Heitor Villa-Lobos (Rio de Janeiro, 1887-1959), the best known Brazilian composer of the twentieth century, wrote instrumental solo works, chamber music, concerts, orchestral works, stage works and vocal works. Among the many choral works listed in the catalogue compiled by the Museum Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro, there are thirteen pieces specified for women’s choir. These pieces are classified in several categories based on genre and ensemble arrangement. They demonstrate Villa-Lobos' skill in showcasing the female voice and introduce an innovation in the mass genre: the addition of recitatives to the Missa São Sebastião. From the thirteen pieces only three are still being published. Recently the Fermata doBrasil publishers together with Villa-Lobos heirs provided Dr. Kujawinski for two years with the license of two of the pieces not being published anymore. These two new editions will be introduced and distributed during her presentation at the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music.

 

BIO

Dr. Hingrid Kujawinski is originally from Brazil where her formal education and work experience started. She holds a Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance from the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (2001) and a Bachelors of Music in Choral Conducting from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (2007).Dr. Kujawinski moved to the United States in 2009 to study Choral Conducting with Dr. Peggy Dettwiler at Mansfield University, PA where she also worked as graduate assistant. In 2011 she graduated from that University with a double Masters degree in Choral Conducting and Collaborative Piano. In 2016 she graduated at Rutgers University, NJ with her Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting under the guidance of Dr. Patrick Gardner. While pursuing her doctoral degree she worked as Teaching Assistant from 2012 to 2015 for the Kirkpatrick Choir, and as the Director of the Voorhees Women’s Choir from 2013 to 2016 – Her choir was finalist in the American Prize Competition for 2016. Her research on Villa – Lobos’s compositions for women’s choirs was well-received at the ACDA’S Second National Symposium On American Choral Music in Austin, Texas (in 2015).  FOR the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music, she is proud to present new editions of two of choral pieces by Villa-Lobos for women’s choir that have been unavailable so far.