Žoao Pedro Oliveira

João Pedro Oliveira (1959, Portugal / USA) holds the Corwin Endowed Chair in Composition for the University of California at Santa Barbara. He studied organ and harpsichord performance, composition and architecture in Lisbon. He completed a PhD in Music at the University of New York at Stony Brook. His music includes opera, orchestral compositions, chamber music, electroacoustic music and experimental video. He has received over 50 international prizes and awards for his works, including three Prizes at Bourges Electroacoustic Music Competition, the prestigious Magisterium Prize and Giga-Hertz Special Award, 1st Prize in Metamorphoses competition, 1st Prize in Yamaha-Visiones Sonoras Competition, 1st Prize in Musica Nova competition, 1st Prize in Earplay Competition. His music is regularly played all over the world, recorded in over 50 CDs and is published by Doblinger, Babelscores, Suvini Zerboni, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, Mostly Marimba Editions, Honey Rock Publications. He taught at Aveiro University (Portugal) and Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) and was invited professor at several other universities. His publications include several articles in journals and a book on 20th century music theory. Website: www.jpoliveira.com

About the work

Dark Energy for cello, double bass and electronics was written in 2018. In astronomy and physical cosmology, dark energy is a form of energy still unknown and believed to fill the entire space of the universe, causing the acceleration of its expansion, from the initial Big Bang to the infinite future.

Dark Energy aims to be a dark and energetic work.

This piece was commissioned by the Contracello Duo.