Beatriz Balzi

Beatriz Balzi (Buenos Aires 1936–2001) was a renowned Argentinean pianist, professor and musicologist specialized in contemporary Latin-American music.

Beatriz Balzi studied in the National Conservatory of Music and Scenic Arts Carlos López Buchardo, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, graduating in piano and Music Culture. She studied piano with Vicente Scaramuzza (also professor of Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim) ., musical composition with Alberto Ginastera and counterpoint with Pedro Sáenz. He completed her piano studies in Brazil under José Kliass and studied composition with Camargo Guarnieri.

Balzi emigrated along with her family to Brazil in 1960, and became a Brazilian citizen in 1982. . She performed regularly in important musical centers of Europe, The United States and Latin America; and recorded numerous works of Latin-American composers for radio and television stations in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne and Boston.

From 1970 to 1976, Beatriz Balzi collaborated as a professor and performer with the Piracicaba School of Music, interpreting several concerts for piano and orchestra under the conduction of composer Ernst Mahle. In 1976 she was invited by Anna Estela Schic and Michel Philippot to become a member of the music faculty Julio Mesquita Filho at the Paulista University (UNESP), where she gave piano courses that focused mainly on contemporary music. At that time Balzi definitely decided to follow a performer and professoral career and consequently abandoned the musical composition studies.

In 1974, Beatriz Balzi took part in lectures about Latin-American contemporary music and became a founding member of the São Paulo New Music Nucleous. She conducted courses on interpretation of contemporary music in several festivals and universities, and was invited to numerous meetings, forums, congresses and festivals of contemporary music in Latin-America. She was also invited by the Music Academy of São Paulo to fill the Luigi Chafarelli Chair.

According to Eliana Monteiro Da Silva: “The urgence of being useful directed the professional and personal life of Beatriz Balzi; and that posture conducted her to research and study a repertoire that was emerging in the second half of the 20th Century - with its characteristic unconventional notation and experimental performing techniques - at a time when quite a few performers were willing to do it. Thus, perceiving her knowledge and interest in this subject, many composers began to send her their pieces to have them divulged.”

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