June 2006

Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President of Brazil from 1995 – 2002, shares musical memories with host Gilbert Kaplan, mixing in heads of state along the way: His first opera, at age 7 – Paglacci; singing in a student chorus led by legendary Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos; his love for the cello after seeing Rostropovich perform in Moscow; meeting star tenor José Carerras, deep in the Amazon jungle, at the opening of the newly-restored opera house in Manaus; getting to know Wynton Marsalis at the Clinton White House and dancing to African music with President Nelson Mandela; all the while maintaining his enduring passion for bossa nova, which Cardoso says is “profoundly tied to the soul of all Brazilians.”