Antônio Meneses

Antônio Jeronimo de Meneses Neto (23 August 1957 – 3 August 2024) was a Brazilian cellist and an academic teacher based in Switzerland. Known professionally as Antônio Meneses, he won the first prize and gold medal at the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He was the cellist of the Beaux Arts Trio from 1998 to 2008.

Meneses promoted the music of Brazilian composers, commissioning new works and recording the complete works for cello by Heitor Villa-Lobos. He taught at the Bern Academy of Arts. The Strad wrote that he "was one of the most acclaimed soloists and chamber musicians of his generation". His father played French horn in the orchestra of the Rio de Janeiro Opera. He was the eldest of five brothers who all played string instruments.

Performing In 1977, Meneses won the first prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, and in 1982, he was awarded first prize and gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the only musician to win both competitions. followed by his New York City recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the following year. Meneses performed as a soloist with various orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Sanderling, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Meneses performed as a guest at various festivals, including the Edinburgh International Festival, Lucerne Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Prague Spring,

Meneses regularly played chamber music with the Vermeer Quartet on tour He was the cellist of the Beaux Arts Trio in its final incarnation, performing with pianist and founder Menahem Pressler and violinists Yung Uck Kim and Daniel Hope, from 1998 until the Beaux Arts Trio disbanded in 2008. Nelson Freire, and Gérard Wyss,

He usually played a Matteo Goffriller cello from 1710, and also a cello by Fabrice Girardin, and an instrument by Luiz Amorim and Filippo Fasser. He also recorded Strauss' Don Quixote with Karajan and the orchestra. Meneses recorded works of David Popper with the Sinfonieorchester Basel. He made the first of his three recordings of Bach's Cello Suites for Philips Records Japan and recorded Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Cecile Licad for EMI/Angel. In July 1997, Meneses recorded the three concertos by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. With pianist Gérard Wyss, he played the complete works by both Schubert and Schumann, and with Pressler chamber works by Beethoven. He recorded Haydn's Cello Concertos and 's Concertino with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. A CD of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the orchestra conducted by Claudio Cruz was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Meneses commissioned several works from composers from Brazil, for example in 2009 music inspired by Bach’s suites.

Teaching Meneses was a professor of cello at the Bern Academy of Arts from 2008 until his retirement in 2023. He taught students an attitude of strict respect towards a composer's score. and the couple had a son, His second marriage was to Satoko Kuroda. While he never lived in Brazil again after leaving the country to study in Europe, he returned regularly for visits and playing chamber music with friends. Meneses died in Basel on 3 August 2024, at the age of 66.