Pedro Sá

Article for Percussive Notes: "A Interview with Pedro Sá".

Timpanista solo da Orquestra Petrobras Sinfônica (Opes) desde 2002, Pedro Sá realizou junto a essa orquestra a primeira audição mundial do Concertante para Tímpanos e Orquestra de Dimitri Cervo, escrito e dedicado a ele. Tendo realizado turnês com a Opes por todo o Brasil, México, Uruguai e Argentina, é timpanista profissional há quatro décadas. Ingressou na OSB aos dezesseis anos de idade como primeiro timpanista (fato raro em uma orquestra profissional), e realizou concertos no Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center, NYC), além de ter tocado com Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras e Kurt Masur, entre outros, gravando dezenas de CDs. Iniciou sua carreira aos 12 anos, na Orquestra Sinfônica da Universidade Estadual de Londrina. Estudou percussão com Luiz D'Anunciação, além de ter frequentado renomados cursos como o OPI (Oberlin Percussion Institute) em Ohio, onde também lecionou percussão brasileira. No Cleveland Institute of Music, estudou tímpanos com Paul Yancich (Cleveland Orchestra). Como professor visitante, Pedro lecionou e realizou concertos na University of North Carolina in Greensboro, onde se apresentou com o UNCG Percussion Ensemble.

Doutor e Mestre em Música, é Professor de Percussão da Escola de Música da UFRJ desde 2007, atuando como Diretor do Grupo de Percussão da UFRJ e também colaborando como consultor da percussão em museus no Brasil (Museu Villa-Lobos, Museu Virtual de Instrumentos Musicais) e em Portugal (Universidade Nova de Lisboa). Inovou ao criar o Laboratório de Percussão da UFRJ, que ensina a escrita da percussão a alunos de composição, contribuindo dessa forma com a expansão e evolução do repertório para grupo de percussão. Regularmente escreve artigos para a Percussive Notes, o periódico da sociedade de percussão PAS, da qual é membro desde 1986. Como percussionista camerista, integra o Abstrai Ensemble, grupo que trabalha principalmente em colaborações com compositores vivos (brasileiros e estrangeiros), interagindo também com tecnologias digitais (eletroacústica e música mista).  Juntamente com Janaina Sá, é membro fundador do Duo Sá de Percussão, tendo realizado recitais e ministrado palestras na PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Convention), o maior e mais prestigioso "evento de percussão" do mundo, nas edições de 2015 em San Antonio (Texas), e de 2016 e 2023, em Indianápolis.

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Dr. Pedro Sá has been a timpanist for almost four uninterrupted decades, and since 2002, he has been a solo timpanist at Opes in Rio de Janeiro. Pedro performed with this orchestra the world premiere of the Concertante for Timpani and Orchestra by Dimitri Cervo, written and dedicated to him, and toured with Opes throughout Brazil and Mexico, conducted by Isaac Karabtchevsky, Hubert Soudant, Antoni Wit and Krzysztof Penderecki, among others. Before joining Opes, he joined OSB at the age of sixteen as the solo timpanist – a rare experience in a professional orchestra – and performed at Lincoln Center (New York), in addition to having performed with Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Kurt Masur, among others, recording dozens of CDs and performing for twelve seasons.

He began his career at the age of twelve, in the State University of Londrina Symphony Orchestra, as a timpanist and percussionist. At the invitation of the Mexican conductor Arturo Diemecke, he was a judge in the timpanist contest of the Orquestra Estable del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, considered the best orchestra in Argentina.
Having started studying music at the age of seven on piano, he studied percussion with Luiz D'Anunciação and attended renowned courses such as the OPI (Oberlin Percussion Institute) in Ohio, where he also taught Brazilian percussion and was taught by Michael Rosen and Tom Sherwood (snare drum), All Otte (contemporary percussion) and Rusty Burge (vibraphone), in addition to having studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Paul Yancich and Marc Damoulakis, respectively the solo timpanist and solo percussionist of The Cleveland Orchestra. He has a master's degree and a doctorate in Music from Unirio.
He has been Adjunct Professor of Percussion at the UFRJ School of Music since 2007, where he also serves as Associate Researcher/Percussion Consultant at the Museum of Musical Instruments Delgado de Carvalho, a museum that works in partnership with Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, and Museu Villa-Lobos. He innovated by creating the UFRJ Percussion Laboratory, which teaches percussion writing to composers, thus contributing to the expansion and evolution of the repertoire for percussion groups, works that are interpreted by his students in the UFRJ Percussion Group. Pedro regularly holds masterclasses in the UFRJ percussion room, with personalities from the percussive scene, in events totally free and open to the community outside UFRJ, transforming the UFRJ percussion course into a Brazilian center of knowledge and exchange on percussion. In addition to being a columnist for Modern Drummer Brasil, he regularly writes articles for Percussive Notes, the journal of the Percussive Arts Society, of which he has been a member since 1986 .
As a chamber percussionist, he is part of the Abstrai Ensemble, a group that works mainly in collaborations with living composers (Brazilian and foreign), also interacting with digital technologies (electroacoustics and mixed music). He was a member of the Trio Varèse and the Quarteto Dínamo de Percussion, with which he made several premieres in editions of the Biennial of Contemporary Brazilian Music. Together with Janaína Sá, he is a founding member of the Duo Sá de Percussion, having performed at PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Convention) - the largest and most prestigious percussion "event" in the world -, in the editions of San Antonio (Texas), and Indianapolis.
As a complement to his work, Pedro is proudly an Artist/Performer–Clinician of Adams Percussion, Black Swamp Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, Encore Mallets, Inc. - Salyers and JGpercussion.