Corwin Chair of Composition João Pedro Oliveira receives First Prize in Citta di Udine Competition

UC Santa Barbara Corwin Chair of Composition João Pedro Oliveira recently received First Prize in the Citta di Udine Competition in the Electroacoustic Music category with his piece, La Mer Émeraude. Oliveira was also named a finalist in the Audiovisual category with his piece, Things I Have Seen in My Dreams.

Submissions for the thirteenth annual competition consisted of 455 scores, recordings, and audiovisual works from 49 countries, with Michele Biasutti (Italy), Juraj Ďuriš (Slovakia), Salvatore Macchia (USA), and Alexander Shchetynsky (Ukraine) serving as adjudicators.

Oliveira’s notes for La Mer Émeraude are as follows: “Let us imagine a small invented world, a micro universe where everything exists...matter, energy, spirit, telluric movements, mysteries, natural and supernatural forces. That world is whole and from afar, whoever watches, sees it as a living ocean.” Oliveira composed the work in the Musiques-Recherches studio and dedicated the piece to composers Annette Vande Gorne and Francis Dhomont.

Listen to the piece here.

For his audiovisual work, Things I Have Seen in My Dreams, Oliveira writes: “We dream...sometimes we have nightmares, or dreams that make us sad, anguished, or simply indifferent. But occasionally, there are dreams that project in our mind images and sounds of great beauty. This piece is a recollection and variations on some of these images and sounds I remember from my dreams.” Oliveira dedicated the work to Argentine composer Mario Mary.

Watch the work here.

Oliveira has received over 50 international prizes and awards for his works, including, among others, the Giga-Hertz Award and the Magisterium Prize from the Institut International de Musique Électroacoustique-Bourges (IMEB). 

In January of 2020, Oliveira joined the faculty at UC Santa Barbara as Professor and the Corwin Chair of Composition. He serves as the Head of the Composition Program and teaches courses in composition, electroacoustic music, visual music, and contemporary techniques.

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