Marcelo Fagerlande, “...one of the leading brazilian harpsichordists,” according to the magazine Early Music America, is a musician that brings together a solid academic background along with creativity and diversity in his professional performance, be it as a harpsichord player, as a musical director and conductor at the harpsichord, creator of musicals, teacher and author of musicological works.
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1961, Marcelo Fagerlande began his piano studies at age nine with Rosina Paula Barros, and attended piano interpretation classes between ages ten and 16 with Magdalena Tagliaferro. At 14 he began to play the harpsichord, having studied with Roberto de Regina, and later with Regina Schlochauer and Gertrud Mersiovsky. At age 20 he won a scholarship from Adenauer Foundation to study in Germany, having been that organization’s first scholarship recipient for music
In 1986, he graduated in harpsichord with the highest degrees from the Higher School of Music in Stuttgart, in Kenneth Gilbert’s class. He returned to Brazil in 1986 and in 1993 became a Master in Musicology from the Brazilian Conservatory of Music, presenting a dissertation about José Maurício Nunes Garcia, which was later released as a book by the publisher Relume-Dumará. In 2002 he obtained a degree as Doctor in Musicology from Uni-Rio, having defended a thesis about the basso continuo in Brazil. In both studies he had José Maria Neves as advisor. He also received scholarships from CNPq, in Brazil, and Vitae Foundation and the British Council for cultural exchange and formation programs in Chile and England, respectively.
In 2004/2005 he went through a post-doctorate internship at the Institut de recherche sur le patrimoine musical en France (IRPMF/CNRS), Paris, with a scholarship from CAPES [The Coordination to Perfection Higher Education Personnel]. During that period he researched the modinhas of Joaquim Manoel at the National Library in France. In 2017 he goes through a new post-doctorate internship at Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia (PPGG) from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, to accomplish the research “Foreign harpsichordists in XXth century Rio de Janeiro”.
Marcelo Fagerlande, “...one of the leading brazilian harpsichordists,” according to the magazine Early Music America, is a musician that brings together a solid academic background along with creativity and diversity in his professional performance, be it as a harpsichord player, as a musical director and conductor at the harpsichord, creator of musicals, teacher and author of musicological works.
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1961, Marcelo Fagerlande began his piano studies at age nine with Rosina Paula Barros, and attended piano interpretation classes between ages ten and 16 with Magdalena Tagliaferro. At 14 he began to play the harpsichord, having studied with Roberto de Regina, and later with Regina Schlochauer and Gertrud Mersiovsky. At age 20 he won a scholarship from Adenauer Foundation to study in Germany, having been that organization’s first scholarship recipient for music
In 1986, he graduated in harpsichord with the highest degrees from the Higher School of Music in Stuttgart, in Kenneth Gilbert’s class. He returned to Brazil in 1986 and in 1993 became a Master in Musicology from the Brazilian Conservatory of Music, presenting a dissertation about José Maurício Nunes Garcia, which was later released as a book by the publisher Relume-Dumará. In 2002 he obtained a degree as Doctor in Musicology from Uni-Rio, having defended a thesis about the basso continuo in Brazil. In both studies he had José Maria Neves as advisor. He also received scholarships from CNPq, in Brazil, and Vitae Foundation and the British Council for cultural exchange and formation programs in Chile and England, respectively.
In 2004/2005 he went through a post-doctorate internship at the Institut de recherche sur le patrimoine musical en France (IRPMF/CNRS), Paris, with a scholarship from CAPES [The Coordination to Perfection Higher Education Personnel]. During that period he researched the modinhas of Joaquim Manoel at the National Library in France. In 2017 he goes through a new post-doctorate internship at Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia (PPGG) from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, to accomplish the research “Foreign harpsichordists in XXth century Rio de Janeiro”.
Marcelo Fagerlande is since 1995 an associate professor at the School of Music of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and is responsible for harpsichord (for undergraduates and graduates) and basso continuo teaching. In 1996, he created the Ópera Barroca Project at that institution, which led to presentations of Dido and Aeneas, by Purcell, Orpheus, by Monteverdi, and La Purpura de La Rosa, by Torrejón y Velasco, at the Leopoldo Miguez Concert Hall. He coordinated the project and was the musical director of the operas, in which about 100 students, from different departments in the University, were involved. In 2011, he conducted the opera Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho by Telemann, at the Leopoldo Miguez Concert Hall (project Opera at UFRJ).
At this institution, he has created and coordinates, since 2004, the Harpsichord Week [Semana do Cravo], an annual event that brings together students and professors from various Brazilian institutions (http://www.musica.ufrj.br).
He has been active as a harpsichord player (orchestra soloist, recitalist, and chamber player) in presentations throughout Brazil and in the United States, Mexico, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia, Peru and Uruguai. He was placed on the list of the year’s best in 1993, in 1994 - for his interpretation of Manuel de Falla’s Harpsichord Concerto (Jornal do Brasil) - and in 2016 (O Globo). He has recorded the CDs: Marcelo Fagerlande no Museu Imperial [Marcelo Fagerlande at the Imperial Museum], considered “one of the best – if not the best – album of early music ever produced in Brazil.” (Folha de São Paulo, 1995); Laura Rónai & Marcelo Fagerlande (1995); Telemann Kammermusik (1999, Germany) and Bach e Pixinguinha [Bach and Pixinguinha] (Núcleo Contemporâneo label), released in 2001 and which has already sold over 15 thousand copies. In 2008 he released the cd Modinhas Cariocas (Biscoito Fino label) and in 2010 A Arte da Fuga – The Art of Fugue, by J. S. Bach, in a version for two harpsichords, with Ana Cecilia Tavares (Clássicos label). In 2017 a new Cd was released, Originais e Transcrições – Originals and transcriptions - (Tratore), with works by J. S. Bach, F. Couperin e J. B. de Boismortier for two harpsichords.
In addition to his activities as a performer, he was in charge of the translation of The Musical Dialogue, by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and has published articles in specialized magazines. In April 1996 he released the book O Método de Pianoforte de José Maurício Nunes Garcia, [José Maurício Nunes Garcia’s Pianoforte Method], considered research work “of capital importance” (Jornal do Brasil, 1996). In 2011 he published the book O Baixo contínuo no Brasil – os tratados em português (1751-1851) [The Thourough Bass in Brazil – the treatises in portuguese (1751 – 1851)] (7 Letras publisher, with sponsorship from FAPERJ). In 2013 he published Tratados e Métodos de Teclado – [Keyboard Treatises and Methods] - (PPGM-UFRJ), having coordinated a team that translated reference works by Sancta Maria, Frescobaldi, F. Couperin and J. Ph. Rameau.
Since 1998 he has acted as musical director, creator and conductor of operas and musical spectacles such as: Orpheus, by Monteverdi (Sala Cecilia Meireles, Rio) – a production included in the list of the year’s 10 best musical events (O Globo); Pimpinone, by Telemann (Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, III Festival de Ópera de Manaus [3rd Opera Festival of Manaus], Palácio da Cidade); Barroco!, a successful production praised by both audiences and critics at CCBB Rio de Janeiro (2001), São Paulo (2002) and Brasília (2003), totaling over 50 presentations; O Último Dia [The Last Day], a musical about José Maurício Nunes Garcia, presented in 2003 at CCBB Rio, acclaimed by both audiences and critics; and also The Rue de Lourcine Affair, by Eugène Labiche, a play for which he was musical director, in 2003.
He was musical director and conductor at the harpsichord of the opera Dom Quixote e a Duquesa (Don Quixote and the Duchess), by J. B. de Boismortier. The production had 35 presentations in July and August, 2005, at the Teatro I of Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil [Bank of Brazil Cultural Center], Rio de Janeiro, and was a great success amongst the audience. In 2007, celebrating the 400 years of the work, he was the musical director and conductor at the harpsichord of Orpheus, by Monteverdi, at the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre, which in the ocasion presented this opera for the very first time in its history. In 2009 he was the musical director and conductor at the harpsichord of the opera Dido and Aeneas, by Purcell, at the Teatro de Santa Isabel, Recife, in a production from the Federal University of Pernambuco.
In 2013 he conducted the OSESP Chamber Orchestra, at Sala São Paulo.
In 2015 he directed The Four Seasons, by Boismortier, in Cecilia Meireles Hall, with video setting, in first contemporary audition in Brazil.
For his academic curriculum also see Curriculum Lattes, on the CNPq site:
http://lattes.cnpq.br/9753591019922325
