Antonio Meneses

Cellist Antonio Meneses was widely heard as a concerto soloist but was perhaps most highly regarded as a chamber music player. For the last ten years of existence of the famed <a href="spotify:artist:5pAFKhoqlYPpCSiTOjh9Bz">Beaux Arts Trio</a>, Meneses was its cellist.

Meneses (in full Antonio Meneses Neto) was born in Recife, Brazil, on August 23, 1957. Meneses grew up in a musical family; his father was first hornist at the Rio de Janeiro Opera. He took up the cello at age ten. A chance meeting with cellist-conductor <a href="spotify:artist:6T8TUK5rR8JiePkhDiyYdV">Antonio Janigro</a> led to an invitation to participate in the latter's classes in Düsseldorf and Stuttgart, Germany, and by 1977, Meneses had taken first prize at the ARD International Competition in Munich. Still wider attention followed after Meneses won first prize and the gold medal at the 1982 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. The following year, he made his recording debut on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Deutsche+Grammophon%22">Deutsche Grammophon</a> label, joining violinist <a href="spotify:artist:6pzfUmBsQAKxOhy0NSi8zn">Anne-Sophie Mutter</a>, conductor <a href="spotify:artist:5zCaQxjl110XTrm4LQ1CxY">Herbert von Karajan</a>, and the <a href="spotify:artist:6uRJnvQ3f8whVnmeoecv5Z">Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra</a> in a recording of Brahms' Concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra, Op. 102.

Meneses appeared as a soloist with many of the world's major orchestras. He often performed with the <a href="spotify:artist:6uRJnvQ3f8whVnmeoecv5Z">Berlin Philharmonic</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:5yxyJsFanEAuwSM5kOuZKc">London Symphony</a>, and the <a href="spotify:artist:2HqNckz4bPVT37fWkhugTZ">Concertgebouw Orchestra</a> of Amsterdam, among other top European ensembles, and he had a major presence in the Western hemisphere as well, appearing with the <a href="spotify:artist:3gacryguGmpmCvgPGt2CBI">New York Philharmonic</a> and the National Symphony, and in venues across his native South America. Meneses' reputation as a chamber music player was perhaps even higher than that which he attained through his solo work. For the last ten years of the existence of the <a href="spotify:artist:5pAFKhoqlYPpCSiTOjh9Bz">Beaux Arts Trio</a>, from 1998 to 2008, he was the group's cellist. His other chamber music partners were a top-level group, including pianists <a href="spotify:artist:2TMN4gxer8gkLcA7zLwBr0">Menahem Pressler</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1hRLlo7ZGxEmc0ztMOKurs">Maria João Pires</a>; with the latter, he toured widely. Meneses recorded for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Avie%22">Avie</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Deutsche+Grammophon%22">Deutsche Grammophon</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Pan+Classics%22">Pan Classics</a>, among other labels. On <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Avie%22">Avie</a>, he released an album of Brahms cello sonatas and songs with pianist Gerard Wyss in 2022. Meneses died from brain cancer in August 2024. ~ James Manheim, Rovi