Guest Lecture/Recital: Pedro Sperandio, "Adagio and the fantastic style: searching for traces of improvisatory traditions in the Wunderkammern of the Classical Period"

Thursday, October 2, 2025
4:30 p.m.
Allendale Campus
Alumni, Community, Faculty, Staff, Students

Lecture Recital: Adagio and the fantastic style: searching for traces of improvisatory traditions in the Wunderkammern of the Classical Period

Pedro Sperandioýs striking artistic personality and versatility have earned him a prominent place among the new generation of Brazilian pianists. As a performer, scholar, and educator, he has developed an international career rooted in both historically informed performance and the modern piano tradition.

Pedro has studied and performed extensively across Germany, France, Spain, the United States, Canada, and Brazil. His work as a recitalist and chamber musician includes longstanding collaborations such as the Lied-Duo HeineckerýSperandio and a historically informed cello-piano duo with Églantine Latil. He has also contributed to ensembles such as Ensemble Musikfabrik Köln (contemporary music) and the Centre de Musique de Chambre de Paris.

He has performed in major concert venues around the world, including Sala São Paulo, Sala Cecília Meirelles (Rio de Janeiro), Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona), Salle Cortot (Paris), WDR Funkhaus (Cologne), Instituto Moreira Salles, Goethe-Institut, and Teatro Castro Mendes (Campinas), among others. As a soloist and collaborative pianist, Pedro has appeared with orchestras including the Campinas Symphony Orchestra, USP Chamber Orchestra, FUNDARTE/RS Orchestra, Campos do Jordão Festival Academic Orchestra, and Porto Seguro Chamber Orchestra, under conductors such as Marin Alsop, Victor Hugo Toro, Aylton Escobar, Flavio Florence, Cláudio Ribeiro, and Claudia Jennings.

An experienced pedagogue, Pedro has been teaching piano since 2007. He is frequently invited to serve on competition juries and to offer masterclasses and lectures at universities and institutions in Brazil and Europe, such as the European Piano Teachers Association, Oficina de Piano USP, Semana de Música Antiga da USP, and Conservatório Carlos Gomes. He currently serves as assistant teacher and academic advisor for Fortepiano at the State University of Music and the Performing Arts Stuttgart (HMDK Stuttgart) and teaches at the Tübinger Musikschule.

Pedro is based between Stuttgart and São Paulo, where he is pursuing the prestigious Konzertexamen degree in Historical Pianos at HMDK Stuttgart under Dr. Stefania Neonato, as well as a PhD in Musicology at the University of São Paulo (USP) under Dr. Mônica Lucas and Dr. Eduardo Monteiro. He also conducts research in historically informed performance practice and is affiliated with institutions such as the Centre la Nouvelle Athènes (France), Fondation Royaumont, Université de la Sorbonne, and the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies at Cornell University. He has worked with distinguished specialists such as Malcolm Bilson, Olga Pashchenko, Edoardo Torbianelli, Piet Kuijken, Clive Brown, Tuija Hakkila, and Benjamin Steens.

As a modern pianist, Pedro has taken part in masterclasses with renowned artists such as Maria João Pires, Nelson Goerner, Jacques Rouvier, Sonia Rubinsky, Roberto Poli, Paulo Álvares, André Laplante, and Cristina Ortiz. In 2020, he completed his Masterýs Degree in Modern Piano Performance at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, studying with Claudio Mehner and Paulo Álvares.

Pedro has received top prizes in several competitions, including the Artlivre, Villa-Lobos, Luiz Tomaszéck, and FUNDARTE awards. In 2017, he was awarded the Diplôme Supérieur de Concertisteýone of Franceýs highest musical honorsýat the École Normale de Musique de Paris ýAlfred Cortot,ý under the guidance of Professor Rena Shereshevskaya. His artistic development has been supported by the ýHubert Joussetý Fund (École Normale), the Brazilian National Bank of Social and Economic Development (BNDES), the Deutscher Musikrat, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Gesellschaft der Freunde der HMDK Stuttgart.

Location Information

Sherman van Solkema Recital Hall

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Contact Information

Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance
(616) 331-3484

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This event was added to the calendar by Bridgett Vanderhoof (vandebri@gvsu.edu) on Monday, August 4, 2025 at 10:26 a.m.

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