Gilberto
Mendes

Gilberto Mendes (1922-2016) was born in Brazil, Santos. He learned piano with Antonieta Rudge and harmony with Sabino de Benedictis. The influence of Villa-Lobos is evident in his early works, in some way preceding the advent of bossa-nova. He later studied composition under Cláudio Santoro in 1954 and under George Olivier Toni from 1958 to 1960. In 1962 and 1968 he attended the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music where he attended classes given by Pierre Boulez, Henri Pousseur, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 1962 he created the New Music Festival and in 1963 was a signatory of the Manifesto Música Nova. He was a pioneer of aleatory and concrete music in Brazil, using new musical notations and theatrical elements. In the 1970s and 1980s, he taught at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and the University of Texas, then was a professor of music at the University of São Paulo.