My name is Alfredo Votta Jr (though I often drop
“Jr” as you will see).
I am a composer and my instrument is the piano.
I compose mostly solo piano music, but I’ve been
writing also choral and chamber works in the last few years.
These pieces have been played not only in
Brazil, but also in Chile, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the USA and Germany.
My piece Mentha sylvestris was recorded
by Betiza Landim (recorder) and Daniela Carrijo (piano) in 2011 as part of
their CD of Brazilian music for recorder and piano. Their project published
also a book containing scores to Brazilian pieces for that instrumentation,
including Mentha sylvestris.
My current music is modal and diatonic,
influenced by varied sources such as minimalism, sacred music, Eastern music
and the classical masters. I have also a number of compositions under atonal
influences, mostly written before 2007. However, they already reveal my taste
for modality-derived harmonies. In that
period my main influences were Debussy, Webern, Feldman and others.
Since 2011 I have also been experimenting with
tunings other than twelve equal intervals per octave.
I studied Composition at the State University of
Campinas, where I also got a Master Degree in 2009 presenting a dissertation
about Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.
Brazil is where I was born, in 1980, and where I
have always lived. I live in the town of Jundiaí, though I was born in Botucatu
– both in the State of São Paulo, Southeast of the country, near 23ºS and the
Tropic of Capricorn.
Among my other interests are Genealogy,
Languages and the Catholic Religion and Liturgy. The latter reflects on my
being a member of Salvem a Liturgia, a Brazilian website devoted to the
Catholic Liturgy, where I normally write about liturgical music.