Fernando Rocha: biography
Fernando Rocha
• performer (percussion)
Fernando Rocha has been professor of percussion at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil since 1998. He holds a Master’s Degree (MM) from UFMG, and a Bachelor’s Degree (BM) from the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) where he studied with professors John Boudler and Carlos Stasi. He is currently on leave from his position to pursue his Doctor’s Degree at McGill University in Montréal with D’Arcy Philip Gray. He is particularly interested in the performance of pieces with electronics. He has a full scholarship from Brazilian Agency Capes, and he is currently working in the McGill Digital Orchestra Project. He is also a member of the Contemporary Keyboard Society.
As a performer, Fernando Rocha has premiered percussion works by composers such as Lewis Nielson, Almeida Prado, Sérgio Freire, Nicolas Gilbert, Brian Cherney, D Andrew Stewart, Geof Holbrook, Jacob Sudol and Mario Alfaro. 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, USA, Portugal, France and Canada. In 2005, he appeared in the Focus Day at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). Other recent appearances as a lecturer/performer include the 9th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFX-2006), the Roots and Rhizome: Seventy-Five Years of Percussion Music Conference at University of California, San Diego (2007), and the “Percussive exchanges!” during the Journées de la percussion du Québec, in Montréal (2007). In 2007-08, he will be performing a concert of electronic music at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). He will also give solo concerts and clinics in Brazil, USA and Canada.
In Brazil, from 1999 to 2004, Fernando Rocha directed the Grupo de Percussão da UFMG, performing about 60 concerts and recording a CD with works by Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos arranged for percussion ensemble. In addition to working with contemporary music, he has played jazz vibes with great 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 in New York for 8 months with Joe Locke and Stefon Harris. He also played with Bobby Sanabria’s Big Band.
Fernando Rocha has presented many workshops, including one at the first Dia da Percussão 2001 organized in Brazil by the Percussive Arts Society Brazil Chapter (PAS). In August 2004 he was the host of the Festival Internacional de Música de Belo Horizonte (Brazil), presenting about 20 percussion concerts and workshops with musicians from Brazil, USA, Portugal, France, Italy, Canada and Senegal.
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Fernando Rocha
