UH-Mānoa Ph.D. student Rafael Borges Amaral has recently released a new album for duo guitar, From Home, in collaboration with Wesley Amorim. According to Rafael, the album explores Brazilian songs that he and Wesley listened to while growing up in Brazil. The album includes compositions from Gilberto Gil, Djavan, and Tom Jobim, Rafael’s arrangement of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, and two original works by Rafael and Wesley.
Stream From Home now on Spotify.
Purchase an album on Amazon.
Rafael Borges Amaral, a composer and guitarist from São Paulo, Brazil, has received commissions from institutions including the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP), Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Wind Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra São Pedro, Orquestra Experimental de Repertoire (OER), and the Baccarelli Institute Percussion Group. He is the founder of the paulista group Peixe Seco, a quartet consisting of Rabeca, Pífano Flute, Viola Caipira and Accordion which specializes in performing new music.
Rafael has received fellowships and awards from Funarte (Brazil contemporary music biennial), SBME 2012 (Electroacoustic music Brazilian society), Witener Tage für Neue Kammermusik“ and “Acht Brücken – Musik für Köln“ – New Music in NRW, and “Forum Nueva Musica” de Córdoba from Goethe Institute, and was also composer in residency for the Mise-en ensemble (NY) at the I-Park institution in 2015, and Sound Icon Composition Competition (Boston).
He holds a Master’s degree in music composition with honors from Boston University and Bachelor’s degree from Universidade de São Paulo. He is currently a graduate assistant and PhD student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.