A project by Simone Menezes with photos by Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Salgado, world-renowned photographer and winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, has impressively documented over decades how closely the beauty and fragility of our planet are linked. His focus on the Amazon rainforest in particular shows the unrivalled natural power of this habitat, but also the threats to which it is exposed. Together with the Italian-Brazilian conductor Simone Menezes, Salgado has created an extraordinary project that combines his moving photographs with the music of his Brazilian compatriot Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Salgado had just published his exhibition Amazonia, while Menezes was working on Villa-Lobos’ Floresta do Amazonas. She created a 45-minute suite for orchestra and soprano, for which Salgado selected over 200 photographs inspired by Villa-Lobos. The concert also includes Bachianas Brasileiras 4 and Philip Glass‘ Aguas da Amazonia, creating an extraordinary event with Salgado’s images and Villa-Lobos’ music.
Since then, the concerto has been programmed and performed with great success by more than 12 orchestras around the world: Barbican Centre, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Zurich Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orquesta Nacional de España and many others. It will also be performed in 2024 by Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Liceo Barcelona and the hr-Sinfonieorchester. The concert was recorded live and has been released on CD by the Alpha label in 2023.
This concert, whose dramaturgy centres on the beauty and fragility of the Amazon rainforest, is more than just a performance. It is an appeal to humanity to protect our environment and a tribute to the unspoilt landscapes that Salgado has been photographing for decades.
Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Salgado is a Brazilian photographer who was born in Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 1944. He began his career in Paris in 1973 and worked as a professional photographer for photo agencies until 1994, when he and his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado founded the agency Amazonas Images, which focuses exclusively on his work.
Salgado has travelled to more than 100 countries for his photo projects. His work has been published in numerous magazines and books, including Other Americas (1986), Sahel: L’homme en détresse (1986), Sahel: el fin del camino (1988), An Uncertain Grace (1990), Workers (1993), Terra (1997), Migrations and Portraits (2000), Africa (2007), Genesis (2013), The Scent of a Dream (2015), Kuwait, a Desert on Fire (2016) and Gold, Serra Pelada Gold Mine (2019). Lélia Wanick Salgado conceived, designed and edited each of his books and curated most of the travelling exhibitions of his work that have been shown in museums and galleries worldwide.
Simone Menezes
Italian-Brazilian conductor Simone Menezes is a visionary musician renowned for her creativity and innovative spirit, whether as founder and artistic director of Ensemble K, or as guest conductor with the world’s leading orchestras. Simone Menezes has conducted orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Zurich Philharmonia, London Philharmonia, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestra Santa Cecilia, the Britten Sinfonia, São Paulo Orchestra, Spanish National Orchestra, Osaka Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the Philharmonie de Paris. She has recorded three albums and premiered over 20 works.
Our offer:
We offer a unique concert project, ideal for orchestras and event organisers seeking artistic excellence. The package includes:
– the acclaimed conductor Simone Menezes,
– the outstanding soprano Camila Titinger,
– an inspiring introduction and accompaniment by world-renowned photographer Sebastião Salgado,
– as well as exclusive photo rights to include his Amazônia series.
VIDEO
AUDIO
PRESS
‘[The concert] created an attentive atmosphere […] that emphatically raised awareness of the threat to the tropical rainforest around the world’s most water-rich river, including its indigenous population and its rich biodiversity. [The opening of the festival […] showed the relevance and topicality that a classical concert programme can have.’
‘The opening with the German premiere of ‘Floresta do Amazonas’ by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos under the rousing direction of the Brazilian conductor Simone Menezes was an experience in a class of its own.’
“Striking beauty, gentle evocation and romantic lushness, provided indelible memories, […] vivid, tight performances from Menezes.”
