Alexandre Da Costa
Encyclopedia
Life and career
Da Costa was born in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1979. He received a Master’s degree in violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
in 1998 and a First Prize from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec. From 1998 to 2001, he studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid with his mentor Zakhar Bron. In 2002, he won the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award for best Canadian artist under 30 years old. Between 2003 and 2006, after winning the Musical Instrument Bank competition of the Canada Council for the Arts, he played the 1689 Baumgartner Stradivarius
Stradivarius
The name Stradivarius is associated with violins built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or reproduce, though this belief is controversial...
. In 2010, he is the winner of the Virginia-Parker Award of the Canada Council for the Arts.
He has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
, the Montreal Symphony, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony, the Hamburg Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, the Prague Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, Spain’s National TV & Radio Symphony Orchestra. He recorded live performances for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
(WDR), Radio-Classical International, Radio-Canada/CBC, Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Public Radio , is the flagship National Public Radio member network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, Classical Music and The Current, MPR operates a 42-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest serving over 8 million people...
(MPR), Radio Nacional de España
Radio Nacional de España
is Spain's national public radio service. Since 1973 it has formed, together with , a part of , the corporation responsible for managing national public-service broadcasting in Spain.-Origins of RNE:...
(RNE), Austria State Radio (ORF
ORF
ORF may refer to:* ORF , the Austrian public service broadcaster.* Open reading frame, a portion of the genome.* The IATA airport code for Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, Virginia.* ORF format , Olympus raw image file format....
), TV Asahi
TV Asahi
, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network....
Japan.
Between 1998 and 2006, he recorded 12 CDs for XXI-21 Records and ATMA labels, among them the world premiere recordings of violin Concertos by Portuguese composers Luis de Freitas Branco and Armando José Fernandes with the Extremadura Symphony Orchestra under Jesús Amigo, a disc nominated at the Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
2006. Other recordings include Vivaldi's Four Seasons
The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)
The Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Composed in 1723, The Four Seasons is Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each concerto is varied, each resembling its respective season...
with the chamber orchestra of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
-History:In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the Wiener Concertverein . In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name...
, Mozart’s violin & viola duos with Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s Solo violist Christian Frohn, concerti by Tchaikovsky & Bruch, Bach & Ysaye solo sonatas, Spanish works by Turina, de Falla, Nin, Albeniz, etc., Bloch & Williams works with the Biel Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler
Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately...
works with the Canimex Ensemble under Jean-François Rivest.
Alexandre Da Costa is also artist-in-residence of Lambda School of Music and Fine Arts
Lambda School of Music and Fine Arts
Lambda School of Music and Fine Arts is a bilingual school of music and fine arts and a venue for performances located in Pierrefonds-Roxboro in the West Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The languages of instruction are in English and French...
, Montreal, Canada.
Prizes and Awards
- 1998 - First Prize from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec.
- 2002 - Sylva Gelber Foundation Award for best Canadian artist under 30 years old.
- 2003 - Musical Instrument Bank competition of the Canada Council for the Arts
- Musical Development Director - Canimex Foundation
See also
- Canadian classical musicCanadian classical musicIn Canada, classical music includes a range of musical styles rooted in the traditions of Western or European classical music that European settlers brought to the country from the 17th century and onwards...
- Lambda School of Music and Fine ArtsLambda School of Music and Fine ArtsLambda School of Music and Fine Arts is a bilingual school of music and fine arts and a venue for performances located in Pierrefonds-Roxboro in the West Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The languages of instruction are in English and French...
- List of Stradivarius instruments
- Violinists