Orchestra: Symphonies by Mozart and Beethoven and Operas Overtures.
For Avie Records in 2012, he conducted the Northern Sinfonia Hans Gál and Elgar cello concerts with Antonio Meneses. In 2015, Cassadó and Kodaly, cello sonatas and Duo (played violin). In 2016, he conducted the Northern Sinfonia Tchaikovsky Rococó, Saint-Saëns and Schumann cello concerts with Antonio Meneses. Two CDs with Quarteto Carlos Gomes Quartet. In 2016, Alberto Nepomuceno three quartets. In 2017, Alexandre Levy, Glauco Velasquez and Carlos Gomes (selo Sesc). Three CDs with the Youth Orchestra of the State of Sao Paulo, in 2015: Villa-lobos Chorus 6 and Shostakovich concerto for cello with Antonio Meneses. In 2016, Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique. In 2017, Bartok The Miraculous Mandarin and Romanian Folk Dances, and Kodaly Dances of Galanta.
During the 2004-2005 season, Claudio Cruz conducted a new production of the opera Lo Schiavo by Carlos Gomes, and Don Giovanni by Mozart with the Campinas Symphony Orchestra. In 2007, he conducted a new production of the opera Rigoletto by Verdi, and La Boheme in 2011 with the Ribeirão Preto Symphony Orchestra. In 2017, he conducted Don Giovanni by Mozart, and La Bélle Helene by Offenbach. In 2018, he conducted A Midsummer Night’s Dream of Britten all in Teatro Sao Pedro, in Sao Paulo.
He made a highly successful debut as conductor of the Orchestra of the Americas in Florida, Avignon Symphony Orchestra in France, Metropole Orkest, in Holland, Osaka Chamber Orchestra, New Japan Philarmonie, Hyogo Academic Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony, Nagoya Philharmonic in Japan, Sinfonia Varsovia in the Menton Festival in France, Jerusalem Symphony in Israel, and Vogtland Philarmonie in Germany.
With the São Paulo State Youth Orchestra, he participated in the Festival MDR Musiksommer Germany in 2012, Young Euro Classic Festival Berlin in 2013, Berlioz Festival in France, and Grachtenfestival Amsterdam in 2014. In March 2015, he held concerts at the Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
In the 2017-2018 season, he performed concerts in the United States, Japan, and Uruguay with several Brazilian orchestras. In 2019, he recorded a CD with Claudio Santoro’s works with the São Paulo State Youth Orchestra, the trio of Villa-Lobos with Antonio Meneses and Ricardo Castro, the Quartets of Meneleu Campos, Quartet No. 3 of Villa-Lobos with the Carlos Gomes Quartet, Waltzes and Chorus with Rafael Santos, and several studies for solo violin.
Gabriel Marin
Currently violist of the Carlos Gomes Quartet and the University of São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Gabriel Marin has extensive experience in orchestral and chamber music. He has represented Brazil in the Mercosur Youth Orchestra and Youth Orchestra of the Americas, performing in the principal concert halls of thirteen countries across the continent. He won the Eleazar de Carvalho Award at the Campos do Jordão Festival, and studied at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music (Denmark). He was also a violist in the Odense Symphony Orchestra and participated in the famous Verbier Festival (Switzerland).
