Vitor Araújo

Vitor Araújo

Vitor Araújo, the 18-year old pianist, started to study when he was nine at the Music Conservatory of Pernambuco. He began being noticed in his childhood and teenage years as he won many awards, such as the Honor Prize in the Magda Taggliaferro Competition in São Paulo, and the two first places in the Piano Contest of Pernambuco, in the years 2001 and 2005, in addition he won the Best Interpreter of Brazilian Music award, in the Josefina Aguiar Contest. Nowadays he studies the Music Bachelor Degree in the Federal University of Pernambuco.

On November 3rd and 19th of 2006, he recorded two presentations in the Nobel Room of the Santa Isabel Theatre, the demo DVD “Variando”. This concert achieved national range, as it was reviewed in the culture section of many newspapers, namely the Correio Brasiliense, Diário de Pernambuco e Jornal do Commercio, and caused some controversy for his improvisations in venerable classical music. Although his work is based in the classical music, he walks through jazz and Brazilian popular music. He is regularly invited to feature other artists’ concerts and takes part, among other musicians, in the “Seu Chico” project, which recalls the Chico Buarque compositions, playing frequently in Recife and other northeast cities. Besides the Jazz Trio, named “Café dell Jazz” Project, in which he plays with Ângelo Mongiovi (“Mula Manca e a Fabulosa Figura”guitar player) and Márcio Silva (“Zé Cafofinho” drums player).

Polemic among artists and journalists, Vitor Araújo uploaded 4 videos from the DVD “Variando” to the “YouTube” website, where it has already got more than 30.000 hits in six months, which represents a extraordinary acceptance and repercussion, being named by some websites as one of the best classical music videos, highlighting the arrange of Asa Branca (Luiz Gonzaga e Humberto Teixeira).

In July 21 of this year, he was the Instrumental Stage main attraction of the Garanhuns Winter Festival in the Ruber van der Linden Park, and in September 8, 2007 came the national recognition: he presented the Concert in the São Francisco Convent (Olinda – Pe) in the Olinda’s Music International Show – MIMO, i.e. Mostra Internacional de Música de Olinda – together with important musicians such as: Antonio Menezes, Naná Vasconcelos, Egberto Gismonte, Yamandú Costa, Hamilton Holanda, Isaac Karabtchevsky, etc. It was considered the best concert by the Diário de Pernambuco, Estadão (SP) said he was a pleasant surprise, the Jornal do Brasil printed his culture section first page the new Brazilian phenomena, while the Carta Capital journalist Ana Paula de Sousa wrote in her article “Virtuosa Molecagem” (9/19/2007): “… Araújo is able to make the piano sound human, simple”. In the Jô Soares TV show (10/18), his interview had a great repercussion in 2007 and in 12/20/2007, hired by Deckdisc record label, recorded Dualdisc in the Recife Santa Isabel Theatre.