MECA's Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts Concert Series Presents Brazusa.

Entertainment Editors/Feature Editors/Education Writers

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 2004

On Sunday, April 4, 2004 at 4:00 p.m., MECA will present Brazusa featuring Brazilian and American music performances by Vania Pimentel and Marcelo Meira, clarinetist.

Pianist Vania Pimentel is a renowned Brazilian recitalist who promotes the art and music of her home country. Also an active chamber musician, she has lived in Houston since 1993.

Vania Pimentel graduated in Piano Performance and Philosophy in Brazil. She subsequently earned graduate degrees with distinction from the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik Karlsruhe, in Germany. She also received the degrees of Master in Performance and Pedagogy and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Houston, Texas.

Vania Pimentel has received numerous prizes in various piano competitions since the age of seven. She was awarded fourth place at the 26th International Competition in Jaen, Spain, and achieved a second place award in the 6th International Johann Sebastian Bach Piano Competition in Paris.

As a chamber musician, she has performed the whole cycle of Beethoven Sonatas for piano and violin in Napoli, among other concerts in Italy, and Germany as well.

Dr. Pimentel has belonged to the Pi Kappa Lambda, National Music Honor Society since 1998. She has been a frequent guest artist of the Greenbriar Consortium and the Morning Show of KUHF. Her performances have been broadcasted in the program Houston in Performance. She has given recitals in Galveston and the Bay Area, College Station, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Last October she performed at the Brazilian Academy of Music in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in recognition of her successful CD Brazilian Toccatas and Toccatinas from 2000 (Ultimo Productions). In March she will perform a program on American music for flute and piano in Frankfurt.

Brazilian clarinetist Marcelo Meira began his musical studies in Sao Paulo state. In 1991, he was offered a full scholarship to Arizona State University, and since then he has studied with renowned clarinetists, such as Michelle Zukovsky of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Thomas Le Grand of the Houston Symphony. In 1994, Mr. Meira won the Young Texas Artist Competition, and performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Clear Lake Symphony under the direction of Dr. Charles Johnson. In 1993 and 1994 Mr. Meira was a member of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. An active chamber musician, he has performed with the Zephyr Quartet and the Greenbriar Consortium. In addition, Mr. Meira has performed with the Houston Symphony, the Woodlands, Beaumont, and Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestras.

Who:                Marcelo Meira and Vania Pimentel

What:               Brazusa

When:               Sunday, April 4, 2004 at 4:00 p.m.

Where:              MECA
                    1900 Kane
                    Houston, Texas 77007

Admission:          $5.00 Per Person
                    Tickets available by phone at 866-468-7621 or
                    online at www.TicketWeb.com or at the door 30
                    minutes prior to curtain.

For more information, please visit MECA's Web site, www.meca-houston.org, which is generously designed and maintained by Jimmy Castillo.