PATRICIA COSTA

Music teacher, choir director, vocal arranger and scene director for performing choral music, Dr. Patricia Costa is a Brazilian director dedicated to choral singing since 1978, and since 1993 as youth choir director. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Education (BME), a master’s degree in Music Education (MME) and a doctorate degree in Music Performance (PhD), all of them from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO). She was a CAPES/ FULBRIGHT visiting researcher at Butler University, between 2015/2016. 

 

Dr. Costa has created a successful choir program at Colégio São Vicente de Paulo (regular school in Rio de Janeiro), today holding seven choirs of different age ranges and repertoire. 

The youth choir São Vicente a Cappella got the first prize (outstanding mixed choir) at Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival, in Vienna, July 2019. With over 20 years of activity – and its peculiar interpretation through body movement – this choir has become a national reference, encouraging teenagers to join choirs all over Brazil. During the pandemic, this choir has released some choir videos, and has also got golden and silver medals at the 11th World Peace Choral Music, digital version in 2021.

Dr. Costa has also supervised the women’s collective Gemas Cariocas, which conquered first prize at the II Interkultur Video Award, in collaboration with the German female choir Cappriccioso, in December 2020.

 

Dr. Costa has developed a different approach to choir music, EYES (Expressive Youthful Ensemble Singing) since 1992, combining music, acting and body movement to enhance choral music interpretation. Her experience in singing expression together with her academic background in Music makes her one of the most requested choir directors in Brazil. Living in Aveiro, Portugal, since December 2020, she has been expanding her performance in Europe, collaborating with local choirs in Portugal and Germany.

 

She has attended different courses, workshops and lectures of reputed international professionals such as Andre Thomas, Henry Leck, Robert Sünd, Bob Chilcott, Gunta Malëvica, Alberto Grau, and Marjukka Riihimaki, (to mention a few), as well as Eric Whitacre and John Rutter in Riga (Latvia) as part of the European Gran Prix 2017. 

​

Further information

​

Music teacher, choir director, vocal arranger and scene director for performing music, Dr. Patricia Costa is dedicated to choral singing and, since 1993, as youth choir director, having joined important Brazilian choirs as Coro de Câmara Pro Arte (directed by Dr. Carlos Alberto Figueiredo – RJ) and Garganta Profunda (Marcos Leite – RJ) and, abroad, Southern Illinois University Choir (Robert Kingsbury, IL, USA) and Indianapolis Symphonic Choir (Dr. Eric Stark, IN, USA), among others.

 

College teacher

As a college teacher, Dr. Costa has taught - as a contracted teacher - in the two most outstanding universities in Rio de Janeiro: UNIRIO and UFRJ. She has been in charge of disciplines such as Choral Conducting, School Choirs Rehearsal Techniques and Expressive Singing, besides being in charge of the School of Fine Arts Choir, between 2012 and 2013.

 

She has been a guest professor in both Music Education and Choral Conducting Post Graduation Programs at Conservatório Brasileiro de Música, since 2008. Dr. Costa has worked as a choral conducting teacher in different projects of Museu Villa-Lobos, for the benefit of either public or private school teachers and choir conductors.

 

Choir director

Since 1993 she has been in charge of the children’s and teenagers’ choirs at Colégio São Vicente de Paulo (elementary and secondary school). Beginning with one single youth choir Dr. Costa has created a successful choral program at that school, and now there are seven different choir groups, of various ages and perspectives.

​

She directs Middle and High School choirs and one more developed youth choir called São Vicente a Cappella. This group became a national reference of youth choral work after it has got the First Prize in the FUNARTE International Choir Contest in 1999 and, since then, they have been invited to perform in various important concert halls in Brazil, for its reputation as the best national youth choir.

​

In 2013 São Vicente a Cappella had the honor to represent Brazil at Cantapueblo Festival, in Mendoza, Argentina. At Christmas 2014, São Vicente a Cappella became nationally known for its participation as an honor choir at The Voice Brasil, popular singing TV contest. This group has been honored to perform for FLADEM (Latin American Forum for Music Education) held in Rio de Janeiro, 2015.

This same choir participated in the project Peacebuilding Through Choir Music, created and promoted by Dr. John Perkins at Butler University, providing exchange between São Vicente and Butler students, facilitated by internet means, including online meetings, interviews, performances, and a video recording presented together with Butler University Choir at Schrott Auditorium, in April 2016.

 

She has also worked in two singular music projects – by Museu Villa-Lobos and Pró Saber Foundation – for teenagers at risk and of disadvantaged communities in Rio de Janeiro. Dr. Costa has also directed adults’ community choirs until 2015.

 

With all the choir activity throughout 25 years, Dr. Costa has created and directed more than 50 annual concerts and shows, and has recorded two DVDs and one CD. In the recent years, she has been publishing videos on social media channels, as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

 

Arranger

Dr. Costa has written over 60 arrangements for choirs, and has become a special arranger for beginner choirs. Her arrangements have been sung not only in Brazil, but also abroad. The arrangements are freely available on the website and are being reorganized to make them easier to find while bringing the most recent arrangements to the public.

 

Performance coach

Inspired by her experience as a former actress, in Brazilian TV series and theater plays, Dr. Costa has developed a different approach to choir music, EYES (Expressive Youthful Ensemble Singing) since 1992, combining Music, Theater and Body Movement.

 

Academic status

Dr. Costa holds a Bachelor Degree in Music Education (BME), a Master’s Degree in Music Education (MME) and a Doctorate Degree in Performance (PhD), all of them from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO). Her thesis, “Youth Choir: for a different approach” has been downloaded worldwide.

 

She has also attended Southern Illinois University (SIU) in Carbondale, Ill, in 1980-1981, as a non-degree student in the field of Education (Linguistics\English as a Second Language), with a scholarship given by the Educational Sorority Alpha-Delta-Kappa.

 

She has just concluded her Doctorate Degree (PhD) in Performance from UNIRIO, researching youth choral repertoire. Her dissertation “Characteristics of youth choir repertoire: verification of specificities” has been recently published and it is nominated for an outstanding academic prize in Brazil. It has been downloaded in two weeks by more than 300 choir directors and researchers, not only in Brazil, but also in Portugal, Switzerland, Canada, The United States and United Kingdom.

 

Experience in Indiana

Dr. Costa was a FULBRIGHT visiting researcher at Butler University for nine months, between 2015/2016, when she had the privilege to have Dr. Timothy Brimmer as her advisor. During her staying in Indianapolis, she had a chance to attend ICC’s rehearsals, directed by Henry Leck, Joshua Pedde, Mary Evers and Ruth Dwyer. She has also had a chance to work with Butler choirs and high school choirs in and around Indianapolis, presenting them to Brazilian choral music and, moreover, to a new expressive ensemble singing approach (EYES). She has promoted an exchange between Butler University and University of Indiana, by taking Butler Women’s Choir to perform at a concert of Brazilian music on campus in Bloomington, in October 2015.

 

Further studies

Dr. Costa has studied with one of the most outstanding conducting professors in Brazil, Dr. Carlos Alberto Figueiredo, with whom she keeps improving her knowledge in choir conducting. She has attended many different courses, workshops and lectures of reputed international professionals in choir conducting as Eph Elly, Andre Thomas, Henry Leck, Mary Goetze, Paul Oakley, Diane Loomer, Janet Galván, Rodney Echenberger, Juan Tony Gusman, Denis Jewitt and Tim Brimmer (from the USA) and Bob Chilcott (UK), Robert Sund (Sweden), Gunta Malëvica (Latvia), Alberto Grau (Venezuela), John Washburn (Canada) and Marjukka Riihimaki (Finland). Recently, she has attended workshops with Eric Whitacre and John Rutter in Riga (Latvia) as part of the European Gran Prix. She has attended both national and regional ACDA conventions since 2015, and IMEA and ISSMA events.

 

Clinician, panelist, critic

She is constantly invited to minister workshops, courses and lectures, especially about children’s and youth choir and EYES, in various choral festivals in Brazil. Her experience in singing expression together with her academic background in Music makes her one of the most requested choir directors in Brazil in the field of school choir and body movement. Dr. Costa was responsible for the expressive ensemble singing of Gran Finale Festival, in São Paulo, which gathers more than 500 children and teenagers singing together, conducted by Dr. Tim Brimmer (2013) and Mr. Henry Leck (2014).

 

Academic production

Once in the academic studies, Dr. Costa has been invited to publish articles in well reputed journals in Brazil (Per Musi, ABEM and OCC), as well as in the International Choral Bulletin; she has published an article by Creative Education (Scientific Research), in a special issue on Aesthetic Education, 2014. She has also published Desafinando a Escola (2013, et.al), contributing with a chapter dedicated to teenagers’ singing. She is currently working on two books: one in English, about youth choir, and another in Portuguese, about the 25 year project at Colégio São Vicente, both to be published by 2018.

​

​

Contact

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pccantocoral/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/saovicenteacappella1

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-costa-9876388b/

Plataforma Lattes: http://buscatextual.cnpq.br/buscatextual/visualizacv.do?id=K4232993H3

E-mail: pccantocoral@gmail.com     |     pccorojuvenil@gmail.com

​